Outdoor Concerts Research Articles

PROBLEMS OF LIVE MUSIC CONCERTS: A STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA

The findings reveal several key challenges encountered in organizing and executing live music concerts in North-East India. Limited sponsorship opportunities’ and ‘disappointing government funding’ emerge as significant hurdles for concert organizers. The study also uncovers a preference for artists from mainland India over local talent, attributed to their consistent preparation and higher performance standards. Moreover, the study highlights the lack of equipped auditoriums and the need to import amplification equipment, leading to increased costs for organizers. This study employs a qualitative approach to explore the problems faced by live music concerts in North East India. The research had qualitative interviews with concert organizers, performers, and attendees. The research further underscores the impact of weather conditions on outdoor concerts, as the region experiences frequent rain. It emphasizes the importance of having contingency plans and backup venues to ensure uninterrupted performances. Additionally, the study reveals the limited culture of purchasing concert tickets among the local population, requiring tailored ticket distribution strategies. These findings shed light on the complexities of organizing successful live music concerts in North East India and provide insights for concert organizers, policymakers, and local artists. The research calls for enhanced support, improved infrastructure, and a stronger platform for local talent to thrive in the vibrant music scene of the region.

A raceway’s outdoor concerts get shut down by new residents

An existing raceway near a state highway desired to add concerts to its schedule. The oval racetrack (cars, motorcycles, etc.) has been in the community for decades, and more recently houses have been built within 700 feet. 45dB Acoustics acoustically modeled the concert situation, reporting that sound levels from concerts would be not unlike those from existing racetrack events. Nearby residents had signed their acknowledgement of potential noise from the racetrack, but some complained to the County about live music being “a new project and not an approved use of the facility.” A Commercial Outdoor Entertainment License application was then required and granted by County Board of Supervisors, which included a public hearing at which the author was present to answer any Board questions. Although the License was granted, COVID put everything on hold, and some residents filed a lawsuit citing that the Board improperly granted an exemption of an Environmental Impact Review and California Environmental Quality Act review. After COVID restrictions lifted, the Board required the applicant to repeat the application process. Raceway ownership has not only abandoned the concerts, but also completely shut down the business, citing legal and consultant fees.

Before Their Music Stopped: Manila’s Spanish Military Regimental Bands at the End of the 19th Century

Utilizing the contemporary daily, Spanish-language newspapers surviving from the final three decades of 19th–century Manila, this study investigates the extensive activities of the eight regimental bands stationed in Manila, the Philippines. Even though these dailies served as powerful tools for the imposition of colonial subjugation and disenfranchisement on the indigenous Filipino population, they also reveal that the regimental bands were the most active musical ensembles during that era. This review of the papers began by chronicling the frequency of the many free, weekly, outdoor concerts that total more than 2,700 performances.  A related goal was to identify as many of the musical pieces presented in band arrangements during these performances. The newspapers also published additional valuable articles that discuss a variety of unique or unusual events involving the regimental band’s contributions to major military maneuvers, special occasions of state in honor of the Royal Family, and a set of seven concerts performed on consecutive days by one band during a major, religious feast.The dailies also permit us to follow the work of the bands during a period of crisis and some danger. From August 1896 to December 1897, the Spanish Military was engaged in a war with Filipino insurrectionists fighting for independence. The Military command responded to this threat in two ways that affected the bands. The first was the creation of a new regiment of indigenous-heritage soldiers to protect the capital from invasion by their countrymen. That new regiment, The Loyal Volunteers, also had a new band attached to it. Like all the bands, this new one was made up entirely of Filipino men.  A second response affecting all of the bands was the order for the Band Masters to include in their public concerts a steady stream of newly composed works promoting the Spanish propaganda opposing the war. Though the revolt was ended with a peace treaty in late December 1897, just four months later, on 1 May, the fate of the Spanish colony was sealed when the U.S. armed forces invaded the Philippines. As the Spanish Military regiments exited the country, the work of the bands ended. A new period of brutal colonial subjugation of the Filipino people had commenced.

