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Classical Cult or Learning Community? Exploring New Audience Members’ Social and Musical Responses to First-time Concert Attendance

This article resulted from an invitation to contribute to a Special Issue of Ethnomusicology Forum on the ethnomusicology of classical music, and so builds on my established profile of work with classical music audiences. The project was funded by Yorkshire Forward Business Link through a small grant applied for in conjuction with Music in the Round, the Sheffield-based chamber music organisation featured in one of the two studies reported. The other, London-based study, was carried out by Melissa Dobson through a University of Sheffield funded PhD under my supervision.

The article contributes to understanding of classical music audiences by exploring empirically the notion of 'culturally aware non-attenders' - a term from the arts marketing literature that describes people who do not currently attend concerts, but who demonstrate an interest in the arts through their other leisure choices. We focus also on young adults, a notoriously difficult group to attract to classical music, and sought in the study to gain an understanding of these listeners' first impressions of classical concerts, and the implicit values of classical music that are revealed through these experiences.

The article resulted in a change in marketing practice at Music in the Round (see Impact Case Study), namely a reduction in ticket prices for under-35s and the increased use of focus groups for audience consultation. The Special Issue will be reprinted as 'The Ethnomusicology of Western Art Music' (ed. Nooshin) by Routledge in August 2013.