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Dear Classical Music presenter: I CAN HELP SOLVE YOUR CANA PROBLEM ! Every presenter of classical music has a CANA problem: How to locate and attract the Culturally-Aware Non-Attender. Those are the people in your community who B are well-educated B attend plays or gallery openings B visit the art-film cinema or jazz clubs B eat at restaurants featuring exotic cuisine B contribute to public radio and television They are the people who are interested in the world and in its various cultural offerings. But they haven’t found their way to your symphony concerts. Perhaps they buy an occasional ticket for your Messiah performance at Christmas, or a popular Beethoven symphony, but hold back when the repertory is less familiar. Your orchestra offers wonderful music–great works, fine performances. But they are missing out. How can you reach those people who feel unsure of themselves at a classical music concert? How can you connect with the ones who say, "I don’t know much about music, but I know what I like"? How can you encourage them to try an unusual program, an unfamiliar work with an open, receptive mind? WHAT SOLUTIONS HAVE YOU TRIED? – You have your publicity or marketing departments turning out press releases. – Your local newspaper critic may do an interview with the conductor or a soloist or even a (rare) feature piece about a special event. – Of course, there are the newspaper ads, which are not cheap! – Perhaps you are lucky enough to have one of the few remaining radio stations that carries classical music. If they are a non-commercial station, they may list you on a community calendar. A commercial station will be happy to take your (paid) ad, of course. But can it sell something out of the ordinary? Is there another way, an effective, inexpensive way to help your Culturally Aware Non-Attenders or even your Occasional Attenders overcome their FEAR OF THE UNFAMILIAR and order tickets for your next concert? How many occasional attenders are leery of trying a piece by a composer they don’t know? Or even an unfamiliar piece by a composer they know and like? What can you do to help them over this hump? To encourage them to take a chance on something different? To get them into the habit of trusting your conductor’s choice of repertory and commitment to meaningful musical experience so that they will want to subscribe? For that matter, can you do something to put even your subscribers into an eager, open-minded mood before they even leave the house to come to the concert? Of course, once they get into the hall, you provide them with a Program Book that contains information about the music they are going to hear. If you offer high-quality, well-written, informative program notes, a large percentage of your audience will devour them before the music starts. They WANT to learn, and they are EAGER to connect with the music! But you can do more–at VIRTUALLY NO EXTRA COST! I=m going to suggest a way to use Steven Ledbetter=s award-winning program notes as part of a two-pronged attack on this problem, for one price. And if you write for information NOW, I=ll give you a SPECIAL, USEFUL FREE GIFT! [click-on URL to get info] Consider this: Steven Ledbetter's program notes are an integral part of our subscriber retention plan. With limited space in our concert program, I have turned down requests for ads to be sure that we have room for Steve's notes without edits. --Michelle Winters, Marketing Director, Oklahoma City Philharmonic For a quarter century, audiences in Boston and then all over the country have been stimulated by Steven Ledbetter=s program notes. In pre-internet days, some orchestras sent them out to subscribers in advance to educate and excite their audiences before they come to the concert. From a Symphony Program Editor:
I'm still truly loving your notes! I cannot imagine anyone who is not more eager to hear the music once they're read what you've written. It's especially important for our "early bird notes" in which we send program notes to subscribers a week or so prior to the concert.
[Note: With the world-wide web, "early bird notes" can now be made available, at virtually no cost, not only to subscribers, but also to your entire potential audience! ]
PROGRAM NOTES – CAN DO SO MUCH MORE! I am Steve Ledbetter, the "face" behind Steven Ledbetter Program Notes, a highly regarded service that has been working full-time since 1998 to help orchestras and other classical-music organizations with top-quality program notes that audiences thrive on. I spent 10 years in college classrooms in the day-to-day communication of musical and cultural ideas with the kind of young people who become the audiences of the future, the CANA that we are trying to attract. Then I spent nearly 20 years writing and lecturing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, writing for and talking to a wide range of music lovers, whose responses were consistently eager and enthusiastic. For the last 15 years I have provided program notes for an ever-growing list of satisfied orchestras, chamber ensembles, opera companies, and concert venues. I work hard to produce the kind of program notes that you want to have in your program book: –Notes that are informative and interesting –Notes that transmit the excitement of music –Notes that are well-written –Notes that introduce audiences to salient information about the composer and work –Notes that suggest things to listen for that will illuminate the piece in performance. My program notes have won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor prize. I hear frequently from concert goers who tell me how much my essays have contributed to their musical experience and enjoyment. Your orchestra can use these program notes both in your program notes and as part of an outreach program to attract the Culturally Aware Non-Attenders in your community. PROGRAM NOTES AS SELLING PIECES The World Wide Web is everywhere today. Every orchestra has its own website with information about the ensemble, season programs, and ticket ordering information. Increasingly audiences know to go to your website to get the lowdown on what is happening at your symphony. CULTURALLY AWARE NON-ATTENDERS in your area are precisely the people who USE THE WEB EVERY DAY. My program notes can help give your website exactly the kind of information that will appeal to them, intrigue them, and generate first-time ticket sales. If you subscribe to Steven Ledbetter Program Notes, you may AT NO EXTRA COST put the program notes on your website long before the concert itself. You can promote the artistic excitement of your ensemble from before the beginning of the concert season through the very last concert of the year! They can serve as