Bandstands and Modernity: Constructing Spanish Cities Musically

This article analyses the interplay between sound and urban spaces in Spain, from the end of nineteenth century until 1936. Free outdoor concerts performed by bands in public urban spaces offered a new aural experience audience from across an increasing range of very diverse social groups, almost ritualizing both the practice of listening to music and the spaces in which that music was heard—all at a time when those very spaces were changing, in a way which mirrored the wider reconfiguration and modernization of Spanish cities. Case studies focusing on political, social, and cultural changes in urban spaces are analyzed, in order to understand how cities developed new spaces for social interaction, the modern sonic environment, and the ways in which those cities have appropriated culture for their citizens, as a symbol of urban modernity.

Outdoor concert monitoring, community noise, and the Cavanaugh Criterion

Sound from outdoor concerts and other sources can be challenging to measure, especially in the midst of ambient noises and environmental effects. It can be even more challenging to evaluate the data toward resolution of complaints and satisfaction for neighbors. In the mid 1980s through the 1990s, Bill Cavanaugh was deeply involved in important projects involving measurement and especially evaluation of outdoor concert sound levels, and he became a recognized leader in the field, consulting on amphitheater and outdoor venue sound and addressing community relations throughout the country. This presentation will review one of the most significant projects, then called Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts, now the Xfinity Center, in Mansfield, MA, an outdoor amphitheater with total 16 000 seats (now nearly 20 000), in which the Cavanaugh Criterion took shape, more in response to the many touring rock shows (and for which one of the first “green-yellow-red lights” was developed for the sound mixers' easy visual reference and better sound level control) than as the summer home of The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Recent application of the Cavanaugh Criterion for concert level evaluation of loud, powerful sound systems will also be reviewed, along with implications for application to a much wider range of possible outdoor and even indoor noise intrusions.

Large-scale outdoor sound field control.

The feasibility and the performance of controlling low frequency sound of loudspeaker systems under varying atmospheric conditions is examined experimentally. In the experiment, a control subwoofer array is canceling the sound of a primary subwoofer array over long distances (∼100 m) and in large areas (∼320 m2) using the pressure-matching method. To avoid the measurement of the sound field over the entire control area, a sound propagation model is introduced that is fitted in situ to model the radiation properties of the loudspeakers and the variation of the speed of sound. The results show that the control system reduces the sound pressure levels by up to 15-20 dB over the subwoofers' frequency range. However, the reduction can vary considerably depending on the specific atmospheric condition. The model-based approach reduces the number of required measurements and achieves similar reduction performance to the control based on direct measurements with considerably fewer microphone locations while also being more robust. Additionally, the sound propagation model enables the reduction of acoustic energy in virtual control zones that are far away from the microphone location. The investigated methodology has a direct application in the mitigation of sound from outdoor concerts.

John C. Zahner

John C. Zahner, 85, died on Feb. 6 in Seattle. “John had a long career with Mobil Oil’s Central Research Laboratory. His name is on 19 patents for Mobil, 3 of them as sole inventor. At the Central Research Laboratory, he pioneered refinery model linear programming on laptops. In the last few years of his career at Mobil, he taught a course in process engineering at Princeton University. John retired to Vail, Colorado, where he very much enjoyed 19 years of skiing, playing tennis, listening to outdoor concerts, and entertaining family and friends.”—Charles Zahner, son Most recent title: Senior consulting engineer, Mobil, Central Research Laboratory Education: BS, chemical engineering, 1956, and PhD, chemical engineering, 1961, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Survivors: Sons, Charles, Jack, and Jamie; four grandchildren To recognize your late loved one or colleague, submit obituary information at cenm.ag/obits.

Occupational Exposure to Secondhand Cannabis Smoke Among Law Enforcement Officers Providing Security at Outdoor Concert Events.

