(Nobody actually asked why, but I imagine someone must have thought it.) Curiosity is one reason, the other is a recent offline discussion about whether we are hindering a more wide spread adoption of the Fediverse because we dislike advertisements. It’s possible that brands and “influencer”-type people aren’t getting the kick they’re used to from the Fediverse because there are no metrics showing how many people have seen a post. Perhaps it’s different with your own instance – I don’t know! 2/7
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that people would want to test the waters by creating an account on an established instance before committing to setting up their own, even if they have the necessary knowledge and funds. I think people have become accustomed to the insane numbers on commercial social media: millions of views, thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. (I have never been part of this; my profession is too niche. Classical music accounts for just 2–5% of music sales, 3/7
… and opera is primarily a live art form, so its market share is so small as to be essentially unmeasurable. I never bothered to find out how many people I reach vs how many interactions a post gets. I really couldn’t care less!) Brands and “Influencer”-minded people, even people just used to commercial socials testing the fediverse might feel like it is not working for them and leave again, so I was wondering about the *potential* reach of a toot. 4/7
I feel like I get more meaningful interaction (and perhaps even ticket sales!) from a Mastodon post about an upcoming show than from posts on other social media platforms. But a “feeling” dosen’t help when trying to convince people to join. Or to get active. My current theater @staatstheaterdarmstadt is on here since 2022 – zero posts! I would like them to get active or even set up their own instance. I think every theater should have its own instance! It can’t be more work than FB and IG. 5/7
All theaters have websites. I’m not tech-savvy (my husband takes care of that for me), but it seems to me that if you have a website and domain, setting up a Mastodon server can’t be that hard. Perhaps it’s even possible to run it as an outlet only, then they wouldn’t have to deal with moderation. I think every publicly funded entity should have a presence on the Fediverse instead of commercial social media. (Or at least in addition to.) My experimental toot is meant to create an example … 6/7
… to demonstrate that Fediverse posts are worth the time and effort. Perhaps there is also an argument for a feature request: maybe there should be audience metrics for toots?! Though I imagine that could be difficult due to Federation. Again, I have no idea if one already gets numbers and insight by running an instance.)
Perhaps we can move beyond numbers in the long run, but for now, I fear people enjoy them even if they gain nothing from them. Kinda like a game highscore, I suppose.
@Kirsty The thing is this: few people complain here about posting about what you do.
There are instances like .art that seek creators who post about what they do.
What people do NOT tend to react well to is the language of avdertising. This can also be about what you do (e.g. LinkedIn), or specific events and services.
What @meganmariehart gets 100% right is behaving as a human being with a job she shows passion for, where she will show what she does.
@staatstheaterdarmstadt Honestly I think a theater should have an account on a “local” to their physical location instance. It would give them a better, more focused audience.
@wndxlori That makes sense in most of the world. However, this might limit the reach, particularly for opera in Europe, where there are so many opera houses! Opera fans travel a lot!
I must admit I have never been to an opera. Until $smallnum years ago, the entrance would have been prohibitive. I wonder with how much “not dressing up” I can get by in the audience… I already find it major uncomfortable to wear a shirt (black, atop black normal trousers) for our choir concerts… I do actually have an opera house in the city! Might need to look into it.
I’ve listened to quite some in radio streams (I usually have some kind of classical internet radio on in the background), though I have to admit I was never all too fond of… the opera squeking, or so. (I recently found youtube.com/watch?v=MZT61Asjqw… which places Bel Canto against contemporary Opera style-and-technique, and that is much more to my taste.) But I think I’ll want to try it at least once, to be able to listen (and feel!) it in real life (a recording is merely a bad substitute, this is something I know
... Show more...
they do? Interesting!
I must admit I have never been to an opera. Until $smallnum years ago, the entrance would have been prohibitive. I wonder with how much “not dressing up” I can get by in the audience… I already find it major uncomfortable to wear a shirt (black, atop black normal trousers) for our choir concerts… I do actually have an opera house in the city! Might need to look into it.
