“If we’re really unlucky they’ll be on the train”

I’ve known about the Contemporary Music Festival in Huddersfield since I lived with Music students in my first year at Bretton Hall. However despite the fact the festival was always talked about in respectful and admiring tones by my contemporaries, I had never actually been until this Friday when I went to see the opening of 2011’s offerings. I have to admit I had an ulterior motive as in preparation for making a piece of theatre commissioned by The Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield I am taking members of my Youth Theatre to see lots of different performance genres. On the other hand I was glad of the excuse, finally getting to see something in person that you’ve been meaning to experience for a significant length of time is always satisfying.

The opening of the festival this year took the form of a music performance called “Ear Training,” a performance of contemporary music played by a mixture of orthodox and found instruments from trombones to basket balls. It was a promenade performance in front of and within the picturesque Huddersfield Train Station. Three main elements made up the event: the performers, the people at the station to see the performance and the unsuspecting general public who were simply there to begin, end or continue their journey by public transport.

During and after the performance I had lots and lots of questions I wanted to ask about the piece, but they were all the usual ones someone who makes performance would ask. What was the original inspiration? What was the balance of improvisation/composition/structure? How long had the artists been preparing? How much had they considered their set in their process? While I was asking these questions I realised that it would have been much better to be one of the people who were taken by surprise by the performance and experience it from their perspective. Equally they were in fact the most interesting element of the performance. Not all of them reacted favorably, some of them ignored what was happening altogether, others looked interested, others irritated. One woman said very audibly the title of this post as if she didn’t think the players could hear her, like they were on a different plane of reality almost.

We talk a lot about new audiences in this industry and it occurred to me this was a real and practical way to get a new audience to listen to something that they would not usually have considered. To bring it to them and to make it free, to challenge them but not to threaten, to play with socially accepted boundaries but not to rip them to shreds. There is a certain demographic that actively engage in contemporary music events and a large proportion of Fridays audience certainly didn’t fit neatly into this. As a performance I thought it was fascinating…not something I’d necessarily queue up to see and listen to again but thought provoking and therefore inspiring. Like many useful experiences I’m left with far more questions than answers.