Numerous states within the USA have legalized cannabis for medical or non-medical (adult/recreational) use. With the increased availability and use of cannabis, occupational and environmental exposures to secondhand cannabis smoke (SHCS) raise concerns over whether non-users may be at risk for a 'contact high', impaired neurocognitive function, harm from irritants and carcinogens in smoke, or potentially failing a cannabis screening test. The extent of health effects from potential occupational exposure to SHCS is unknown. This is a study of occupational exposures to SHCS among law enforcement officers (LEOs) providing security at outdoor concerts on a college campus in a state where adult use of cannabis is legal. Investigators evaluated a convenience sample of LEOs' potential exposure to SHCS and symptoms experienced while providing security during two open-air stadium rock-n-roll concerts on consecutive days in July 2018. During each event, full-shift area and LEO personal air samples were collected for Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis. Urine (pre- and postevent; n = 58) and blood (postevent; n = 29) were also collected and analyzed for Δ9-THC and two of its metabolites [11-nor-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (THC-COOH) and 11-nor-hydroxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (OH-THC)]. Urine samples were analyzed using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled with positive electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry and results were compared with the Department of Transportation guidelines for urine screening for cannabis. Blood (postevent) samples were also collected and the plasma fraction was tested for Δ9-THC, THC-COOH, and OH-THC using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. LEOs also completed a medical questionnaire asking about symptoms experienced during the concerts. Twenty-nine LEOs participated in the evaluation. Measurable amounts of Δ9-THC were found in area (concentrations ranged from non-detectable to 330 ng m-3) and personal air samples (53-480 ng m-3). Small amounts (<1.0 ng ml-1) of a Δ9-THC metabolite (THC-COOH) were found in the postevent urine of 34% of LEOs. Neither Δ9-THC nor its metabolites were detected in any blood sample. LEOs reported experiencing non-specific symptoms during the concerts, such as burning, itchy, or red eyes (31%); dry mouth (21%); headache (21%); and coughing (21%). Identification of Δ9-THC in the breathing zone for some LEOs indicates the potential for airborne exposure to the psychoactive component of cannabis. However, the magnitude of these exposures was small compared with those that would result in a dose of Δ9-THC associated with psychotropic effects. Similarly, THC-COOH was found in the postevent urine of some LEOs at concentrations that were orders of magnitude below active use cut-points used during a cannabis screening test (50 ng ml-1). Exposure to SHCS was not high enough to detect concentrations of THC, THC-COOH, to OH-THC in the blood, which could be due to differences between the limits of detection for the tests employed. The ocular and respiratory symptoms reported by LEOs may be related to irritants in SHCS. However, the health effects of SHCS remain unclear, and further research concerning occupational and environmental exposures is warranted.

Behavioral Health Resource Utilization of Emergency Department Patients Presenting from Mass Gathering Events

Introduction:Behavioral health needs of attendees at mass gathering events who require emergency department (ED) evaluation are poorly understood. Appropriate resource allocation of mental health staff and other behavioral interventions necessary to support this patient population are also unclear.Aim:To describe behavioral characteristics and psychiatric resource utilization of patients presenting to a tertiary academic medical center emergency department from mass gathering events.Methods:Single-center retrospective study evaluating attendees at mass gathering events who presented to a Chicago ED. Electronic medical records for patients presenting between October 13, 2013, and December 31, 2015, were reviewed and descriptive analyses performed.Results:209 distinct records were reviewed. Most patients presented from large outdoor concerts (n = 186, 89%). Forty-two (20.1%) reported a mental health complaint at presentation, including concerns related to pre-existing psychiatric disturbances or onset of new symptoms. Twenty-seven of the total cohort (12.9%) endorsed a prior psychiatric history. Thirty-five (16.7%) reported use of prescribed psychotropic medications, including antidepressants, stimulants, mood stabilizers, and others. Diagnostic testing among the total sample included serum ethanol measurement (31.1%), urinary toxicology (25.4%), acetaminophen (6.2%), aspirin (5.3%), and creatine kinase measurements (11%). Computed brain tomography was ordered for 20 patients (9.6%). Twelve patients (5.7%) received an anxiolytic (lorazepam) and 113 (54.1%) received intravenous fluids. An antipsychotic (olanzapine) was administered to one patient (0.5%). There were no reports of suicidal ideation, but physical restraints for agitation were employed in 13 patients (6.2%). Police consultation occurred in 10 cases (4.8%). No formal psychiatric consultations were requested by ED providers.Discussion:Patients presenting to the emergency department from mass gathering events frequently endorse behavioral complaints requiring directed use of diagnostic and other emergency department resources for their ailments. The need for physical restraints and limited use of anxiolytics and antipsychotics in our sample suggest that psychiatric consultation is underutilized.

