# When musicians make noises and sounds during performances...



## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

Often you're listening to a piece of music when suddenly you hear _gasps_ or _moans_ or _hummings_ or whatever from the musicians themselves, even in studio recordings, especially if it's a chamber or solo work.

Do you love it? Do you hate it?

I kinda like it, actually. It's immersive and... sexy.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Livly_Station said:


> Often you're listening to a piece of music and suddenly you hear _gasps_ or _moans_ or _hummings_ or whatever from the musicians themselves, even in studio recordings, especially if it's a chamber or solo work.
> 
> Do you love it? Do you hate it?
> 
> I kinda like it, actually. It's immersive and... sexy.


How about farts? And is it... sexy?


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## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

Red Terror said:


> How about farts? And is it... sexy?


Have yet to go through this experience!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

A friend of mine was trying to get his girlfriend into classical music. As he went to drop off a letter, he left his girlfriend in the car and put on something by Glenn Gould. When he returned, she was wide-eyed and terrified. She thought she heard someone outside the car grunting and moaning. 

The moral of the story is, if you want to introduce someone to classical, try someone who is quiet when they perform.


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## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

This story is hilarious! lol 

Well, it's understandable since popular music nowadays is produced "perfectly", meaning it doesn't have any noise or "imperfection" whatsoever, all deleted or fixed in the DAW. Even the singers' breathing is erased, usually. So Glenn Gould must be a shock!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

It's annoying. Barbirolli hummed along at times. Gergeiv is noisy. Bernstein stamps his feet. Then there's Segerstam who is in a class by himself:


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> A friend of mine was trying to get his girlfriend into classical music. As he went to drop off a letter, he left his girlfriend in the car and put on something by Glenn Gould. When he returned, she was wide-eyed and terrified. She thought she heard someone outside the car grunting and moaning.


She sounds like a drama queen with distorted hearing ability.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Bulldog said:


> She sounds like a drama queen with distorted hearing ability.


Well, they eventually broke up, so there could be more to the story.

Of course, he had his own quirks. Once he mentioned his high regard for Gershwin's jazz influence, and I remarked that Duke Ellington produced more authentic jazz concert music. He didn't talk to me for a week.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I dislike it strongly. Musicians making noises I find much more irritating than audience noise, because I feel that part of the professionalism required in performance is to omit those sounds. I'm not talking about just breathing or things that can't really be helped but the kind of thing Gould did, or the worst offender - Keith Jarrett. What Jarrett does comes across to me as blatant disrespect to the audience and to the musical gifts he has been given.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

For an "unsighted" soloist, it can be infinitely beneficial to be able to hear the conductor take a deep breath as a cue.


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## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

I think Glenn Gould's antics at the piano are the most famous among classical interpreters, and he doesn't bother me at all, so I guess I have high tolerance for this kind of noises. Even though I agree that Gould is adding to the music in a controversial manner -- meaning, his melodic hummings are not a part of the composer's intended counterpoint --, despite that, his hummings don't distract me from the instrumental integrity of the music and what's the actual composition. Besides, it adds to the experience by making the performance more immersive and "real" to me, as if the presence of the interpreter was more felt and personal, instead of the platonic ideal of the classical performances, which tries to be as pure as possible by "eliminating" the interpreter, as if he doesn't exist.

In general, I don't care about some of these platonic ideals that we see in classical music (like the one mentioned above). I still appreciate projects like HIP recordings and such, but to me each interpretation can/should be its own thing, and organic noises are a part of it. Obviously, I have a limit as the noise shouldn't overshadow the composition... but softer sounds like breathing and even (spontaneous) hummings, not to mention the mechanical sounds from the intruments, are welcome additions.

Audience noises bother me a lot more in general, but it's acceptable to an extent, of course. The biggest issue is that they usually interrupt the performance at wrongest moments (like in a quiet section before building up to the climax again), and it's usually a sign of the audience's lack of interest in the music. I know that it's easy to think of coughing as a natural thing that people can't control for long, but the amount of coughing in concerts is just unnatural and absurd, and there are many interesting articles that associate coughing with boredom and discomfort, or people even cough on purpose.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

There is a L'elisir d'amore DVD where right at the end of the soprano's big aria she hiccoughs audibly as if it were the last note of the aria. Pretty funny.


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

If I'm listening on headphones, it's more distracting than on my hi-fi. Colin Davis humming along to Haydn and Sibelius, for example. I don't like it.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Humming is very irritating, but passionate breathing can be...um...less irritating.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

As a rule - no, I find it distracting, but sometimes it just works. Examples:
- Celibidache wailing and screaming,
- Jarrett singing and moaning.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm not sure I have ever heard Celibidache scream (^ any examples?) but in general I am not disturbed by performers singing along in the background. I can relate to it - it's what they do when they are deep in the music - but I do have a problem with closely miked quartets breathing heavily. That is just noise.


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