Gregory/Send in the Clones, 7. Fandom and Collective Participation

Studying the behaviour and attitudes of fans at these events involves entering relatively uncharted territory for as Curtis (1987) notes, audiences are one of the least studied aspects of popular music. While the consumption of classical music is conditioned by the genre’s lengthy history, popular music is still relatively new to the academy and is only partially accepted within scholarly circles. Furthermore, because classical music is well-established within the school and university curriculum, responses to it are carefully conditioned, making the reactions and activities of the audience more predictable and stable.