My recent experience at Highpoint left me a few subjects to think about:

expectations, respect, and diversity.

What am I talking about? The May 26th concert at the Colony Cafe gave me a hope and a great idea about how modern music can be perceived and appreciated by the audience who are not classically-trained. There were about a hundred listeners at the Colony. The place was small, but the atmosphere was great: there was a bar on the side, and the wooden interior; no fancy crystal chandelier or red carpet. That probably made the audience more relaxed. George’s opening statement at the concert should have worked on the people’s mindset too: That “while you like the first piece, you might hate the next one. if you hate one, you may like the one after. that’s natural.” It was a direct description of what will happen to the audience’s experience, considering the diversity of characteristics and styles of music presented at the concert. The audience, mostly elderly people living in upstate New York, seemed to enjoy the concert very much. And their enthusiastic and positive reactions seemed sincere; they paid serious attention to the music, and then expressed their excitement as if they just listened to a great rock music live. Their reactions came right from their hearts, not after logical processes of trying to understand the compositions. That’s how music should be appreciated. The crowd simply enjoyed modern music as they had drinks and foods. Isn’t this great?

Looking forward to summer!

Finally, after the long – it seems as such, especially in Pittsburgh – winter, I’m enjoying gorgeous spring days. All the craziness of academic works is over (almost), and I’m getting excited about this coming summer… Won’t be travelling as crazy as last summer, but will be here and there. 🙂 Relax, yet be productive…!