Re: [Harp-L] Spah Conventions

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 22, 2011, at 12:10 PM, Richard Hunter wrote:

> The demographics are simple and non-negotiable. The audience at SPAH (as well as the performers) are getting older. People get older to a point, then they die. If younger people aren't actively recruited into the organization before that, the organization dies with them.

I agree with Richard. I look at the issue from two different perspectives.

Assumption 1: There are younger people taking the instrument seriously. If they knew about us, they'd join.

Assuming there is enough interest in our instrument to sustain and grow our membership, where do the under 40s fit in?  I've only been involved for some three years but it is my sense that there aren't too many teens or twenty-somethings who can afford to go to the convention.  Thirty-somethings are career and family building so they can't be counted on for attending the convention unless it's in their backyard. That leaves the 40+ demographic for the annual event.

Where do younger players fit in the SPAH (and harmonica) universe?  Or, vice versa.  Where does SPAH fit within the current harmonica universe?  Does SPAH provide benefits to members who cannot go to the convention? Answering these these questions are linked. As of right now, it's not clear to me that we provide any tangible benefits to anyone who does not attend the convention.

Assumption 2. Interest among young musicians in studying our instruments seriously is declining or maybe even nearly non-existent. 

I think of my own 15 year old daughter's musical journey. She plays tenor sax and bassoon and is planning to attend conservatory after graduation.  Her high school's music program has a national reputation. They run a symphony band, two jazz bands, a chamber group program, a marching band, an indoor percussion program, a private lesson program, etc.

The music department is run like a baseball team where the elementary and middle school bands function like progressively more talented farm teams.  They think big picture.  Kids are encouraged to play certain instruments according to what the director knows he'll need by the time they get to high school.  My daughter has no interest in playing diatonic or chromatic harmonica--and her dad plays both. And she's familiar with accomplished players from various genred because I've dragged her to see live music since she was nine. In talking to her director, he was open to bringing in a harmonica master class, but this is not something he is actively seeking.  And, it'd have to be free.

So how do we stimulate interest among younger musicians?   The few precocious players we've managed to attract at the convention barely scratches the surface. In my opinion we need a more systematic approach, one that reaches out to various areas like the school music programs, music stores, developing content to support an on-line community, providing tangible membership benefits, and we need to answers all the questions above as well as the others that will inevitably arise.

Under our current business model, SPAH has neither the money nor institutional wherewithal to go this alone. We charge very little for the membership and we rely on a dedicated but small volunteer staff.

We need to partner with all the manufacturers, who after all, stand to profit from the success of such an initiative and perhaps we could seek grant money.

Bob