How long is the ideal choral concert?

• Posted by Chris Rowbury September 22, 2011 - Filed in Choir Post - 12,493 views

  [this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]

   

  I don’t go to concerts much, especially not choir concerts. I find them rather long and boring.

   

  

   

  Photot by ToniVC

   

  But a few years ago I found myself watching a concert by the first choir that I ever formed: WorldSong.

   

  familar faces, but too much singing!

  I had recently handed over the choir to a new musical director after 10 years and this was the first time I’d ever been in the audience.

   

  It was a wonderful experience and great to see how the choir was progressing under a new leader.

  Since I knew all the singers and all the songs, I found myself engaged for much of the concert by watching individuals and getting pleasure from their own evident enjoyment. Also, the whole audience was encouraged to get up towards the end of the first half to sing a song, which energised everybody (and woke up those few who had drifted off at the back!).

   

  The first half of the concert was around an hour, and the second half seemed even longer! Even though the singing was fantastic and I am a real fan of that style of music, I did find myself flagging towards the end and wishing that the concert was over.

   

  This made me wonder:

   

        “How long is the ideal concert?”

   

  not too short, not too long

  It should be long enough so that people feel that they’ve had enough, but not too much. It’s good to leave the audience feeling that they want more (so they’ll come to the next concert). But we don’t want them to feel cheated and haven’t had their money’s worth.

   

  For a full evening concert, I usually work on a structure of two 45-minute sets with a 15 – 20 minute interval. The second half I make shorter than the first, but allow for an encore.

   

  However, I do know some choirs who do as little as two 30-minute sets, or even a single half of just 45 minutes.

   

  It really is hard to know how much is enough, but not too much.

   

  If my choir does a concert on their own that is 90 minutes worth of singing. That’s a lot of songs! Most of our songs come from the traditional repertoire which means they can be as short as one minute. This means that most of our concerts contain around 30 songs which is a lot to rehearse.

   

  what do you think?

  Perhaps the secret is variety. Some choirs always split their concerts with other choirs doing, say, half an hour each. That’s possibly more interesting than having a single choir for the whole evening.

   

  What do you think? How long is the ideal choral concert? Do you have ways of stopping the audience from nodding off (if it’s too long) or asking for their money back (if it’s too short)?

   

  Do please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

   

   

  Chris Rowbury: chrisrowbury.com