I went to the opera last night, we had third row seats. Upon arrival at our seats my wife made a comment about how our view would surely be unobstructed. But, there was one seat free in front of mine, so I replied back, the view will be good provided that the person that will be seated in front of me wont be 7ft tall.
Moments later, the person arrived. She wasn't specially tall, but she was fashionable (at least she thought she was). She had her hair coiffed up. She had gelled it straight up like a fan. It stood at least 3 inches above her head.
I can appreciate that the opera is a social event where some go to be seen. But please!
I think the issue here is not specifically the noise but how people don't take the time to consider the impact of their actions on those around them. It is as if some people live in a bubble. This stretches beyond the concert hall. |
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Interesting comments from conductor Mark Wigglesworth on audience noise.
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/blog/shaping-the-invisible/disengagement-rings |
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Mission accomplished; sat through the entire concert without a single extraneous emission on my part.
The lady next to me started a coughing fit but excused herself and got up and left. It was a minor distraction and did not diminish my evening.
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You are 14 years older than me and my suggesting coughs and a accidental sneeze shouldnt ruin a night is far from suggesting everyone is free to do what they want. I noted several times examples of phones and conversations are unacceptable but thats been lost here. Once again its posts directed at me that invite continued participation. |
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It would be interesting if we knew how old the posters are. I'm 56. My parents raised me to be polite, say yes sir and yes ma'am to our elders, hold doors open for ladies and help them on and off with their coats, we had evening meals with no TV or radio and had conversations. There was an attitude that you could do what you wanted as long as you weren't bothering somebody else. Go ahead and call me an old fart if you wish but I see that lacking in the generation coming into adulthood.
Of course I have no way of knowing, but if I were a betting man I would bet that those who respond with smart ass one-liners and ridicule Devilboy because he would like to listen to a concert without being distracted are some of the younger people here.
BYW I'm going to our local symphony this evening, I will do my best not to belch or pass gas during the performance.
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Stay home and play your system. |
I would suggest that you do not LOVE going to a live concert.... |
Pdspec1: Exactly my point. Talking loudly and laughing over the music at a rock concert is the equivalent to coughing and sneezing throughout a quiet classical piece with solo piano. Obviously a cough or sneeze is of no concern to someone attending a rock concert. We have to put things in perspective here. I wish someone else saw it that way too...
So yes, I agree with you. |
I attended a Aussie Floyd show a few years ago. Behind me sat 2 couples that I'd guess were in their early 20s. The 2 men were into the show and focused on the music. The 2 ladies spent the ENTIRE time talking (loudly over the music), laughing, and texting. They appeared to have no interest in the music. Why bother coming if that's the case. I did my best to ignore them but it was frustrating. A cough or sneeze is of no concern to me but the above scenario is crossing the line so to speak. |
Why is it that someone who always, and I mean always, gets in the last word should then accuse others of trying to do the same? And the P/A "cheers"?
This is not an attack, nor have I called anyone out. It's simply an observation. In fact, the comments are rhetorical and don't warrant a reply. |
Ummm, yeah ok thats exactly what I said, if that ends this then so be it, if you need last word insert below. Cheers |
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think about what you just wrote.........
You justified 10 unprovoked sophomoric posts by saying somebody called you out AFTER you posted them?
Thanks for making my day. I come here to get entertained and you just posted the most humorous thing I've read in a long time.
Take care
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As long as you decide to attack me personally I have a right to not only reply but to stand by and continue to push my opinions. Im not a dog and wont roll over because you want me to, its obvious I made my point and its obvious you want to continue to stir things up. Whats ironic is your lecturing about not letting something go, try it yourself. |
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Really? Go back and count how many times you have been called out for your attitude. I called you out for posting the same thing over and over; not for what you posted. I saw one other comment directed at you. That requires you to say the same thing a dozen times?
You are just entertaining yourself at our expense by being obnoxious.
Oh well, you get all kinds on the net.
