'A Quiet Word About Concert Etiquette'

[Guest]

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/10/noise-classical-concert-etiquette-kate-molleson

An old chestnut, I know, but one that refuses to go away. Thought you might like to see the 'Friends' of Radio 3 get a snide mention by 'Roderick Random' in the comments section.

[french frank]

Thought you might like to see the 'Friends' of Radio 3 get a snide mention by 'Roderick Random' in the comments section.

I think they mean YOU rather than FoR3, children!!

[Bryn]

I'm with Random on this one. Down with the stuffshirts!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

..and up with selfishness.

[Tony Halstead]

I'm with Random on this one. Down with the stuffshirts!

Absolutely and totally agreed!
And as for those appalling 'penguin suits' .... bin them, I say!

[teamsaint]

Absolutely and totally agreed!
And as for those appalling 'penguin suits' .... bin them, I say!

Yes. Give the orchestras colour coordinated kit, then I could remember which one is which.......

And where CAN you buy those shirts that the conductors wear, with the round buttoned up collars?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes. Give the orchestras colour coordinated kit, then I could remember which one is which.......

Dress 'em all like Nigel Kennedy. Then NK would probably go back to looking respectable.

[Ruhevoll]

Yes. Give the orchestras colour coordinated kit, then I could remember which one is which.......

And where CAN you buy those shirts that the conductors wear, with the round buttoned up collars?

I think you'll find they're from SE Asia (Vietnam) and China.

[Bryn]

..and up with selfishness.

Thank you for that self-critical comment.

[teamsaint]

I think you'll find they're from SE Asia (Vietnam) and China.

S'What I thought.

so T'internet it is then !!

[DracoM]

OK, so suppose a Proms audience wanted to boo at the end of a movement?
OR suppose a soloist simply walked off?
Or a conductor put down the baton and never came back?

Pouty flouncers, are they?
Spoiling clappers' fun, are they?

Or are such clappers trying to show off that they spotted it's the end of the movement, or that they know the music so well they want to show you that they can make instant judgements, show sufficient ignorance to think that a movement is actually a part in it itself and discrete and thus to be applauded as it happens?

Or what? So how do I demonstrate that I would like to listen to the music without interval clapping - walk out? Start a noisy argument? Or a fight?

So that in a way, clapping is in essence me me me bullying actually. The legacy of portable music + earphones, the iTunes Generation, Spotify, buying 'tracks'. Each track is the piece. So concert going is not a communal activity, but where you can demonstrate that YOU want to strut your judgement, despite the fact that the vast majority of the rest in eg RAH are silent.

Next time we have a live Evensong on R3, shall I organise it that after introit, psalms, canticles, anthem, we have a round of applause? Hold up score cards? Because many concert goers see their chosen concet / music as something precious and almost sacred. It is a kind of communion. Why should others rowdily wreck that symbiosis?

Hmm.

[verismissimo]

I think you'll find they're from SE Asia (Vietnam) and China.

Are those not "Nehru" collars?

[Pabmusic]

...And where CAN you buy those shirts that the conductors wear, with the round buttoned up collars?

I think you'll find they're from SE Asia (Vietnam) and China.

Well, Vietnam maybe. But they are also very reminiscent of barongs - the national male costume of the Philippines:



Very comfortable they are, too. The two on the outside in this photo are made of pineapple fibre - very cool and very traditional. If you know anyone who lives in the Philippines, they might be able to get you one.

[teamsaint]

lovely stuff , Pabs, thanks for that !!
Very classy. i wonder if other board members sport such fashionable stuff ?!

Personally, I would like Classical music to follow football...the colour coded kits for the orchestra could be bought as replicas by keen fans, to show their allegiance.
I also happen to think there is a yet to be exploited market for composer Party masks.
Imagine , for example, some bright young conductor taking to the rostrum at the proms to conduct the Resurrection Symphony, to be greeted by a SEA of Mahler masked heads in the arena. Magic !!

Right, i'm off to do some internet clothes shopping. Pineapple fibre is it?...................

[Sir Velo]

OK, so suppose a Proms audience wanted to boo at the end of a movement?

I rather think that wouldn't be a bad idea in some cases.

My main objection to the fad for intra-work applause is not so much that it spoils the integrity of the composition (although this is certainly the case in many works) but that it all sounds so tepid and perfunctory, and hardly as if the audience is suffering from uncontainable enthusiasm. After a particularly thrilling account of the first movement of Bartok's 1st PC, I would be happy for cheers to break out - but pleaase can the ripple of polite applause - so "more tea, vicar"!

Or are such clappers trying to show off that they spotted it's the end of the movement, or that they know the music so well they want to show you that they can make instant judgements, show sufficient ignorance to think that a movement is actually a part in it itself and discrete and thus to be applauded as it happens?

I genuinely think, in that very polite British way, the Prommers think this is what the performers want. For that reason, alone, I think a pre-concert announcement would not go amiss to give the views of the conductor/soloist/orchestra of the day. As we have seen this year, skillful operators like Barenboim can hold back the premature ejaculators by a dexterous use of body control.