BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
We may all be stuck in lockdown, thanks to COVID-19 — but this doesn’t mean we’re stuck without a vast selection of live arts events to enjoy from the comfort of our own homes.
The trick is, we need to know how to enjoy them properly.
A livestream connects us to professional musicians in a way we are fairly unfamiliar with, being the creatures of the concert hall that we are. So here are some tips to approaching your livestream in the right mindset, and making it an experience worthy of watching instead of your favourite Netflix drama.
1. Set the scene
Sit somewhere comfortable. If you have a home office from which you work every day, you might be physically comfortable in your seat – but you’ll also have piles of papers nagging at you, and a mind swarming with action points. In short, you don’t want to be in work mode because you’re listening to a concert at your desk.
However, if you instead decide to position yourself in the comfort of your loungeroom, make sure you clear your coffee table first. During my first livestreamed concert, I had a half-empty coffee mug, a nasal spray, and a pepper grinder surrounding my stage. It was predictably overstimulating. You will want as few items in your peripheral vision as possible.
(But hide a bowl of snacks on your lap, because why not?)
2. Dim the lights
If you are watching a livestreamed performance taking place in the evening, you’ll be able to use your imagination: the blackness of your living space can become the blackness of a majestic concert hall with house lights dimmed. Or, if you don’t like staring at the brightness of a screen without anything else in your background, you can arrange some thoughtfully placed candles or fairy lights to create an even cosier atmosphere than you’d find IRL. Whatever the vibe, it’s yours to make your own.
3. Don’t put on your breadmaker
Or washing machine. Or dishwasher. Thinking you can get away with daily chores before settling down is a rookie mistake. Such electronic noises may ordinarily sink into the calming and atmospheric soundscape of your home. But they’ll never be more obvious than the moment you find them competing with Beethoven.
4. Get your tech sorted
Charge. Your. Batteries.
If you’re like me, and you don’t notice they’re run down until they finally succumb to the death of a pure black screen, you will be in no mood to enjoy the beautiful melodies of Debussy. (There will be swearing, and a lot of it.) So plug in your device before you begin – I cannot stress this enough.
Further to this, pop on some good-quality headphones if your device doesn’t have amazing internal speakers.
5. Limit distractions, or accept and ignore
There’s no middle ground. External noises during a livestreamed concert will be the ultimate test of your attention span and your patience.
If you’re not happy to sit that test, make sure you know what your kids/pets/partner will be getting up to in the next hour or so – and politely inform them that if they don’t wish to join you, they are silly they should permit you your own bubble of peace and serenity.
You can’t always control what’s happening in your household, so over time you will learn to become a master at tuning in to your livestream, and tuning out the other odd sounds of your household that didn’t bug you until now.
6. Turn off your phone
“Yes! I can finally text all the way through the concert!” said nobody who ever enjoyed a livestream.
Just because you can open up Facebook or Instagram or your favourite website while a professional performer is making music for you to enjoy, doesn’t mean you should. Leave your phone in another room, and mute all your notifications.
A livestreamed concert offers you one of the rare chances to escape your home while you’re in lockdown, and participate in an incredible and transcendent experience in the company of some of the world’s finest artists. So for that small period of time in your day or evening, make sure you are prepared to have fun and open your mind (not your phone) as a listener!
7. It’s not weird if you hear the audience clapping (in your head)
Having been to so many live performances – and watched video concerts that were recorded prior to social distancing measures were enforced – it only makes sense that our brains would be wired to expect the sound of clapping and cheering after the silence of the final note. After all, every action (a musician shredding through Bach) has an equal and opposite reaction (hundreds of people going wild in the crowd).
It’s okay to pretend, or to overcompensate by cheering from your couch wearing nothing but your undies.
Ready to get started?
The Melbourne Digital Concert Hall is a great place to start, because not only does it unite Australian musicians for some terrific performances — it’s also raised more than $100,000 in doing so. You can check out the concert program on the website, including its online-only music festivals.
You can also jump onto your favourite musician’s Facebook page and check for updates. Maybe they’re hosting a casual stream right now? Or if you’re a musician, maybe you’d like to host one yourself?