part of your educational outreach and also as a marketing tool to hook the Culturally Aware Non-Attender for increased ticket sales. Once the program notes are on your website, let everyone know it! Advertise the URL in all your publicity. Tell subscribers and ticket buyers and browsers and students that you are providing this service for them! From the Music Director of Aston Magna, an early music series: I just wanted to say thanks for (as usual) being informative, clear and wonderfully context-setting without talking down to the listener. Your notes add a great deal to our programs. --Daniel Stepner, Aston Magna Festival Steven Ledbetter's program notes can serve many purposes from the traditional one of providing a context and explanation to the audience at the concert to newer approaches in enticing new listeners. Many people take the program books home and save them for future reference. From the Music Director of the New England String Ensemble: Your program notes were wonderful--they give the experience of opening the program book such focus and density. They also bring people into the concert as insiders, whether they read them before or after they've heard the music. --Susan Davenny Wyner, New England String Ensemble
A FLEXIBLE APPROACH My program notes will be tailored to your needs. LENGTH: The notes will be shaped to the amount of space you have. (But even if you have to run brief versions of the program notes to save printing costs, you can run a longer version of the notes on the website at no extra cost for those eager to absorb all they can.) Thousands of notes are already available covering a large part of the repertory of symphonic, chamber, vocal, operatic, and early music. They can quickly be shaped to your precise requirements. TEXTS: Notes for songs, operatic arias, and choral works come with complete texts and an English translation designed specifically to illuminate the musical setting. FORMAT: At your option, a program note may begin with a short header paragraph (usually in italics) of basic information (composer’s birth and death dates, date of composition of the work, information about its world premiere, and instrumentation), or you can begin immediately with the essay proper (though with relevant information worked into it). [See samples of both styles -- LINK!!] CONTEXT: When appropriate, I adjust the program notes for individual pieces on a program to reflect the presence of related works on the same program. And I link all the works if there is particular theme for a given concert. (If your conductor wants to make a special point with the programming, I am happy to work that into the essay.) CULTURAL BREADTH: Whenever possible, my notes connect a given piece of music with the work’s place in the composer’s output, with its significance in the history of music, or its place in general cultural history. I discuss influences on the composer from artistic movements or political or religious ideas. MUSICAL DISCUSSION: Essays point out specific musical events in a way designed to focus the attention of non-musicians and help them understand what is happening in the music.
Responses from readers and listeners: – You are terrific! ....The music comes alive with your introduction. – We were all impressed with your ability to address both the lay person as well as the more knowledgeable musicians in the group. – You are making learning fun, entertaining, and more and more enthusiastic.... Don’t know if you have a fan club, but if not, maybe we will start one. NOW is the time to look ahead to your next season–or your next concert! WRITE NOW to get full information about the optionsBand to receive my FREE GIFT, a handy guide to the questions you face when you prepare program pages! [click-on URL to get info] Put Steven Ledbetter’s program notes on your website and in your program book, and let your audiences know where to find them. Test the response of your subscribers and those who are not yet subscribers but may be thinking about it. Let them know what is unusual, special, exciting, delightful, lyrical, dramatic, poignant, or light-hearted in the programs you have planned for them. Introduce them to the great composers of the past, as well as the modern masters. REACTIONS FROM A COMPOSER: From William Schuman (after a performance of Credendum at Tanglewood): You do such a wonderful job of combining scholarly expertise with language accessible to the layman that your admirers should tell you this from time to time. And this composer certainly admires the outstanding program notes that you consistently provide. (August 8, 1990) ...and after a performance of his Symphony for Strings in Seattle): I was sent a copy of the Seattle Symphony program book and learned that my Symphony for Strings was performed. The program notes seemed to me of extraordinary quality, and I was, therefore, not the least bit surprised to see that you were the author. Thanks so much for the depth of understanding you bring to my compositions. (Feb 10, 1991) USE THE WEB TO ATTRACT NEW AUDIENCES Write or phone NOW to find out about putting Steven Ledbetter’s program notes online at your website. Make sure that your advertising pieces–flyers, brochures, newspaper ads, and concert programs–all give the web address and point out that program notes are available there. FREE GIFTBNO OBLIGATION Many presenters ask me about how best to lay out the program page for their concerts. How do you clearly and correctly identify a work by Haydn? Or Schubert? What do those various numbers mean B the ones that come after K., or D., or RV, or Op.? How do you deal with major and minor keys? What about titles in foreign languages? I have prepared a brief, very practical style guide to laying out your program page, for including all the essential information in a clear and accurate manner. Some possible variants are a matter of personal choice or house style; but others can be crucial in providing your audience with full and accurate information. Simply click on this button to request this free brochure, Preparing Program Pages, by return email. (If you have specific composer questions that are not answered here, be sure to ask me about them so that I can provide an answer to you and update the brochure for future use!) SPECIAL OFFER For first-time users of program notes for a subscription series, your first set of program notes will be FREE! Email me at sledbetter@bigplanet.com or phone 508-363-2773 (that’s in the eastern time zone) for more information and to discuss your needs and deadlines. NOW is the time to start tracking the Culturally Aware Non-Attender!!! Best wishes, Steven Ledbetter Steven Ledbetter Program Notes [A Division of SJL Solutions, Inc.]
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