Lack of ads and 4-year schedule leave us out of 'Messiah'
Maria Schmitt
Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: Opinion
This weekend's choir performance of G.F. Handel's "Messiah" hasn't happened for four years.
Due to the relative rarity of the performance, I planned to attend one of the performances.
It appears I won't be able to, however, as all tickets for the performance (for all three showings) have sold out.
Not only did I not know tickets were required for the performance, I barely knew the performance was happening. In addition, I assumed this choir concert, like all the previous ones I have attended, would not require a ticket for admission.
Other students I asked also did not know tickets were required.
After realizing I had no hope of going, I decided to research the concert's advertisement history.
I found one e-mail about it, in my deleted folder, unopened.
Yes, I should have opened the e-mail and read it completely, but how many students open and read (thoroughly) all-campus email?
Not many.
I then considered where other advertisements could have been found.
No "electronic flyers" on the TVs in Grewcock.
No paper flyers stood out in my mind, even if they do exist.
No choir students reserving tickets during lunch and dinner outside of Saga.
No e-mails besides the original one, sent the Tuesday most students were flying home for Thanksgiving Break. I, for one, ignored my e-mail that day and, when I did check them, deleted anything that wasn't essential to read while I was at home relaxing.
An additional e-mail earlier this week advising students to buy tickets quickly before they all sold out would have been nice.
An ad appeared in the Hillsdale Daily News - if more work went into bringing community members to the performance than the choir's student peers and friends, I don't think enough thought was put into advertising. Bringing community members to school performances is awesome, but the college's own students should get a fair chance at getting tickets.
A fellow student in choir told me many of the choir students reserved large chunks of tickets with the intent of giving them to other people. While this may work for friends of choir members, students like me who wouldn't think to go through a choir member for a ticket would be out of luck, even if there were technically tickets "available," secretly held by choir members, not many students knew to reserve them through someone.
Better advertising equals happier students. Let's work on it.
Due to the relative rarity of the performance, I planned to attend one of the performances.
It appears I won't be able to, however, as all tickets for the performance (for all three showings) have sold out.
Not only did I not know tickets were required for the performance, I barely knew the performance was happening. In addition, I assumed this choir concert, like all the previous ones I have attended, would not require a ticket for admission.
Other students I asked also did not know tickets were required.
After realizing I had no hope of going, I decided to research the concert's advertisement history.
I found one e-mail about it, in my deleted folder, unopened.
Yes, I should have opened the e-mail and read it completely, but how many students open and read (thoroughly) all-campus email?
Not many.
I then considered where other advertisements could have been found.
No "electronic flyers" on the TVs in Grewcock.
No paper flyers stood out in my mind, even if they do exist.
No choir students reserving tickets during lunch and dinner outside of Saga.
No e-mails besides the original one, sent the Tuesday most students were flying home for Thanksgiving Break. I, for one, ignored my e-mail that day and, when I did check them, deleted anything that wasn't essential to read while I was at home relaxing.
An additional e-mail earlier this week advising students to buy tickets quickly before they all sold out would have been nice.
An ad appeared in the Hillsdale Daily News - if more work went into bringing community members to the performance than the choir's student peers and friends, I don't think enough thought was put into advertising. Bringing community members to school performances is awesome, but the college's own students should get a fair chance at getting tickets.
A fellow student in choir told me many of the choir students reserved large chunks of tickets with the intent of giving them to other people. While this may work for friends of choir members, students like me who wouldn't think to go through a choir member for a ticket would be out of luck, even if there were technically tickets "available," secretly held by choir members, not many students knew to reserve them through someone.
Better advertising equals happier students. Let's work on it.
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