I’ve listened to quite some in radio streams (I usually have some kind of classical internet radio on in the background), though I have to admit I was never all too fond of… the opera squeking, or so. (I recently found youtube.com/watch?v=MZT61Asjqw… which places Bel Canto against contemporary Opera style-and-technique, and that is much more to my taste.) But I think I’ll want to try it at least once, to be able to listen (and feel!) it in real life (a recording is merely a bad substitute, this is something I know very well even as a mere amateur choir singer), plus for the theatralic parts. I probably really have to research that (and figure out clothes, I absolutely refuse to wear a tie, for example).
So I thank you for your continued presence here, always reminding me of something I could do some day.
(tbh I have a hard time going to concerts as visitor because I always want to sing/hum/… with… and ideally learn from the pros, though the King’s Singers said they’ll have a Summer School in the UK next year, so I plan for that)
Bekijk je favoriete video's, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.
@mirabilos Please go to the opera! As for attire, wear whatever you like! Seriously, jeans and a t-shirt are perfectly fine. If you’re unsure, wear something that makes you feel festive but comfortable. (Depending on the work, you may be sitting for over 3 hours.) There seem to be far fewer ties these days, basically since trump made them look ridiculous. Depending on where you are seated, some houses can be chilly in winter, so maybe wear a jumper, cardigan or suit jacket you can take off.
some people have never been to opera and in our theater in winter it's deadly cold. and some women don't know this, they had seen festive people in theaters on TV and put on their best, wearing evening gowns. and then turn blue and frozen before the end of the first act. I always wear a good warm and cozy clothes if I go to opera. sitting 3-4 hours in a draughty and chilly place is a serious test and to enjoy music I need to feel comfortable, first of all.
the underlying protocol of Fediverse is not dependent on any tags. strictly saying it does not have tags at all. it works like email and delivery depends on user addresses, like username+servername. if a connected user reposts or comments some post in Fediverse, there's a chance that his followers get a copy of the original post too, so posts spread across the different servers on Fediverse. some platforms (like Mastodon) allow subscription to tags and some filtering on tags. others do not offer that features. but tags often may be used in seatch engines on servers and people may sort out messages with tags for easier search.
I never use hashtags on Mastodon since I forgot that they were used in Twitter. They are not used in Telegram. In case of Russian mastodon there are 2 bots that boost your posts if they are written in russian. I have no idea how they are boosted if they are written in English and how, let's say, a person would find somebody to follow in Mastodon if he only registered and wants to find something to read and interact with.
@Sevapopov AFAIK people can opt out of allowing full-text search of their posts. If so, you can only find people talking about opera if they use a hashtag #opera.
no, you can't find people that go to opera and like opera by tag "opera". you will probably find fans of some proprietary browser instead. this is an example of totally litter tag.and among that litter you barely can find information about real opera theaters and so on.
I have just checked your profile. sometimes random posts reach my server and I don't even read profiles.
opera singer - this is great. I have many friends in our local opera theater. I'm not a professional singer, I'm a progrsmmer, but have a "big voice" with over 3 octaves in range (low contralto as original fach and up to the 3rd octave). it took over 10 years of taking lessons from local opera soloists to build up and learn to control such a vocal. and I still work on it, trying to reach the perfect sound. and, of course, I'm a big fan of _the real_ opera (not the browser).
I had seen some composers over here, but their accounts are not much active. though, I have a couple of friends here that write about contemporary classical music (Shoenberg-like things, etc).
this is good that people of arts come to Fediverse. the most of our local musicians use FB or something like that. I wish the tag #opera could mean the operatic context. not the browser.
@iron_bug We never stop learning! Just today I had a coaching with a bass, he is helping me to shape my low notes. I want more colors to chose from, there’s some low stuff coming my way.
As for #/opera, that could be worse, I tried a google search for Aida … the first 2 pages are all about a cruise ship! 🚢 I’m in Germany, you might get different results, idk. Where are you based, if you don’t mind telling? Maybe we have common friends, the opera world is small!
this is barely, I reside in Yekaterinburg, Russia. yeah, not the best place to live nowadays. but I was born in this city and lived here for almot all my life. my teacher was Olga Vutiras (uralopera.com/people/olga-vuti…), she is a coloratura in our theater - The Ural Opera Ballet Theater. the theater had tours over Europe in summer time every year. but now everything went bad, as you can see and musicians also suffer from this events that happen. anyway, all bad things come to an end some day and I hope for the best, that our theater wtill tour again one fine day.