Historical and Cultural Values of the Modern Historic Parks in Tianjin - the British Concession

This paper takes the British concession in Tianjin as an example, trying to clarify the historical and cultural values of the first parks. The first park, Victoria Park, was built as a memorial facility. It received many visitors including Chinese, with numerous outdoor concerts providing the citizens with great enjoyment. Although there were conflicts between the Chinese and British, objectively, it greatly improved Tianjin′s landscape and provided a much healthier environment. The other parks in the British Extra Rural Extension were endowed with specific roles in creating an ideal city with light, air and spaces for recreation. The planning theories behind these parks pushed the modernizing process of Chinese cities. Besides, the parks brought new materials and new styles to Chinese traditional gardens, so they have high historical, cultural and academic value. Therefore, we suggest the government carry out a basic investigation and create a database of modern parks. The value of a park should be evaluated from both an urban planning aspect and the park itself. As for park conservation, the natural landform, spatial structure, visual organization, building, entrance space, wall, pavement, plants and relationship with its surroundings needs to be well evaluated.

Characteristics and resource utilization of patients presenting to the ED from mass gathering events

IntroductionAt many mass gathering events (MGEs), emergency medical services decrease the number of patient transfers to the hospital; however, little information is known regarding the characteristics of attendees presenting to or requiring transfer to the emergency department (ED). The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of patients presenting from MGEs to the ED. A secondary aim of this study is to describe ED resources utilized by these patients. MethodsThis was a single-center, retrospective review evaluating patients attending MGEs who presented to the ED. Electronic medical records of patients seen in the ED of a tertiary academic medical center between October 13, 2013 and December 31, 2015 were reviewed and a descriptive analysis performed. ResultsWe reviewed and included 209 patients. The majority of patients presenting to the ED were from large outdoor concerts (n=186, 89%), young (median age 20years), single (n=156, 87%) and had no past medical history (n=114, 63%). Alcohol use was reported in a majority (n=140, 78%) and polysubstance use in over a quarter of patients (n=55, 31%). The most frequently administered medications were intravenous fluids (n=94, 52%) and antiemetics (n=59, 33%). The majority of patients (n=161, 89%) were discharged directly from the ED, and median length of stay in the ED was 3.3h [IQR 2.3 to 5.3]. ConclusionPatients presenting to the ED from MGEs generally required minimal medical care beyond supportive management with low rates of hospital admission. Further controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Acoustic planning of a music festival site

CSTI acoustics worked with a community on the planning of a festival site that will host outdoor concerts. Our work involved measuring sound from an outdoor concert at a nearby venue, documenting ambient sound levels in communities surrounding the proposed festival site, modeling the sound propagation from optional stage locations and orientations, and proposing procedures and sound limits for future performances.

