1. Sacred place: this provides an open threshold to the unconditioned worlds.
2. Worship: there is a tradition of giving from the congregation.
3. The spirit of place provides an available energy which is available to support the performance;
4. The acoustic space is perfect for soundscapes.
This atrium is (analogously) a secular cathedral:
1. The acoustic space.
2. The audience are not there as consumers: the performances are free: the event is not mediated by commerce.
3. This is a "promenade concert": the audience are allowed, by the nature of the space, to move, interract, respond to the performance as they wish (very much like Soundscapes in Salisbury Cathedral) and is appropriate.
Moving associatively along, the Promenade Concerts in England (The Proms) are a text-book example of how a process goes off course and ends up being exactly the opposite of the original intention. The Proms in England are now conducted in front of an audience who are not permitted by the nature of the performance (the Western / European Concert Tradition) and the space (the Royal Albert Hall) to walk about. Originally, the audience promenaded while the orchestra played.
Today's lunchtime performance was a negotiation, an offer to treat, an invitation to engage, to some of the 37,000 people from the building in their lunchtime; probably for many of them, an accompaniment to their downtime and sandwiches. Yesterday I saw a father and his son eating their lunch in the front row: wonderful! But the organisers were surprised to learn that I had no problem with accompanying movements through space.
John Sinks & I lunch with Tony Geballe, Crafty and DGM artist; and Tom Redmond, Hell Boy and influential figure in the world of insurance. Riding down on the E this morning I had a further sense of the next step for GC, which I discussed with them.
Quote from the lunchtime performance, reported by Tony Geballe who was in the gallery. A man next to him, eating a sandwich, after ten minutes asked Tony:
Man On Lunchtime: "Is this his music?".
Tony: "Yes".
Man On Lunchtime: "I thought he was tuning his instrument".
Both evening performances were presented to audiences which had come, ready to engage (in my sense). The first half of the evening performance felt strong.
Hugh was there this evening, a happy boy to be on holiday in town, and also several of the NY / NJ Crafties.
Afterwards John Schaefer walked me over to the NPR studio for an interview, to be broadcast in January.
Calling home today the Little Horse was back from the Jack Docherty tv talk show; fellow guest Chris Tucker from "The Fifth Element" (which Toyah and I saw together in Seattle in May 1997) and "Rush Hour" (which is more a movie I'd see with Sister).
"The quality of the question determines the quality of the answer."