@iron_bug You’re right, I don't think I personally know anyone currently in Yekaterinburg. I looked at the ensemble. But our recent Aida had an Amneris from Moscow, Ramfis from Georgia, Sacerdotessa from Armenia, Amonasro from Greece, Messaggero from Mexico, Faraone from South Korea, Radamès and myself from the US, and the director from Israel. I bet we’re no more than three degrees of separation away from each other because of opera, especially with the Yekaterinburg Opera touring!
wow! what a geographical variety. over here we usually have local singers performing. sometimes guest soloists come to play in some spectacle. usually from other Russian cities. and very rarely foreign singers. the specifics of our theaters that they have very many shows performed simultaneously. as far as I know many theaters in USA give only one opera for some long period. and in our theater every two days they have a different opera. they switch between like 5-6 spectacles during some time and between opera shows they have ballet. and ballet is also different every time. so they have only one day off - Monday. all the over days they give a performance. this is a very busy schedule for musicians, singers and dancers.
the first years I took lessons from Natalya Motolygina-Ryavkina, she was a soprano for Omsk Musical Theater, then for Ural Opera Ballet. now she's not performing and works in some business, also teaching vocal, as far as I know.
stux⚡️
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •2/7
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •3/7
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •4/7
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •5/7
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •6/7
Allen but one of the good ones reshared this.
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •… to demonstrate that Fediverse posts are worth the time and effort. Perhaps there is also an argument for a feature request: maybe there should be audience metrics for toots?! Though I imagine that could be difficult due to Federation. Again, I have no idea if one already gets numbers and insight by running an instance.)
Perhaps we can move beyond numbers in the long run, but for now, I fear people enjoy them even if they gain nothing from them. Kinda like a game highscore, I suppose.
7/7
Kirsty
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •I run a corporate page on other socials because I can advertise.
I just don’t know how many people (I think a number approaching zero) would follow an Australian shed and cladding company.
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Kirsty • • •@Kirsty The thing is this: few people complain here about posting about what you do.
There are instances like .art that seek creators who post about what they do.
What people do NOT tend to react well to is the language of avdertising. This can also be about what you do (e.g. LinkedIn), or specific events and services.
What @meganmariehart gets 100% right is behaving as a human being with a job she shows passion for, where she will show what she does.
I haven't yet encountered anyone...
Jens Finkhäuser
in reply to Jens Finkhäuser • • •@Kirsty ... that kind of thing.
On the other hand, I've also insta-blocked people who slid into my mentions with the same kind of language that I see in LinkedIn DMs.
We're people here. Our passions are part of us. That's what we connect with.
(I mean me, fair, but it seems to reflect a good part of fedi.)
Lori Olson
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •Honestly I think a theater should have an account on a “local” to their physical location instance. It would give them a better, more focused audience.
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Lori Olson • • •mirabilos
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •they do? Interesting!
I must admit I have never been to an opera. Until $smallnum years ago, the entrance would have been prohibitive. I wonder with how much “not dressing up” I can get by in the audience… I already find it major uncomfortable to wear a shirt (black, atop black normal trousers) for our choir concerts… I do actually have an opera house in the city! Might need to look into it.
I’ve listened to quite some in radio streams (I usually have some kind of classical internet radio on in the background), though I have to admit I was never all too fond of… the opera squeking, or so. (I recently found youtube.com/watch?v=MZT61Asjqw… which places Bel Canto against contemporary Opera style-and-technique, and that is much more to my taste.) But I think I’ll want to try it at least once, to be able to listen (and feel!) it in real life (a recording is merely a bad substitute, this is something I know
... Show more...they do? Interesting!
I must admit I have never been to an opera. Until $smallnum years ago, the entrance would have been prohibitive. I wonder with how much “not dressing up” I can get by in the audience… I already find it major uncomfortable to wear a shirt (black, atop black normal trousers) for our choir concerts… I do actually have an opera house in the city! Might need to look into it.
