Every member of your audience is different. Each brings his own expectations,
knowledge, biases, experiences, taste, preconceptions and sensitivity to your concert.

It is the responsibility of the performer to do his best to touch every member of the
audience in some positive way that adds to the beauty, peace, enjoyment, ntertainment
or enlightenment of their soul.

Every night every member of the audience wants to hear the best concert that they
have ever heard. Since this is what you want to give them, use their energy and best wishes to you advantage.

It is extremely rare when anyone in any audience understands all of your efforts or what you have done or accomplished in your performance. Without bitterness or condescension learn to play for the approval yourself alone.

But even the most naive, young or reluctantly attendant member of your audience will immediately know if you do not believe in yourself, if you do not know what you are doing on every note, if you play out of tune, if you play out of time, and usually, if you miss a single note in an otherwise accurate performance.

If you make a mistake, to visually or aurally telegraph your disappointment or self-disapproval to your audience will only elicit the same reactions in them. No matter what is happening or not happening, smile and keep going. For most of the audience, the visual presentation is usually as important--and often more so--than the aural resentation.

An audience usually has decided their likes and dislikes about you as well as your
performance long before the first note--certainly before you have taken three
steps out of the wings and onto the stage. This is not only human nature, but the
essence of stage presence. It is also the governing principle behind successful pre-concert publicity.

An audience can be prepared, directed or controlled by discreet body language. This
is especially true in the preparation or conclusion of the mood for each movement of
a work. The same is also true for every phrase or note, for it is possible to command absolute attention from an audience. Be as expressive with the preparation, duration, character and shape of every silence as you are with every sound.

In every audience there will be people who have the capacity to experience and
appreciate any or all of the following things: melody, tone, rhythm, inner rhythm, phrase rhythm, harmony, texture, form, tonal relationships, accuracy, direction, dynamics, timbre, tessitura, silence, pitch, style, historical perspective, performance practices, stage presence, personal charm, intensity, relaxation, emotion, intellect, spirit, body language, eye contact, personal appearance, confidence, the balancing of the program, the program notes, and even the quality and quantity of the advance publicity. How can even one of these things be ignored if you are intent on artistry?

The audience is there to establish a personal relationship with you. If the audience is not happy with you, your performance, or the music--in that order--you are lost. You must always play your best no matter how large or small the audience. In the matter of a performer's attitude to his audience it is always preferable to think of beauty rather than
aggressiveness; illumination than education; giving than receiving; entertaining than overwhelming; peace than agitation; presence than power; color than force; singing than playing; talking than shouting; relating than lecturing; offering than withholding; sharing than bestowing; and artistry than virtuosity. Who can afford to alienate or bore even one listener?

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