# Concert Etiquette



## Oreb (Aug 8, 2013)

Are you a 'boo-er'? Does it take a lot to get you standing, or are you choosy?

I can't ever imagine booing a concert or opera (even the most ridiculous regie piece of ******) as long as the performers have genuinely tried to do their job.

Here in Australia standing ovations are given a bit too easily, I think, but thankfully we don't have the hurling of abuse.

What about you? Any unashamed boo-ers here? Why?


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

No, the most I would do is withhold applauding if I am not happy with something. I don't think I've even done that. 

My impression is that some people get really emotional about tempos being "correct." Well, they are one of the things that can be interpreted quite flexibly, in many cases. In terms of Europe, I have read that people there boo an orchestral performance if they think the tempo is off. I probably wouldn't even notice, to tell you the truth.

The thing is that there is that notorious incident of Luciano Pavarotti cracking a note and getting booed really badly at La Scala in Milan. Of course, its one of the world's most prestigious opera houses. In an interview after, Pav said that the opera goers had a right to boo him, because he made a mistake and basically these people paid top bucks for perfection. They deserved it and got something else. So Pavarotti was pretty gracious, but I think he was kind of being diplomatic with a powerful segment of his audience.

I just googled La Scala and looks like Roberto Alagna was also booed there, so too Maria Callas back in the days of yore. A tough audience indeed!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

I don't boo or shout bravo/a, neither do I stand (don't see why). I clap a lot (if I liked it, and a little if it was just ok) and that's that. Booing for one missed note sounds way over the top for me. Presumably he sang for 2-3 hours, what's one note in that context? or has the audience paid by the high note? then singers might just come out and sing their top notes and then leave.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I rarely boo, think it has happened twice in 35 years of concert going, the other time at a solo recital where a fairly well known Russian performer seemingly had steadied his nerves with a spot to much alcohol and it was very detrimental towards him controlling his fingers, after four numbers he apologized and left the stage and the audience was refunded on their way out (a nice gesture!), I have heard the person since and I think that he has found pother ways to deal with them nerves.

On the other hand I'm quite liberal with ovational standing! I believe it is a good way to put emphasis behind your gratitude when You have gotten good value for Your concert seat. I can agree tho that in many circumstances, who and/or what gets a standing ovation is often quite puzzling! 

/ptr


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Have never booed. But sleepers are much more common and almost in the league of booers concerning being rude, I think. Haven´t slept either at concerts.


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

I've never booed at a concert but that's not to say I never would if the circumstances called for it. I have been fortunate to live in an area with two world class orchestras and also where many top performers come to play. I might not give a standing ovation every time I attend a concert but I do at least applaud out of respect for the performers. I agree with Joen that it is very disrespectful to sleep during a performance. I always make sure I take a nap and am well rested before attending just to be sure I am not one of "those" people. 

Kevin


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I would never boo, that's just silly. Maybe I would do it in extreme cases, like the one ptr says. Otherwise, if I don't like the performance, I just don't applaud. But never happened to me that I strongly disliked a performance. Maybe I didn't find it incredible, but generally in live professional performances there's a lot of rehearsing and practice behind. I may not like the approach, but just in very few occasions the performance was simply of bad quality.
What I do sometimes is leave the concert in the intermission when the next piece is some overplayed warhorse from the core repertoire... but that is also occasionally, when I'm not in the mood for those pieces, and their warhorseness.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Though I will probably never be one of the first to stanf, I definitely know that if the performers took the time and effort to learn what they are performing, and to perform it at all, then they deserve at least _some_ sort of applause. For me, the better the performance, the louder I clap! If 3/4 the people are standing in ovation, so will I. But everyone deserves respect, bad performance or good performance. So I clap.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Whoops, I meant stand, not "stanf!" (To be honest, is that even a word?! Augh, this keyboard.....)


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> Have never booed. But sleepers are much more common and almost in the league of booers concerning being rude, I think. Haven´t slept either at concerts.


What? Sleeping at concerts is fantastic. Such a pleasant experience.


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## IBMchicago (May 16, 2012)

I've never heard any booing. But, I have on several occassions heard raucus erruptions of "shut up" when a few audience members clapped in between movements; they may not realize that such loud outbursts of self-righteousness do much more to damage the concert experience than a little bit of misplaced applause.


