At this stage I mainly want to learn and explore the functions of classical music. In previous volunteer feedback, most people reported that they found classical music to be helpful in calming anxiety and even had some effect in helping them fall asleep. I think exploring the functionality of classical music will be useful for people with scenario-based applications. What I can see at the moment is the therapeutic aspect of music, as part of the genre of classical music is characterised by calmness and serenity, which could be applied to this aspect of mood/stress. I will also read up on research and I know that some universities already offer music therapy as a subject. I will then search for relevant repertoire and design an intervention.
In order to confirm my judgement and feedback from the first concert I attended, and to judge whether the “professionalism” of the concert had a visual impact on the audience, I decided to attend another concert organised by the organisers – BBC Prom. This time I chose an influential solo pianist (with a certain level of quality assurance) – Wang Yujia’s piano recital, also held at the Royal Albert hall.
The most intuitive way to tell if this concert is a big hit or not is by the price of the tickets and the ease of purchase. Those who are classically inclined will have been informed about the concert in advance – official emails, social media, friends, etc. The seating area I purchased this time was similar to the previous one, and I was running out of seats at the time of the seating selection step. This time I invited the same volunteer, S, to attend with me.
When I arrived at the concert hall for ticket check, the audience was noticeably larger than the last time. Upon entering the venue, unlike last time, the whole venue was almost full and the middle standing room area was almost full of people.
feedback from volunteer：
How do you feel this concert compare to the first one?
S: The music in this performance was obviously more engaging than the previous one and it felt like it demanded a great deal of professionalism from the musicians, might be different playlist. Although I don’t know classical music, I could clearly sense that the pianist was more professional and sophisticated in her technique, while her emotional expression of the repertoire was more fluid and intense.
Will you start following this musician?
S:Yes, her technique is amazing, I want to find the recording from the official bbc website tomorrow and listen to it again and again at home.
Will you listen the playlist again?
S:Of course! For me I prefer interesting tunes like tonight’s. I can see that the tunes in the playlist are also technically demanding and I’m surprised that the composer was able to write such complex and interesting tunes.
Do you keep track of official promotions and ticket information?
S: After these two different concerts, I think I’ll definitely be looking at higher quality concerts in the future, so I’ll be looking at different official channels, like Royal Albert hall, London West End Opera and so on.
Feedback from myself：
Words alone may be very tedious to describe, I was shocked at the time, curious how a piano, with ten fingers, could burst with such power and artistic impact. With just one piano, she played with a level of fullness comparable to that of a symphony orchestra. My musical audio-visual experience and immersion was unparalleled, compared to the first concert. It was easy to observe that the audience was significantly more attentive than in the first performance, and it was also easy to determine whether the applause was ceremonial or from the heart. Through this concert, I felt that the professionalism of the musicians does infect the audience very viscerally, but whether or not the audience has the relevant expertise does not affect their judgement and appreciation of classical music. High quality classical music may be more likely to interest people who are encountering it for the first time, and I think this points me in the direction of – researching how to discover and promote high quality classical music.
