Kyung Wha Chung and coughing fit

[french frank]

Chaz was wrong about most things.

[Mary Chambers]

I think it would have been all right for an audience member to say something to the parents, but because of the public nature of something said from the platform I think Kyung Wha Chung was wrong to say it.

When I was about nine I was overcome with excitement at my first visit to the ROH, and whispered something to my mother. An audience member in front turned round and (politely) asked my mother to stop me talking, which he had every right to do. I knew that at the time - it was by no means my first visit to the a theatre, and I knew I shouldn't have spoken. However, if it had been a remark the whole audience could hear, the humiliation would have been so extreme I doubt if I'd have set foot in a theatre or concert hall ever again.

[MrGongGong]

What about 'getting at' the parents?

A few years back C Hazelwood raged because his wife was taken to task for a kind of whispered running commentary to her small son during a concert. At the end two concert-goers complained to her that this had ruined their concert. Who was right and who wrong?

Depends on what and where the concert was.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think it is unprofessional to get at a child in public.

Jason was an 8 year-old boy in a Sheffield department store with his mother. He decided the 3-piece suites looked like a good place to play and jumped up and down on a very expensive sofa.
"Mummy, look! Isn't this fun?"

"Oh Jason, you're such a bore," said his mother in very posh voice.

"Well, if you ask me, he just being bloody obnoxious", the store manager commented.

[doversoul1]

I think it would have been all right for an audience member to say something to the parents, but because of the public nature of something said from the platform I think Kyung Wha Chung was wrong to say it.

When I was about nine I was overcome with excitement at my first visit to the ROH, and whispered something to my mother. An audience member in front turned round and (politely) asked my mother to stop me talking, which he had every right to do. I knew that at the time - it was by no means my first visit to the a theatre, and I knew I shouldn't have spoken. However, if it had been a remark the whole audience could hear, the humiliation would have been so extreme I doubt if I'd have set foot in a theatre or concert hall ever again.

I think if the parent had been as sensitive or a genuine music lover as you, Mary, she (mother, was it?) wouldn’t have taken a coughing child to the concert in the first place, or at least would have taken the child out from the hall when she started coughing so badly. I imagine the poor child was bored out of her mind having been dragged out to something she had no interest in just because her mother had an idea.

[Mary Chambers]

Jason was an 8 year-old boy in a Sheffield department store with his mother. He decided the 3-piece suites looked like a good place to play and jumped up and down on a very expensive sofa.
"Mummy, look! Isn't this fun?"

"Oh Jason, you're such a bore," said his mother in very posh voice.

"Well, if you ask me, he just being bloody obnoxious", the store manager commented.

That's different! It would be interesting to know what happened next.

[MrGongGong]

I imagine the poor child was bored out of her mind having been dragged out to something she had no interest in just because her mother had an idea.

I know what you mean
Classical music is boring isn't it?

[Petrushka]

This should not have been a problem for the performer to have dealt with. Where are front of house people when you need them?

I was at a BPO/Rattle Prom a couple of seasons ago when the child sitting next to me got extremely fidgety and started kicking etc. I'd paid top whack for this concert, travelled 250 miles, had hotel bills added on and all for a ruined concert. Parents will know whether or not their children can cope with a couple of hours of orchestral music so it is extremely selfish and inconsiderate of them to inflict this sort of thing on the rest of the audience.

At a Leipzig Gewandhaus/Kurt Masur Prom a good few seasons back I was dismayed to find myself seated next to a boy and girl aged about 9 or 10 with their mother. I needn't have worried: they were both a credit to their mother sitting quietly and listening enthralled to a demanding programme of Schubert 8 and Bruckner 4. The Telegraph reviewer must have been sitting near me as he mentioned them in his review of the concert.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Jason was an 8 year-old boy in a Sheffield department store with his mother. He decided the 3-piece suites looked like a good place to play and jumped up and down on a very expensive sofa.
"Mummy, look! Isn't this fun?"

"Oh Jason, you're such a bore," said his mother in very posh voice.

"Well, if you ask me, he just being bloody obnoxious", the store manager commented.

Parent of bloody obnoxious kid to Basil Fawlty:

"He's very highly strung"
"Yes; he should be."

[Nick Armstrong]

Parent of bloody obnoxious kid to Basil Fawlty:

"He's very highly strung"
"Yes; he should be."

Obnoxious kid: [to Basil] Haven't you got any PROPER chips?

Basil Fawlty: Well, these ARE proper French-fried potatoes.

Obnoxious kid: They're the wrong SHAPE.

Basil Fawlty: Oh, dear... What shape you usually have? Mickey Mouse shape? Smarties shape? Amphibious landing-craft shape? Poke-in-the-eye shape?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

[Mary Chambers]

I often see children at concerts, and I don't think I have never seen a badly-behaved one. I wouldn't count the occasional cough or wriggle as bad behaviour. Concerts have been spoiled by adults more often than by children, though again not often.

[teamsaint]

It could be Very tricky when child prodigy performers start misbehaving.

[amateur51]

Parent of bloody obnoxious kid to Basil Fawlty:

"He's very highly strung"
"Yes; he should be."

[amateur51]

Obnoxious kid: [to Basil] Haven't you got any PROPER chips?

Basil Fawlty: Well, these ARE proper French-fried potatoes.

Obnoxious kid: They're the wrong SHAPE.

Basil Fawlty: Oh, dear... What shape you usually have? Mickey Mouse shape? Smarties shape? Amphibious landing-craft shape? Poke-in-the-eye shape?