Fed up with people making noise at classical shows

Very interesting posts. In my opinion, I do not go to concerts, the theater, movies, etc. to hear the life of the person sitting near me. I came to see the movie, hear the performance, see the dance, etc. I do find it extremely rude when people can't or won't shut up and sit still during the performance. If they are having bodily functions that are difficult to control, get up and go to the lavatory. It is that simply. I notice some posts here whereby derogatory things are said about others. That is totally unnecessary. It is amazing how rude some people can get when they are posting online, but in person, they would never talk to others that way. It is my belief that MC's assume that people will be polite enough to excuse themselves if they need to. But maybe they need to make a statement to the audience about being considerate to others. One classical concert years ago, the conductor stopped the orchestra, because people were talking and coughing to distraction, turned to the audience and asked them pointedly to stop and excuse themselves and then continued. During the remainder of the concert, no one coughed. Not one person. Remember, this is your body, and you are or should be in control of your body. You feel gas building up, go to the lavatory. You don't cut loose in a room full of people. You have to cough, unless, something is stuck in your throat, you can control this. If you have a cough or cold/flu, take something to prevent coughing until the concert is over. This is called being considerate of others. Some people don't realize that what they are doing is rude, and some people simply don't care as demonstrated in some of the reply posts here. Maybe a sign or a statement from the officials saying, that "the audience is here to see/hear the performance, not you or your phone, so please leave your cold, flu, talking, phone, conversation, etc. at the door". Again, certain performances dictate that you get up and dance, sing, etc. Others, you sit, be silent and enjoy the performance. Young people who's parents are sometimes five minutes older than they are were never taught or told and that is all that is needed. Simply ask them to be quiet. It is funny to me reading some of the negative posts. At what point is something rude to those people? I know they have limits also. Anyone remember the TV show Serenity? One line stays with me. There is a special place in hell at the lowest level for people that take advantage of women and for people that talk in theaters. Very funny.

enjoy

A most interesting collection of posts. I really enjoyed reading everyone's responses and reasoning. As I mentioned previously, to me, it does depend on the type of concert being performed. I played classical violin for many years (was actually first chair for a time), and I can tell you that in several classical and jazz performances, silence from the audience is critical. In other jazz, blues, rock, pop concerts, well, lets just say, it is okay and fun to get up and sing and dance with the performance. Despite the sometimes negative views expressed here, I know for certain that every single one of us has their upper limit as to what they consider acceptable. Going to a performance, concert or especially a movie and someone constantly kicks my chair is not only distracting, but downright rude. A cough now and then is not a problem. But every other person in the theater coughing is downright rude and distracting and again, unless you are absolutely sick and dying, you can absolutely control your coughs. Other bodily functions, well, that is simply controlable and rude if you do it in public. I went to a concert a little while ago with Eliane Elias. She was wonderful. However, on one introduction passage, quiet piano absolutly quiet, about to hit the key note to begin the melody and a person's phone rang. Dead Silence afterwards. The artist simply stopped, looked at the person, said something humerous to play it off and continued. However, it absolutely killed the introduction and the moment. And, all of us were asked to turn off our phones before the performance began. Some people are paying attention, don't care or don't like others telling them what to do. Some others are simply inconsiderate and rude.

I stick by my opinion. no disrespect to others here, but rude is rude. Inconsiderate is inconsiderate. There are times and places to make noise and there are other times and places where it is not acceptable.

enjoy