Smile, you are entertaining the audience!

Just read an interesting article on whether orchestral musicians should put on a happy face. There have been reports of audience dissatisfaction with unsmiling musicians in Bournemouth SO, and Birmingham SO as well.

We know that the age of marketing and customer relations management have reached the classical music scene when the marketing guy for Bournemouth says that "a perennial problem is that the orchestra members don't seem to enjoy themselves. It tends to be the ones that don't who people notice. The violins and the cellos, who are at the front, often get noticed." The director of communications for Birmingham adds that one woman complained that her enjoyment of a concert had been wrecked because 'she caught one of the musician's eyes and gave him the thumbs up, but he lowered his gaze. It destroyed the evening for her.'