Take care
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Because people like you keep calling me out by name for having a laid back no complaints attitude about sneeze and coughs. |
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Chad, I'm with Devilboy
You've made basically the same response about 15 times
We understood your point the first time
Why do you feel the need to say the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over?
What are you; like 6 years old?
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Never saw it, thats one of those shows I never try to watch but somehow laugh every time I see it. |
@Chad,
Your reply reminds me of an episode of "Family Guy" segment where Peter Griffin started making "Old Guy" noises. Funny Sh.t.
@Devilboy,
Have you ever farted in public... loudly/silently? |
Instead of a Classical show in Philly, next time go to an Eagles game with a Cowboys Jersey on. |
Sorry if I think accidental human functions are not a performance ruining experience. Cheers! |
Chadnliz: Enough already with the, "horrible lives", angle. Let me remind you this is an audio site and within this site members discuss things related to audio. This site is a platform for such discussions. |
Haven't been to a classical concert in about 5 years, but I remember the same thing occuring, the sneezing, coughing, but without an air conductor in the first row. It's mystifying because it almost seems at times, like people do it intentionally. What price for an evening among the cultured!! LMAO. |
Dont Tp, you will make me sneeze! |
Excuse me while I pass a little gas !!!!!! |
You guys have such horrible lives, its all so tragic! |
I assume your systems and ears can 'resolve' these things. hahahahhahaha sorry, couldn't resist. |
I was speaking of a recording. That means you hear it every time you play it. It's like the audience being between you and the player. Thats a little different from being in the mood and moment at the club live. Violinist breathing, I would not even hear that at the live event. But I do hear it on CD. I hear it everytime I play it. Its louder than the soft passages of the music. Sorry I didn't make it clear. |
OK, I can't take it anymore. I think you guys are taking this a little too far. I think we can all agree that a perfectly quiet audience is best, and that some people are clueless and selfish, and .... But, it's not reality. We can't have it both ways. We can't have that which makes live performances special (the humanity) and expect total absence of it a the same time.
If some extraneous noise at a performance can ruin (!?) the experience for you, then IMO you simply don't get what is special about the live experience to begin with.
****His performance of Poinciana was magical, but the talking in the background just ruined it****
Which is it? Was it magical? Or was it ruined?
Listened to Bill Evans' Village Vanguard sessions lately? Didn't stop Evans from making amazing music. If he can do that with the talking in the background, surely I can muster up a way to enjoy it. |
Or even worse they sometimes sing. |
Those damn performers breathing, I hate that! Lol |
This problem is not limited to classical venues. Live Jazz recordings suffer from noisey / indifferent audiences also. Esp those recorded in clubs. A good example is 'Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing.'
His performance of 'Poinciana' was magical, but the talking and laughing in the audience just ruined it. Maybe being there would have beeen different, but on a recording, it's just a shame. And the applause was very, very 'polite.'
What about violinist breathing? I have a sophie-Mutter sacd that I cannot listen to becasue of her breathing. I guess it's always something, as Miss Gilda always said. |
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 |
Add, nose blowing-throat clearing-whispering-playing with the concert program-purse rummaging-crinkling candy/gum wrappers and not being able to sit still. I think this covers it. Remember when attending a formal concert, "silence is golden"! |
I just dont have it in me to get mad about unintended noise, life is too good for that pettiness. Some are rude for sure but the sneeze and cough isnt in that spirit. |
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Interesting
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Chad, you've posted over 10 times to this thread and have said basically the same thing every time.
