What language(s) do you speak? ¿Habla español¿, Parlez-vous français? You speakah Italian?
I speak English.
I speak Italian — not quite, but I can pronounce some of the words in my favorite opera arias.
I’m trying to learn Spanish.
And I also speak “listener,” or “audience language.” Your audience determines which listener language you (should) speak.
Audience 1: Deep background in classical music and music academia. They know the classical music insider names, terms, and themes.
Audience 2: They know something about classical music. They like it or love it, and they regularly go to concerts.
Audience 3. They know very little about classical music, but they somewhat understand what classical music sounds like. Maybe they go to a couple of concerts each year.
Audience 4: They know nothing about classical music. The thought of going to a classical music performance never comes up in their mind. They might run into classical music by accident, but that’s about it.
Right now, I’m speaking “Audience 1” listener language.
I always remind the artists I work with that “Audience 1” is not their primary audience. In fact, it’s their smallest audience.
Audience 1, 2 , and 3 are their (your) biggest audiences.
When I worked with the Aruna Saxophone Quartet, their concert bookings, funding, and audience numbers grew when they discovered that saxophones players, saxophone quartets, and saxophone teachers were not their primary audience.
I once gave a Zoom talk where the audience was from the European and Asian continents. Several countries in those continents have Wi-Fi that is iffy.
Here I spoke Audience Language 4.
I spoke slowly. (English is not their primary language.)
And if the Wi-Fi is in and out, speaking slowly helps.
I eliminated jokes, famous U-S sayings, and other American jargon.
So, I ask again, which language(s) do you speak?
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