I’ve listened to quite some in radio streams (I usually have some kind of classical internet radio on in the background), though I have to admit I was never all too fond of… the opera squeking, or so. (I recently found youtube.com/watch?v=MZT61Asjqw… which places Bel Canto against contemporary Opera style-and-technique, and that is much more to my taste.) But I think I’ll want to try it at least once, to be able to listen (and feel!) it in real life (a recording is merely a bad substitute, this is something I know very well even as a mere amateur choir singer), plus for the theatralic parts. I probably really have to research that (and figure out clothes, I absolutely refuse to wear a tie, for example).
So I thank you for your continued presence here, always reminding me of something I could do some day.
(tbh I have a hard time going to concerts as visitor because I always want to sing/hum/… with… and ideally learn from the pros, though the King’s Singers said they’ll have a Summer School in the UK next year, so I plan for that)
- YouTube
www.youtube.comMegan Marie Hart
in reply to mirabilos • • •Please go to the opera! As for attire, wear whatever you like! Seriously, jeans and a t-shirt are perfectly fine. If you’re unsure, wear something that makes you feel festive but comfortable. (Depending on the work, you may be sitting for over 3 hours.) There seem to be far fewer ties these days, basically since trump made them look ridiculous. Depending on where you are seated, some houses can be chilly in winter, so maybe wear a jumper, cardigan or suit jacket you can take off.
Iron Bug
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •I always wear a good warm and cozy clothes if I go to opera. sitting 3-4 hours in a draughty and chilly place is a serious test and to enjoy music I need to feel comfortable, first of all.
Iron Bug
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •some platforms (like Mastodon) allow subscription to tags and some filtering on tags. others do not offer that features. but tags often may be used in seatch engines on servers and people may sort out messages with tags for easier search.
Vsevolod Popov
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •Patrick O'Beirne
in reply to Vsevolod Popov • • •AFAIK people can opt out of allowing full-text search of their posts. If so, you can only find people talking about opera if they use a hashtag #opera.
Iron Bug
in reply to Patrick O'Beirne • • •Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Iron Bug • • •Iron Bug
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •I have just checked your profile. sometimes random posts reach my server and I don't even read profiles.
opera singer - this is great. I have many friends in our local opera theater. I'm not a professional singer, I'm a progrsmmer, but have a "big voice" with over 3 octaves in range (low contralto as original fach and up to the 3rd octave). it took over 10 years of taking lessons from local opera soloists to build up and learn to control such a vocal. and I still work on it, trying to reach the perfect sound. and, of course, I'm a big fan of _the real_ opera (not the browser).
I had seen some composers over here, but their accounts are not much active. though, I have a couple of friends here that write about contemporary classical music (Shoenberg-like things, etc).
this is good that people of arts come to Fediverse. the most of our local musicians use FB or something like that. I wish the tag #opera could mean the operatic context. not the browser.
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Iron Bug • • •@iron_bug We never stop learning! Just today I had a coaching with a bass, he is helping me to shape my low notes. I want more colors to chose from, there’s some low stuff coming my way.
As for #/opera, that could be worse, I tried a google search for Aida … the first 2 pages are all about a cruise ship! 🚢 I’m in Germany, you might get different results, idk. Where are you based, if you don’t mind telling? Maybe we have common friends, the opera world is small!
Iron Bug
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •my teacher was Olga Vutiras (uralopera.com/people/olga-vuti…), she is a coloratura in our theater - The Ural Opera Ballet Theater.
the theater had tours over Europe in summer time every year. but now everything went bad, as you can see and musicians also suffer from this events that happen. anyway, all bad things come to an end some day and I hope for the best, that our theater wtill tour again one fine day.
Megan Marie Hart
in reply to Iron Bug • • •Iron Bug
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •over here we usually have local singers performing. sometimes guest soloists come to play in some spectacle. usually from other Russian cities. and very rarely foreign singers.
the specifics of our theaters that they have very many shows performed simultaneously. as far as I know many theaters in USA give only one opera for some long period. and in our theater every two days they have a different opera. they switch between like 5-6 spectacles during some time and between opera shows they have ballet. and ballet is also different every time. so they have only one day off - Monday. all the over days they give a performance. this is a very busy schedule for musicians, singers and dancers.
Iron Bug
in reply to Megan Marie Hart • • •