Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Music
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Audience participation in the concert hall space has developed into a rich participatory practice with specific characteristics and challenges. Though composers—especially since the 1960s—have written many pieces involving audience participation, asking the concert hall audience to participate remains uncommon. Attempting to shift the role of the audience in such a traditionally spectator-oriented space can lead to tensions that undermine the efficacy of the experience. This research categorizes participatory pieces into the structural elements of performance and facilitation forces, audience groupings, audience roles, and communication types. These structures are used to discuss the complicated relationship between control and agency within participatory pieces. Through this discussion and an audience feedback survey in which audience members reflected on any participatory piece they had experienced, audience experience is examined through the idea of the individual vs. the collective, and ‘correctness,’ and communication. These ideas illustrate the challenges in trying to create a participatory experience that justifies the act of participating. In the final chapter, I reflect on my own audience participation pieces, and introduce the project component of this work, D, Me, You, We, a non-opera for actor, chatbot, three musicians on any instrument, and audience.
Date
4-1-2025
Recommended Citation
Nash, Treya Michelle, "Audience Participation Structures in the Concert Hall and D, Me, You, We, a Non-Opera for Actor, Chatbot, Musicians, and Audience" (2025). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 6772.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/6772
Committee Chair
Gibson, Mara
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.6772