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## cagerty (May 31, 2013)

Can't say I've ever been to a concert where people have booed. I would never boo myself either, as it's rude and disrespectful, even if you are at a terrible concert. I would simply withhold my applause, or better still walk out in the interval! I see people sleeping all the time at concerts i go to, but i can't understand how you could sleep through a concert. I saw an old man once fall asleep in a performance of Mahler's 6th!


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

People have different way of listening, I prefer having my eyes closed - so I don't get distracted by other things. I also like to be fully relaxed when im listening.

Closed eyes + full relaxations = sleep. Most often sleep/awake - the beautiful middle ground.


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## cagerty (May 31, 2013)

Ravndal said:


> People have different way of listening, I prefer having my eyes closed - so I don't get distracted by other things. I also like to be fully relaxed when im listening.
> 
> Closed eyes + full relaxations = sleep. Most often sleep/awake - the beautiful middle ground.


Oh yeah me too, but this guy was definately asleep lol!


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## appoggiatura (Feb 6, 2012)

Never booed, always stand. I cannot stand people sleeping at concerts. Closing your eyes is okay, but sleeping not.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

IBMchicago said:


> I've never heard any booing. But, I have on several occassions heard raucus erruptions of "shut up" when a few audience members clapped in between movements; they may not realize that such loud outbursts of self-righteousness do much more to damage the concert experience than a little bit of misplaced applause.


I'm pretty easy now on the 'in between movements' clapping. It sometimes indicates there are people there who are new to concerts, and that's good, to get more people in there apart from those who have gone for ages, isn't it? It has happened at youth orchestra concerts with many first time concertgoers there, and I'm okay with that. Concerts are very much like a ritual, so this is almost like going to a church of a religion you don't know anything about, and then of course make some gaffes in terms of etiquette, simply because its totally foreign to you.

But things that draw my ire are mobile phones going off, even after there are often announcements made before the musicians come on stage for people to turn theirs off. & they always go off in the slow movement, in the quietest and most emotionally moving bits. Argh!!!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

cagerty said:


> but i can't understand how you could sleep through a concert. I saw an old man once fall asleep in a performance of Mahler's 6th!


well, as someone who has struggled very hard to stay awake recently, I can tell you my situation: I'd had an abnormally busy week and I reached the venue within minutes of the show starting, after having rushed all over the place the entire day with little sleep the night before. It was the first time all week I was momentarily stress free. It was dark, the seat pretty comfy and the music beautiful...


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Who cares anyways... Most musicians don't. They know that people listens differently, and they know that sleeping is not a sign of disrespect.


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## Oreb (Aug 8, 2013)

The one thing I can think of that justifies murder preceded by a leisurely bit of torture: people who don't turn off their phones.

I hate mobile phones at the best of times, can't stand the notion of constant availability - but to hear the damn things when I'm trying to listen to music!


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## Oreb (Aug 8, 2013)

deggial said:


> well, as someone who has struggled very hard to stay awake recently, I can tell you my situation: I'd had an abnormally busy week and I reached the venue within minutes of the show starting, after having rushed all over the place the entire day with little sleep the night before. It was the first time all week I was momentarily stress free. It was dark, the seat pretty comfy and the music beautiful...


 I certainly understand this. Unfortunately I snore, so I dose up on coffee prior to the concert


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## cagerty (May 31, 2013)

deggial said:


> well, as someone who has struggled very hard to stay awake recently, I can tell you my situation: I'd had an abnormally busy week and I reached the venue within minutes of the show starting, after having rushed all over the place the entire day with little sleep the night before. It was the first time all week I was momentarily stress free. It was dark, the seat pretty comfy and the music beautiful...


Understandable, I forgive you


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

^ I can sleep better now  luckily, indeed, I don't snore.


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

Last friday I watched a concert with the SPSO playing under Marin Alsop Mahler's 1st symphony. A girl sat close to us, probably watching a concert for the very first time with a guy that probably took her there because he enjoys classical. 

She slept more than half of the symphony. In one moment, she started talking while dreaming and the poor guy had to wake her up! In the end, she applauded enthusiastically and yelled many times "BRAVA!! BRAVISSIMA!! BRAAAVAA!!". It was so bizarre that I was ashamed for her.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

I have never heard an American audience Boo. I can't say it doesn't happen since I have not been to all performances in America. I do think that a standing ovation is given far too often. I think it is probably because everybodys bum is tired.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

I've boo-ed a production. Not so sure I've ever boo-ed a performer.
If they're sub-standard, then fair enough.
GG


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Ravndal said:


> What? Sleeping at concerts is fantastic. Such a pleasant experience.


