We Play Golf, Too
Should your biography begin with a listing of your college degrees or a reference to your weekend pasttimes? The latter anecdote might actually be a better choice, according to violinist and performance psychologist Noa Kogeyama. In a recent blog post on his popular website, The Bulletproof Musician, Kogeyama describes how a cleverly written bio he read at a recent chamber music concert sparked his curiosity and significantly enhanced his experience as an audience member, prompting him to contemplate the general impact of biographical content within a performance context. This particular bio, whose author is not mentioned, “started with a reference to a childhood nickname, utilized the word ‘frolicking,’ and included references to chinese take-out,” Kogeyama describes, “all whilst making it clear that this was a talented and accomplished individual.” Kogeyama goes on to remark that he felt a deeper connection to this musician’s performance as a result, and felt less of an urge to judge him as he has with other performers whose bios were merely a laundry list of supposedly prestigious accomplishments.
Having read a fair amount of disengaging bios myself, I can certainly relate to Kogeyama’s excitement upon reading a bio that didn’t entirely consist of references only meaningful to a professional musician. I might recognize the significance of a musician’s engagement at the Marlboro Music Festival upon reading about it in their bio, but the non-musician in the row in back of me might mistakenly believe that the performer in question had played at a cigarette factory. While many audiences are in fact quite knowledgeable about what constitutes prestige in classical music, adding in a sentence or two about our hobbies and activities shows that we’re really just people like them, and actually don’t spend the whole day playing Mozart in a tuxedo. More importantly, as Kogeyama implies in the title of his post, infusing our bios with an extra level of personality fosters a strong connection between us and the audience before we even set foot onstage. Instead of portraying ourselves as disingenuous elitists, we are encouraging them to view us as normal people who they can relate to, people who just happen to make a living playing music–in addition our other pursuits of jogging, golf, or eating chinese food. And if you do a gig in Chinatown, that might even carry more weight than Marlboro.
Read the full text of Kogeyama’s post here, and take the time to check out his unique and informative website: http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-to-engage-your-audience-before-playing-a-single-note/