# Mobile phones during a concert: what would you do?



## Guest (Jun 7, 2015)

Dear All,
I'm not too bright and would like to ask you how to set up a poll on this forum. I'd like to make one to find out what you would do in the situation reported in this article:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/to...fiscated-phone-philadelphia-orchestra-concert

Personally, I'd like to knife them all, but I don't see the point of doing jail time for other people's inconsiderate habits.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

And this might be the piece where you could get away with it.....


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I once had a new phone, thought that I had turned it off, only to have it ring quite loudly. I was mortified because I normally am the one on the jihad against such rudeness .
At the risk of being non PC, I will say that when I was in Vienna a few years ago, by far the biggest offenders are Japanese tourists. Hordes of them would click their phones and iPads during Concerts and take calls. Clearly this is a Cultural issue.
I favor confiscating all electronic devices and ejecting non compliant offenders


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## AnotherSpin (Apr 9, 2015)

Torture in a most vicious way and than kill fast without a trace of mercy. In intermissions. Sounds of agony of those guilty would be reproduced in highrez quality (no jitter, please) through internal sound system. For joy and reminder to all.


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## Guest (Jun 7, 2015)

This reminds me of my noisemongers thread. TBH, it's a major reason why I think twice about going to public performances, whether concert, cinema or theatre. I'm currently grimly hanging on, but my partner won't go to our local cinema anymore because she gets so annoyed at the inconsiderate selfish behaviour.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I think the stage manager should remind everyone at the start that their phones should be switched off, and add that if anyone's phone goes off, an usher will ask them to leave at the end of the piece/movement, and there will be no refund.


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## AnotherSpin (Apr 9, 2015)

Ingélou said:


> I think the stage manager should remind everyone at the start that their phones should be switched off,


 Most of them will switch on after such reminder. If mobile hell was switched off by any reason.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Guys - it's 2015. People carry all kinds of electronic devices, and for some, they might be more important than your outdated concepts of a "live concert" and the ancient behavioral codes that come with them. How is it different from accidental coughing? A bit more tolerance to diversity, please, dear luddite elitists.

Gotcha! Just joking. Bring on the torture chamber, no mercy.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Xaltotun said:


> Guys - it's 2015. People carry all kinds of electronic devices, and for some, they might be more important than your outdated concepts of a "live concert" and the ancient behavioral codes that come with them. How is it different from accidental coughing? A bit more tolerance to diversity, please, dear luddite elitists.
> 
> Gotcha! Just joking. Bring on the torture chamber, no mercy.


Now _that's_ the real question!! Haha I go back and forth on the coughers. One moment I'm furious at them and then a wave of sympathy comes through me. I think if they are chronic coughers, they should know about the issue and take cough suppressants. However, if the cough suppressant doesn't work or if it is an unexpected cough, I'd feel more lenient. Probably most coughers though are newbies or people who were dragged there and don't know the etiquette.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Mobile phones should be switched off, obviously.

*Exception* could be when performing John Cage's _4'33"_ as it is all part of the silent experience of whatever noise that might come through during the four and a half minutes is music. There is no such thing as etiquette with _4'33"_. It's all part of the musical experience ..


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

But what if 4'33'' is my ringtone....


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## Zarathustra (Dec 21, 2013)

On June 6th, a day before this thread started I went to see a concert, Mahler's 6th. At the quiet part immediately before the second hammer blow of the finale, the cell phone of the guy next to me started ringing. Terrible timing. We were on the front row right behind the maestro so it was impossible for the orchestra not to notice it.

At the start of the concert there was a message asking people to turn their cell phones off. I suppose during the intermission after Alban Berg's Passacaglia and Seven Early Songs and before Mahler's 6th he must have switched it back on.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

In a perfect world every venue would be able to activate some kind of atmospheric 'signal killer' so that even incoming alerts wouldn't register until the damned things were taken out of the place.

Otherwise, hand any devices in before the concert starts and be issued a cloakroom ticket to reclaim it when it's over - sadly impractical if the attendance is large.


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## pianississimo (Nov 24, 2014)

A signal killer wouldn't stop an alarm though. That happened to me at a concert. I'd managed to set an alarm for 20:11. Don't ask me how!! The iPhone lists alarms in time order and it was off the page so I didn't know it was there. The phone was on silent but I could hear it start up. Fortunately it was during the loud bit at the start of Tchaikovsky piano concerto 1 so most people didn't hear it. I always switch off now. Also I've been told that mobile phones cause feedback in hearing aid systems. I was sitting next to a guy a while ago who was wearing one. It started making noises and he was forced to switch it off for part of the performance. I felt sorry for him because his consideration for other people and the interference in his hearing aid meant he wouldn't have heard a lot of the concert.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Of course, mobile phones are switched-off at the beginning, as invariably suggested by the venue management. Then again, someone can forget, or make a mistake. This just happens sometimes. And it's not such a terrible thing. It's life.

I attend quite a few live performances and I understand some noises are just part of the packet in *every* performance, and not only in _4'33_''. I'm a tolerant kind of guy, and my intention when listening to live music, it's to enjoy, and not to torture myself with coughs, the (very) occasional mobile phone, or people using fans when the air conditioning is not working well.


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> Mobile phones should be switched off, obviously.
> 
> *Exception* could be when performing John Cage's _4'33"_ as it is all part of the silent experience of whatever noise that might come through during the four and a half minutes is music. There is no such thing as etiquette with _4'33"_. It's all part of the musical experience ..


Lumbered on post 10. Has to be Art Music.


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