To increase student participation in the performing arts, classical music student relations advisors at the Hopkins Center Julia Floberg '11 and Serena Nelson '12 created "Live Music Matters," a program funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of the Hop's three-year national research effort. The campaign, which launched at the start of Winter term, aims to build audiences for campus performances, particularly those involving classical music by making music performances more relevant and exciting for the Dartmouth campus.
Hop performances, outreach events and surprise pop-up performances will occur throughout the Winter term, and the program will culminate in June with a final symposium.
The College has partnered with seven universities to promote appreciation for the performing arts and has taken steps to gauge student attitudes toward live music, Floberg said.
"This is a call to action on the Dartmouth campus, and we are conducting surveys, studying focus groups and doing a case study researching what the attitudes are toward classical music and the performing arts in general," Floberg said.
After conducting some initial research on student attitudes, Floberg said she found a significant lack of live music attendance despite generally positive attitudes toward the arts.
"I can say at the moment that we have found that a lot of students listen to classical music and music in general when studying and during their free time," Floberg said. "[Students] don't actively attend performances; this is usually because of scheduling conflicts, lack of preference or just not having someone to go with."
The campaign aims to spread awareness of the value in attending live music through public outreach and word of mouth.
"We're handing out keychains as an identifying mark for student musicians," Floberg said. "There are a lot of student musicians and singers and we want them to share [and promote the program]. Dartmouth students do so much but are not great at talking about it. Passing out keychains as sort of markers shows that they're passionate about what they are doing and want to share their art with their peers."
For violinist Erica Westenberg '15, the importance of performing live classical music comes from the artist's opportunity to engage with the audience.
"One of my favorite musicians, Yo-Yo Ma, is a strong advocate for performances being a dialogue between musicians and audiences, and I always think about that when I perform," Westenberg said.
The live experience is different from simply listening to music electronically, she said.
"Groups like [the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra] give concerts to share our interpretations of the music on the program: we could just rehearse until we've learned the music and then move on, but audiences who attend our concerts have the chance to see and listen to the culmination of our work during the term," Westenberg said. "I love attending live concerts because I can watch each musician and visibly see the effect that the music has on them, and I feel like I'm part of the music in a way that I can't be if I'm just listening to a recording."
Starting mid-January, the Hop will stage surprise performances across campus. Taking place anywhere from dining halls to libraries, these "Active Art" performances will begin when a student pulls a lever.
"There's going to be a structure with a switch and when students see it, they just have to pull the lever to see the performance," Floberg said. "These performances are going to be a total surprise except for the people producing the show. The idea is that students are the ones to initiate these performances by pulling the levers."
The team behind "Live Music Matters" hopes to encourage students to participate more actively within the arts community not only on campus but also outside the College.
Nelson was not available for comment by press time.