Survey Responses Identify Community Member Interest in Visiting Public Gardens and Arboreta

An Internet survey was conducted from 28 May to 8 June 2008 to investigate consumer awareness and interest in attending programming offered at The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA). The study was designed to investigate what traditional and non-traditional programs might attract community members to the arboretum and to identify potential barriers, perceived or real, that might discourage community members from visiting the arboretum. Among demographic groups, more females were interested in “hands-on workshops” (42.5%) and “fact sheets, instructional bulletins, and how-to guides” (37.4%) than males (26.8% and 26.3%, respectively). In examining events and activities, significant differences were found for “wine tasting and tours” and “outdoor concerts and live performances” based on household income; however, no significant differences were found among age groups and other demographics tested. Differences in interest in other activities were apparent based on number of adults and number of children in the household. Public gardens and arboreta can use this information as the foundation for modifying programs and services offered, though input from the community and trialing of alternative programs should be considered before completely changing programs and services offered.

Survey Responses Identify Community Member Interest in Visiting Public Gardens and Arboreta

An Internet survey was conducted from 28 May to 8 June 2008 to investigate consumer awareness and interest in attending programming offered at The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA). The study was designed to investigate what traditional and non-traditional programs might attract community members to the arboretum and to identify potential barriers, perceived or real, that might discourage community members from visiting the arboretum. Among demographic groups, more females were interested in “hands-on workshops” (42.5%) and “fact sheets, instructional bulletins, and how-to guides” (37.4%) than males (26.8% and 26.3%, respectively). In examining events and activities, significant differences were found for “wine tasting and tours” and “outdoor concerts and live performances” based on household income; however, no significant differences were found among age groups and other demographics tested. Differences in interest in other activities were apparent based on number of adults and number of children in the household. Public gardens and arboreta can use this information as the foundation for modifying programs and services offered, though input from the community and trialing of alternative programs should be considered before completely changing programs and services offered.

Analysis of Arboreta Members and the Local Community Interests in Participating in Public Gardens and Arboreta Programs

Two studies were conducted to better understand arboreta and community members' attitudes toward programming and benefits offered at arboreta and public gardens. The first study, a mail survey sent to arboreta members, included questions regarding what encourage them to become members and the services they value pertaining to their paid membership. The second study, an Internet survey of consumers residing within a 30-mile radius of the arboreta, also focused on interest in leisure activities and interest in traditional, gardening-related programs offered at the arboreta in an effort to understand what might increase membership. Over half of the members (62.5%) responded that they were “completely satisfied,” with only 3.4% selecting “neither dissatisfied nor satisfied” or some level of “dissatisfied.” The top three reasons that motivated members to join the arboretum's association included “benefits offered” (28.2%), followed by providing the “arboretum with financial support” (22.9%), and “to attend horticultural educational programs at a discounted rate” (22.6%). Interest level in gardening appeared to be greater among arboreta members compared with community members, on the basis of the percentage of both groups who self-identified with phrases such as “skilled and knowledgeable” and “enjoys spending time gardening.” Arboreta member interest in garden programming activities differed from those of local community respondents in all categories except “outdoor concerts and live performances,” “wine tasting and tours,” and “painting and drawing.” The one program/activity that appeared to be more of interest to community members than arboreta members was “cooking and entertaining,” with community members returning an average mean rating of 4.77 (1 = “very disinterested,” 7 = “very interested”) and arboreta members returning an average mean rating of 4.29. On the basis of the results of the survey and the strong interest expressed by both survey groups in program activities offered, arboreta staff should consider offering programming that appeals to both current members and community members at large and in an effort to assure a sustainable membership level.

