Klarinet Archive - Posting 000656.txt from 1999/08

From: "Bruce Keplinger" <bruce@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] More... Audience Distractions - A Response
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 02:39:32 -0400

Fred Jacobowitz [mailto:fredj@-----.edu] said:

> Well,
> One could see it either way. On the one hand, he is right. Someone
> with a problem should hve the common sense and courtesy to his fellow
> concert-goers to either medicate himself accordingly or STAY HOME!

And just how common ARE common sense and courtesy?

> ...it is common courtesy to others that if
> you are causing a commotion because of a personal problem, you take
> yourself outside to resolve the problem. People do this in restaurants,
> supermarkets (with little kids), etc. all the time.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that there's has been a steady
increase in parents a) bringing there children everywhere, b) not
controlling there children's behavior when inappropriate and c) generally
not applying the kind of discipline that would nip bad behavior in the bud.
I am regularly around the children of parents on both extremes of the
discipline/appropriate behavior issue, and I can tell you without a doubt
kids will be a problem when they reach high school.

> On the other hand, the person paid good money to see the concert
> and, when you think of it, he IS the audience, without whom there would be
> no concert. And, there could be many reasons why a problem suddenly
> happened which could be beyond anyone's control.
[snip]
> ...people have to learn to take more responsibility for their own bodily
> functions in situations like classical music concerts. I think I can
> safely say that at least 90% of all such "audience interludes" could be
> avoided completely by the concientious application of the offending
> audience member's self control.

As a regular concert-goer, I have seen many people over the years leave the
concert hall (myself included), walk far enough away to not be a
distraction, and commence with a coughing jag. As FJ said, most urges to
cough, wheeze or clear the throat can probably be controlled, even in flu
season:

> Anytime there is an engrossing musical passage where the audience has been
> truly drawn in, there is ALWAYS absolute quiet in the hall. We have all
> experienced those divine moments when you could hear a pin drop.

Yes, even in flu season, even in clammy upstate NY.

> That said, however, the standards of acceptable public behavior
> have dropped alarmingly in this country...

Sad but true.

To music,
Bruce

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