David Lubman
D. Lubman & Associates, 14301 Middletown Lane, Westminster, CA 92683
Gary W. Siebein
Univ. of Florida, Gainsville, FL 32611
Professional music critics often pass judgment on concert hall acoustics in their reviews. Because of the wide circulation given to their reviews, music critics may strongly influence public perceptions of the acoustical merits of concert halls. Surprisingly, no systematic study has been reported comparing critic's acoustical judgments with those of musicians and of ordinary listeners in the same hall, despite its potential value to both acoustical and critic communities. For this reason, the ASA launched a cooperative effort with the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA). Its first step was an informal experiment at Dallas' Meyerson Symphony Center during MCANA's June 1994 meeting. The critic's meeting provided a potential opportunity to obtain acoustical assessments from a significant number of critics attending symphony concerts in the same hall. Standard survey forms and instructions were placed in the registration packets of about 75 music critics at check-in, and were distributed randomly to about 1000 volunteers attending concerts on two consecutive nights. Disappointingly, of 138 survey forms returned so far, only about 10 are from critics. This could improve by presentation time. Survey results and lessons learned will be reported. [Work supported with private donor and TCAA Technical Initiative Funds.]