Once upon a time, if you wanted to hear music in your home you had to be either extremely wealthy and have a staff of musicians ... or learn to make music yourself.

There was that new innovation that took off in the 1700s: “public concert halls” where anyone with a little money could listen to professional musicians perform. But who wants to leave home, fight crowds, and sit in uncomfortable seats when you could just stay in? (Actually, the crowded option sounds pretty good right now … but let’s try to remember how we felt before 2020.)

The era of in-home performances and home-made music still flourished through the 1800s. But it was soon to be upended.

A new, high-tech disruption – the phonograph – meant you could hear music anywhere, recorded on discs or cylinders. Imagine being able to listen to the greatest musicians, any time, in your own home! Imagine! And suddenly it seemed foolish to go to all the effort of learning to make music yourself.

So for most of the the 20th Century, and into the 21st, most people’s experience of music was controlled by the duopoly of public performances and music recordings. Maybe there were only two choices for most people. But at least you had those two.

At least, until a few months ago.

(Some would argue that you also have the choice of not listening to music at all. And while that may be technically true, it’s just not an option to me. And if you’re reading this, then I suspect it’s not an option for you, either. So let’s just keep going.)

Live Music Comes Back Home

In this year of cozying the nest, hunkering down in our humble abodes, I’d argue that home-made live music is an idea whose time has come. (Again.)

Just look at home cooking for a moment. It’s seen a resurgence of interest and fervor. Suddenly people are willing to take on the recipes that once seemed too daunting or time-consuming to attempt. (Or just any cooking at all, for that matter.) For myself, cooking more this year than in the past 10 years combined, I’ve enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment as well as the satisfaction of nourishing myself with delicious food from my own hands.

For those of us with the music bug, though, home cooking only feeds one part of us. The part of our soul that can’t be fed with a fresh-baked scone and homemade jam is at risk of being starved without the nourishment of live music, lovingly crafted before our eyes, with hands and arms we can see.

Making music at home nourishes us on the deepest level.

And the best part of home-made music: it doesn’t have to please anyone other than those making it. Wrong notes belted with gusto, sudden tempo changes when the notes get harder, playing something by Mozart as if it were written by Mahler – all perfectly fine, if it pleases the room.

It seems like an idea made for the year of staying in.

The Authenticity of Living Room Music

But it’s not only because of this topsy-turvy year. This is actually a trend finding its feet within the professional chamber music world over the last several years.

When CGI technology allows anything that can be imagined to appear on screen, looking just as real as if it had been filmed; when anyone with a laptop can synthesize, process, or edit any sound into ear candy; when our eyes and ears are constantly confronted with the recorded equivalent of Wonder Bread – every trace of a flaw or blemish processed out of it ...

When this is the norm, is it any wonder that what many of us crave most is authenticity?

If you will, let’s forget – just for a moment – about the pandemic. What could be more authentic than live musicians in the living room, with listeners crammed ear-to-ear, and all ears. No backstage for the performers; no lobby for the listeners; no walls in between, real or imagined; everyone up-close and personal, warts (or occasional wobbly notes) and all. United in one intimate space by the music.

It would be funny to call our living spaces “chambers” now. And it would be equally funny to call music made in small spaces by a handful of musicians “living room music.” But we can totally think that whenever we hear “chamber music.”

For decades here in Chicago, the Music in the Loft chamber music series brought audiences together with up-and-coming professional chamber groups in the founder’s spacious West Loop loft. Sadly, the series passed shortly after its founder’s passing.

But Boston’s Groupmuse is taking up the charge, and going even further by connecting countless at-home hosts with soloists and chamber ensembles. The hosts invite an audience into their home to hear an intimate performance, and collect donations that go entirely to the performers. It’s a model that Haydn or Schubert would recognize. (Although for now, Groupmuse has had to go virtual along with so many other things this year. And I’m sure Haydn and Schubert would not know their way around a Zoom call.)

Is this THE future of chamber music? Well, we’re nowhere near the death of formal concerts, and concert halls with specially designed acoustics, and the formality and ritual that we love (and love to hate). But it sure seems like house concerts are becoming one part of its future ... again.

What do you think of this? Leave me a comment below to let me know.