Bringing a pillow would then be more honest, and no doubt add to the comfyness .


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## Oreb (Aug 8, 2013)

GraemeG said:


> I've boo-ed a production. Not so sure I've ever boo-ed a performer.
> If they're sub-standard, then fair enough.
> GG


 How did the performer know you weren't booing them?


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Oreb.... I have a wonderful recording of the Nutcracker. On one exception. 

About 30 minutes in, during one of those intense silences Tchaikovsky is so well known for, a member from the choir drops their book, making a great noise. 

Okay, forgivable. 

Then a person starts laughing. The book is dropped, and THEY LAUGH! Ironically, the first time that I heard the laugh, I felt it just irresistible to laugh also. Now, though, having heard it so many times, it just aggravates me. Who knew that one laugh could be so bothersome in a recording?


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

This recording seems to have a very wide range of deliberate performance disturbance:

Scherchen conducting a controversial premiere of Varese´s "Deserts": 
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Feb07/Scherchen_599600.htm


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

julianoq said:


> She slept more than half of the symphony. In one moment, she started talking while dreaming and the poor guy had to wake her up!


:lol: she had a good time! I think she was right to shout brava. Haha.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

If you want a standing ovation, regardless of what you are performing and how you have performed it, go to Holland. There is a running joke there that the audience is applauding itself because they had the money for the price of the seat, found their way to the venue, and are actually just eager to stretch their legs by the end of the performance  In Holland, the standing ovation has been rendered meaningless.

Booing should be reserved for the worst of performances, different from a less than good night from a performer, this is about when something is clearly badly prepared, or a performer is just phoning in a performance, or less: I have booed, loudly, only once in a lifetime of concert going.

Standing ovations should be for truly outstanding performances above and beyond the already high standard good performers deliver, or the convention loses any meaning.

I have walked out of only two or three concerts, where a supposedly world-class orchestra was playing that sloppily it was annoying / distressing to hear (knowing all the foibles of what can happen onstage from direct experience, I do allow for those factors -- I talk about slop beyond those circumstances.) I did wait to walk out during the slight pause between movements out of courtesy to my fellow audience members, though part of me wished to do so more demonstrably -- so the players and conductor would know -- but walking out at any time can be an individual matter of something simple and unrelated to the performance, feeling unwell, an urgent need to use the washroom, etc. and does not directly make a statement of protest.

There is a type of applause every performer recognizes -- less than halfhearted, not at all enthusiastic, and merely a matter of conventionally polite. That is bad enough.

The Applause For Effort camp, to me, is the newer wave of political correctness where absolutely everything gains some recognition and approval whether it has merit or not, and that is more than a slippery slope where the performers are no longer informed if they have pleased the audience or not.... why bother to discern at all is the question it raises.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

joen_cph said:


> This recording seems to have a very wide range of deliberate performance disturbance:
> 
> Scherchen conducting a controversial premiere of Varese´s "Deserts":
> http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Feb07/Scherchen_599600.htm


I'm almost too scared to click on it....


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

It' s only a summary .


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

joen_cph said:


> It' s only a summary .


Aaaaaaahhhhh...... I see.

Who was it that said that the only thing to fear was fear itself?

Ahaha just kidding. I'll read that summary. 

Edit: Oh, those Parisians really didn't like the performance.... Can you imagine attending a concert, and people shouting in derision and the orchestra trying to get the people clapping?


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

no, you don't boo in a classical concert ... these people put effort into playing their instruments! Think about all the techno music these days, effortless programming and no sweat. No, I respect effort so even if I didn't like it, I'd still clap.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I've never boo'd. I always clap at the appropriate times. I usually don't stand a) because I'm lazy b) because I worry about blocking someone else's view. 

That said, I do seem to remember standing when I went to see Mahler's 3rd Symphony with Kathleen Battle as the soloist. I've always liked her since I first saw her as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Samuel Ramey on Herbert Von Karajan's home video.


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## GiulioCesare (Apr 9, 2013)

I only boo at people who applaud during an opera.

There's a special place in hell for those people.


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