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5. Audience

The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert, or meeting.

From Latin audientia, from audire - hear               

 

~ Oxford Dictionary

Ears that hear and eyes that see -- the Lord has made them both.

Proverbs 20:12

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

Genesis 3:8

Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, "Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!

Jeremiah 7:2

Cinema Seats

Ponder a moment:

What is the intent of the performer/s?

Should the Christian performer’s goal be for the audience to hear Jesus Christ through the music?

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For the audience to sense the Presence of God?

  • Music expresses that we are made in the image of God

  • Music expresses the gamut of human experience.  Human lives brim with feelings—love, joy, peace, sorrow, anger, struggle, wonder, repose, angst, relief, victory, to name a few.

  • Music expresses the mind and intellect. The brilliance of a Bach fugue, the complex harmonies in a late Beethoven string quartet, the capabilities of our brains to collaborate with composers…these are bewildering.

How can we performers present an image of Christ dwelling within our lives to the audience?

Open Book

Scripture Reading:

Read: Psalm 16

 

Read this chapter twice. First, as if you are listening to a poetry reading. Second, read as if these are your words in prayer.

Ceramic Cup

For Discussion

Look at each verse in the context of your musical life.

v.4- What advice do you find for your relationships with those who do not believe?
  Does this mean that you should not speak ill of anyone?
v.5-6- What could this mean about realizing the talent you have been given?
v.9-10- Has your performance (jury, audition, etc.) ever felt like you were facing your grave?
v.11- Remember that the Lord is directing you on a path for Good.
Calm Sea

Mind-flash

Be the audience in a time-warp through music history. Imagine the grunting at the hunt-beating of a drum - blowing through a reed - plucking a string - clashing cymbals in a temple - chanting in a monastery - singing in polyphony - fiddling at a fair - dancing minuets - conducting with a cane - donning opera wigs, trumpeting at the court - bowing violins - penning symphonies - inventing clarinets - pedaling pianos - expanding orchestras - plodding opera elephants - tranquilizing gymnopedies - rioting at the Rite - raining on Quartet for the End of Time - integrating serialism - springing Appalachia - waiting for 4’33” - mesmerizing Lux Aeterna…

What common threads are woven throughout?

Sunrise

Ponder a moment:

What is the relation of the performer to the audience?

The performer is the giver. The audience is the receiver.

Paul wrote in Acts 20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’’’.

Jesus Christ tells us the relationship between the Christian performer and audience:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  

Matthew 5:16

Audience Etudes

Write a prayer or meditation about an upcoming performance.

Audience Exercises

  • Choose 3 or 4 sections of a piece or different pieces of music you are playing. Identify a specific experience or emotion for the musical phrase. Think of a time in your life, or a scene in a book, or a story in the Bible, or a poem, or a work of visual art, which shares that same theme.
  • Mentally play your chosen section as part of that story.
  • Then pick up your instrument and practice telling that story to your audience. Draw them into your story.
  • Play as to draw the audience closer to God.
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