Shortening the Concert Experience

At some point, every student of music history is fed this line:

In olden times, people were so starved for entertainment, that concerts lasted for hours.

Nowadays, we're so hyper-wired that the conventional wisdom seems to be settling around an axiom that the concert experience should never run more than 90 minutes. One of the less trumpeted innovations of Peter Gelb (until yesterday) has been to trim intermissions from MET productions.

Our experience has been very similar. Some of our biggest boosters have insisted that ANALOG concerts should only last 75 minutes, and there are other tricks we've picked up to give the audience an overwhelmingly positive experience.

Here's a brief rundown of some of our favorites:

• Keep it short: Anywhere between an hour and 80 minutes is ideal. 90 minutes is the top limit of what your audience will endure without a break.

• No Intermission: Unless you are serving up hefty portions of music, intermissions are a relic of the past best to be avoided. It breaks the flow, and dampens enthusiasm. If you have to give an intermission, show a movie or provide some other diversion to keep people stimulated.

• Program Timings: We were blown away by the response to this when we introduced it in our programs. People love to know how long pieces will last. It's simple and has a huge impact on the audience's ability to manage its own experience.

• It's the Pictures, Stupid: Run, don't walk, to the AV closet and get that digital projector. It's an invaluable tool. People love pictures, and projecting images or video during a concert is one of the simplest ways to insure an audience's enjoyment.

• Supertitles: No matter that the audience has a program in their hands, projecting the title of the piece or movement they are hearing is still a welcome cue.

• Talk To Them: Just accept the fact that this is standard procedure nowadays. Audiences expect and want it. You may think it debases you, but you don't have to work the crowd like Mick Jagger. A few simple remarks will go a long way towards winning people over.

• Mix Some Fizz with Your Gin: Programming pop music should be as natural as taking a bow. Learn some standards, or get some good arrangements, but make your peace with the fact that the best bridge between you and your audience is music they know by heart.

That being said, we remain strong advocates for the rigorous concert experience. Nothing can compare to the rewards of listening long, in our view. There's no reason not to produce a hardcore, evening-length program. We frequently mix and match these tactics depending on the scope of the event. Some combination of them will almost always serve you well, and for a lot of performers, they are already standard practice. After all, if the MET can do it, so can you.