Limelight Magazine felt the need to publish this slightly preachy article on Classical Music concert etiquette.  Is this really necessary?
Personally, I try to keep all my solo concerts as friendly as possible (ensemble stuff over which I have no control, well, that’s another matter entirely!).  At my last solo concert I asked “Hands up if you’ve never been to a classical music concert before?” and I would say that roughly 20% of the crowd answered yes.  I told them straight away up front that they could clap at any time they felt they wanted to show some appreciation.  The interesting thing was that they didn’t clap between the movements of Philip Glass’s Metamorphosis.  Maybe they were still a little scared of behaving appropriately? Or maybe they were actually just really in the music? I prefer to think the latter, but I’m sure for some of them the former is more accurate! *lol* At any rate, I did feel an energy, a hushed anticipation in the room between movements and it really helped me as a performer to focus on what was coming next. I was upfront about my expectations and it somehow managed to pay some dividends in the end. Go figure.
Another recent experience of audience behaviour.  I recently performed in a concert with Sydney Children’s Choir, a world premiere work that was the culmination of a bunch of outreach workshops with some kids from Sydney’s western suburbs, kids who don’t normally have any opportunity to make music.  To me, the audience seemed very noisy and distracting - there were phones and iPads and people chatting and eating popcorn and… it was as if we’d all gone to the movies to see the latest school holiday blockbuster.  It was annoying me that people weren’t really paying proper attention.  However, when I stepped outside and saw some of the parents of the kids from those workshops, they were so excited and gushing about how it’s the best thing their kid had ever done and they were so grateful and when were we coming back to do another. Wow.  I kept thinking to myself “If you’d really listened, you would have gotten so much more from that performance”. But maybe I’m just being snobby?  Argh, the more I think about it, the more shades of grey I seem to find!
At any rate, I have vaguely niggling doubts about this article. I do feel that some people will find this prescription for behaviour a little distancing, perhaps even alienating.  Good on them for trying, I guess…. :s
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