From: Richard Hunter Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 18:42:29 -0500 Subject: Re: Audience as Solid Mass
Barry B. Bean wrote:
<homogenous mass? >>
I recommend that anyone interested in pursuing this question further read Henry Bottinger's "Moving Mountains," a book about the art of making presentations. Bottinger's treatment is largely applicable to musical performances as well.
In particular, Bottinger notes that as the size of an audience increases, the collective intelligence of the audience decreases. This is why speeches at large political rallies often consist of little more than slogans. It is also why you are not going to hear anything approaching the complexity of Bach at a Motley Crue concert.
Note that a television audience is (potentially very) large, but perceives the performance as a collection of individuals, not as a crowd in the sense of a stadium audience.
