On Showing Off Your Art

sounddesignerjeans:

I recently had the good fortune to see the incredibly talented duo Simple Gifts perform, and something they said on stage really stuck with me.

They said that they hear a lot from people saying, “Oh, the audience, what do they know?” and that they think that’s really disrespectful, because the audience should be treated as your equal.

I’ve been thinking it through, because as a music tech person, I’m used to thinking of my trade in all sorts of technical nuances that a layperson wouldn’t understand, tweaking in ways that your average listener wouldn’t notice. And I thought, “That sounds like good advice, but at the same time, what does the audience know? I know from experience that if I screw up on stage, no one notices.”

And then it hit me that that’s the audience’s genius. No matter what type of artist you are, your average consumer isn’t paying attention to your flaws or the details you spent hours perfecting. They’re looking at your art searching for heart, for entertainment, for passion, for something to be invested in, whether it’s perfect or not.

No matter how good you are on a technical level, if you don’t make your work enjoyable for other people, no one’s going to care. And the audience never forgets that, and that’s why the audience is smarter than you or I will ever be.

@odilonredon