MUSIC IN 140 CHARACTER OR LESS

Want an audience at the concert hall? Twitter, Twitter, Twitter

Thomas Burritt bangs out new pathways for music and audiences to connect

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN ARTS WRITER
Saturday, April 11, 2009

Hey orchestras and classical music groups, percussionist Thomas Burritt has a message for you.

"@tburritt: Use social and new media if you want to reach today's new and younger audience that demands transparency, authenticity and accessibility."

That message is 137 characters, three less than the maximum you can use on Twitter, the social messaging and microblogging service. (Minus tburritt, Burritt's Twitter name, that is.)

And Burritt, a regular social media user (he's on Facebook too), thinks that most of the classical music groups in the world — especially those here in high-tech Austin — are missing out on connecting with a huge segment of the public that might be potential concert-goers. And those would be young potential concert-goers — the generational demographic that just about any classical music group lacks.

"There's a whole new audience out there that's not being reached," says Burritt over an enormous cup of coffee at Clementine, the East Austin café. "People demand transparency and authenticity today, and that's the last thing most traditional classic groups offer. There's so much going on, so much competition for people's attention today, that people like to be invited personally to an event. They want to know you're genuine and it's you that's contacting them. They want a dialogue with you."

So start that dialogue all by yourself — no middle parties necessary.

"As artists (social media and the Internet) allow us to build our own audiences. We don't need intermediaries in the same way as before," Burritt says. "We can create our own networks — even online international audiences for our music — and then we can stay connected to them."

Among other topics, Burritt Twitters about "Percussion Axiom TV," his ongoing video blog that covers everything from percussion technique to Burritt's informal interviews with colleagues to how young musicians can develop their new media networking skills.

(The video blog is at his Web site, www.thomas

burritt.com, and you can subscribe via YouTube and iTunes. "You need to offer people as many portals, as many ways to connect to you as possible," Burritt says.)

For all his virtual networking though, Burritt, 37, loves to talk in person during a break from a busy schedule of teaching at the University of Texas' Butler School of Music, where he heads the percussion ensemble, as well as taking on all kinds of independent gigs and being father to three young children. (And yes, he occasionally Twitters about his children.)

"Austin just seems like a good philosophical fit for me," the Buffalo, N.Y., native says of his move here in 2001. "There's a creative intensity and curiosity here that I like."

And then there's the diverse gigs, too. Burritt and his five-octave marimba can be heard on David Byrne's CD "Grown Backwards," which was recorded in Austin. And Burritt was part of the orchestra that laid down the soundtrack to Robert Rodriguez's movie "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams."

Burritt released his first solo CD "All Times Identical: New American Music of Marimba" in 2006, which he recorded in Corpus Christi. Last year, he played South by Southwest Music Festival's first-ever classical showcase, which celebrated minimalist composer Steven Reich.

("We didn't even have much a rehearsal, and then I arrive and realize, Reich was actually there!" Burritt recalls.) Earlier this season, he played with Grammy-nominated choir Conspirare when they taped a concert at the Long Center for national broadcast on PBS.

At UT, Burritt's charted a bold path for the percussion ensemble, one dotted with plenty of new music. "I'm very big into commissioning new works," Burritt says.

In a way, he has to. After all, unlike the violin or piano, the marimba doesn't have a vast solo repertory. Nor does a percussion ensemble. For the ensemble's concert on Tuesday , Burritt has commissioned new works by Austin composers Graham Reynolds and Dan Welcher. Commissioning doesn't exactly come cheap (fees can go into the thousands), but Burritt doesn't blink when it comes to anteing up. It's part of the music ecosystem. And part of the dialogue.

Burritt's path — paved via Twitter or live concerts — is clearly one people want to follow: The ensemble's November concert attracted an audience of more than 500, downright enormous by student ensemble standards.

"People today want something unusual and unique and highly artistic," he says. "They're curious and they're smart and they'll go looking for what they want wherever they can find it."

And they'll look on Twitter, on Facebook — or in the concert hall.

You just need to be ready to greet them wherever they enter, Burritt says. "It's about taking your art and making it relevant to the culture of your time and your place."

jvanryzin@statesman.com; 445-3699

University of Texas Percussion Ensemble

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 14

Where: Bates Recital Hall, UT campus,

Cost: Free

Information: 471-5401

The concert will be webcast at www.music.utexas.edu