I'm beginning to think you sneeze and cough a lot at concerts :>)
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If accidental human functions like a sneeze or cough make you guys this miserable than thats ok by me, suck it up. This has nothing to do talking or phones, if its a unplanned cough or sneeze I am not hateful enough to get bent about it. Cheers |
Paid or not and how much is irrelevant. It is about manners, and concert hall is not a private party. Which basically means shut up, stay that way and listen to music. |
Ranting about a cough or a sneeze is taking it too far, they paid for tickets aswell. |
Chadnliz: Sorry if my first reaction upon hearing someone disrupt the music I'm 1) paying to hear, and 2) trying to have a emotional connection with, isn't, "Well, at least I have a job." While I understand the point you were trying to make, it still doesn't justify the actions by the people. There have been remarks calling some of us "classical snobs." We are not snobs, we just have the courtesy to respect the listening experience of others. |
Photon, almost the 100yr mark of those riots. |
Oh poor you having your concert ruined by a sneeze or cough, how "boorish" of the public to get in your way of enjoying the concert. Your lucky you can enjoy a show as am I being a season ticket holder for our local sympony but if its accidental noise I dont cry about it. I noted earlier phones and talking are a different story but you guys take it too far. Lets not try to qualify who is and isnt serious about music please.
I can see why your bitter being a Browns fan, as I am too. Well now I tell everyone I am not a fan but a victim. :)
My point was that if you and I are lucky enough to be able to enjoy regular concerts then life is pretty damn good, do you think people much worse off would sympathize with our "problem"? Cheer up! |
THANK GOD we all weren't attending the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris! |
Chadnliz, If you had a noisy tube, horrendous RFI, or a worn stylus and you came here for advice, would you expect to hear "grow up guys?" I know this is hard for some to understand, but there are people here who are dead serious about music. They are not juvenile because they take exception to people who ruin their concert experience through rude and boorish behavior. |
The fact we or anyone is bitching about noise at concerts we attend shows you we have it pretty damn good, grow up guys, it could be worse! |
Rcprince. You are correct, we all want to see expansion of audience, and I don't think anyone seriously wants them run out of the hall, electrocuted, or doused with a bucket of paint. Sneezing and coughing, while annoying, is actually decreasing now that smoking is becoming less common.
In Indianapolis there is an announcement to turn of cell phones, pagers, watch alarms etc, before the concerts. In contrast, while there is considerable hand wringing over the applause problem, I have yet to hear or see any guidance given on applause, apart from one episode several years ago where the conductor made it very clear there should be no applause during Mozart's Requiem. I thought about applauding his announcement, but thought better of it. You are correct in suggesting that proper etiquite needs to be explained. People are not going to figure this out by themselves.
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I must agree with Frogman. I have heard Maestro Jarvi conduct a lot of concerts, and have never heard a lackluster performance with him at the podium. The man lives music, and has a special ability to get the orchestra to bring out the most of the emotion in a work.
I am sympathetic to the OP's complaint in some respects. I am far less tolerant of the people who leave their cell phones on (that's plain carelessness or something worse) than the coughs and sneezes, which happen. And I have been fortunate not to experience some of the things some of the other posters have mentioned. However, orchestras do need to expand their audience base, and along with that comes a need to reach and educate a new audience. I agree that parents teaching their children is a big part of it, and it also helps to have the program notes, or the conductor or concert host, inform the audience of proper concert behavior or even warning the audience that they may be tempted to applaud at a point, but to hold back because it's not quite the end of the piece (such as the end of the third movement of the Tchaikovsky 6th, or where you're dealing with a solist-particularly a high-strung one--who wants to keep his/her concentration). But if the audience applauds at the end of a movement before the end of the piece, hey, let's live with it. We're making more people aware of this art form. They can and ultimately will learn the manners, let's not chase them out of the hall. This is not an exclusive club, you know; the more people we expose to classical music and the classical music concert experience, the better our chances to have fine orchestras to listen to in the future. |
Let's talk about something that really matters: Neeme Jarvi, lackluster?!?!. What music was he conducting? Jarvi is one of the greatest living conductors. |
The cough or sneeze can be annoying. Is it that difficult to control a body function for 60-75 minutes before intermission! Of the close to 100 concerts me and my wife have attended I can't recall either of us having an issue. Are only issue was the lackluster conducting(Neeme Jarvi) and performance of the DSO! |