Strings in the Earth and Air

Strings in the earth and air Make music sweet; Strings by the river where The willows meet. James Joyce, Chamber Music The opening poem in Joyce's Chamber Music evokes an ideal of ubiquitous, sourceless, air-born music that reaches back, via the Aeolian harp, to Pythagoras and the doctrine of the music of the spheres. Joyce himself would give Leopold Bloom the opportunity for a parody of his rather perfumed little volume of poems in the 'Sirens' episode of Ulysses, in which he hear-thinks about another kind of chamber music: 'Chamber music. Could make a kind of pun on that. It is a kind of music I often thought when she. Acoustics that is. Tinkling. Empty vessels make most noise ... Diddle iddle addle addle oodle oodle. Hissss'. Rather than thinking directly about what, at this time of day, postmodernism might mean in or for music, I want to think about ubiquity, amplitude, spread, diffusion, reach. More specifically, I'd like to think about an antinomy between two principles, both of which have respectable claims to be thought of as characteristically postmodern. The first is the ideal of what might be called a general or unrestricted economy of music--the principle that, having no essence to restrict it, music can and should be anything. The second is the ideal, or at least the prospect, of an auditory ecology, which would insist on an acknowledgement of limit or finitude. I will be using the work of R. Murray Schafer, the great inaugurator of the idea of acoustic ecology in the 1970s, to focus this argument. In 1992, Schafer proposed that 'it would be possible to write the entire history of European music in terms of walls, showing not only how the varying resonances of its performance spaces have affected its harmonies, tempi and timbres, but also to show how its social character evolved once it was set apart from everyday life'. (1) For Schafer, music, like theatre, has become an intramural occupation, pursued behind closed doors. In a sense, all music has become a kind of chamber music, requiring closed spaces for its performance and the closure of space itself. Music has become more and more architectural, a matter of infinite riches in a little room. It has required and enacted envelopment, condensation, convergence, intensity, synchronicity. The orchestra has become the staging of the occupation of space by music and the preoccupation with space in music. The point of music has precisely been that it comes to a point, whether that be the tip of the conductor's baton, the stylus, or the play button. The development of recording technology, which might have been expected to have mobilised and deterritorialised music, in fact made it for a time even more sedentary and sequestered, merely diversifying the occasions of its pocketed apartness. If radio broadcasting allowed music to escape the confines of the concert hall, for example, the music funnelled into and clung around the form of the radio apparatus itself, which, by the 1920s, had achieved its characteristic massiness and monumentality, enjoining a kind of deferentially frontal listening. This frontality is retained in the epic era of stadium rock and outdoor concerts, in which, however huge and diffused the audience may be, the music nevertheless is made to erupt from a kind of vanishing point constituted by the stage. But the expansion in what Schafer called 'schizophonic' apparatuses--for separating sounds from their origins in space and in time--along with the increasing miniaturisation and impalpability of musical devices, has now brought about a vast propagation of the idea and experience of music, which increasingly can arise anywhere and on any occasion. Just as architecture has itself become more and more suffused with air, so the architecture of music has more and more taken to the air. Schafer wrote in his Tuning of the World that 'the blurring of the edges between music and environmental sounds may eventually prove to be the most striking feature of all twentieth-century music'. …

Table of Contents

Abstract Correlate Auction Bid and Ticket Numbers Maintain Thorough Records Displaying the American Flag Properly in a Parade Sponsors Key to Hospital's Golf Tournament, Party Golfing Event Tip Get Your Board Into the Act Small Town's First‐ever ‘Art Past Dark’ Makes a Hit Culinary Samples Attract Tasters Be Mindful Of Others' Connections Performing Arts Center's Gala Plays Off Upcoming Season Event Planning Software College's Hot‐Air Balloon Fair Is One High‐flying Event Identify Sponsorship Opportunities During the Planning Stage Outdoor Concerts: Fun and Profitable Spring, Summer Events

Acoustics of the Jerusalem Congress Hall (Binyanae Ha'oomah)

The 3200-seat Congress Hall in Jerusalem, Israel, was completed in the spring of 1960 after a construction period of some ten years. The original primary design goal was to provide a place for large assemblies, the most important of which was the semiannual meeting of the World Zionist Congress. During construction, the repeated use of the partially completed “unroofed” structure for outdoor concerts led to the reconsideration of the original design goals to give primary emphasis to music. The hall now has become the home of the Israeli Philharmonic while still serving its function for congresses and other uses. This paper traces the development of the acoustical design goals as well as discusses the important acoustical design features, the results of measurements made in the completed hall, and the reactions of musicians who have played in the hall.