Every day all over the world, millions of schoolchildren manage to sit down in their seats, turn off their cell phones and concentrate on the material before them.
And yet grown-ups can't seem to muster the same strength. Sunday night's concert of the Curtis Institute of Music orchestra was a new low in audience behavior.
Couples chatted in barely soft voices during the concert. No fewer than six cell phones sounded, despite a wonderfully direct but polite announcement reminding the audience to turn phones off.
Curtis was recording part of the Verizon Hall concert for commercial-label release, so silence was especially important.
Still, in the first piece on the program, the following drama could be heard:
Ringing of cell phone.
Couple speaking angrily to each other.
Cell phone ring crescendos as cell phone is retrieved from purse or other hiding place.
Cell phone stops ringing.
Person on other end of call is heard to say, "Hello? Hello? Hello Hello?"
Husband says to wife in loud, angry whisper, "Give it to me! Give it to me!"
With audiences like this, who needs enemies?
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Cell Phones And The Symphony In An Uncivilized World
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The Author
Peter Dobrin has been writing about classical music and the arts for The Inquirer since 1989. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
He’s grateful for news tips, willing to engage in a certain amount of back and forth with readers, but is unfortunately unable to remove old LPs from your basement or post photographs of your cat.
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 28, 2008 8:57 AM.
The previous post in this blog was Rattle-Philharmonic Relationship Murkier Than Ever.
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Comments (4)
I suppose it is against the law to install some kind of device that jams cell phones?
Kimmel should start fining people whose cell phones go off, or publicly humiliate them. It's harsh, but after you do it to a few people, the audience at-large will be more careful about their phones.
Posted by Seth | April 28, 2008 9:56 AM
Posted on April 28, 2008 09:56
I would just like to add, as one of the performers during this concert, I was able to hear everything. I feel as though I should not even have to mention how frustrating it is to rehearse the three pieces we played for hours and then have a choir of cell phones obliterate the silent moments. It would be extremely appreciated if people were more attentive during announcements, and if someone they know nearby does not speak english well enough to understand the announcement, then pass the message along to them.
As a student, a performance at the Kimmel center is a big deal. Because of interruptions such as cell phones blairing and talking that occur throughout the performance, the performer becomes disheartened. I urge all future members of audiences everywhere to please take care next time, and especially during a concert that is being recorded, use our brain.,Turn off your cell phone, don't unwrap a candy, and please don't talk unless in case of extreme circumstance.
Posted by performer | April 30, 2008 3:54 PM
Posted on April 30, 2008 15:54
What really dumbfounded me was that in the middle of either the Hindemith or Schuller, one of the cell phone offenders stood up from her seat and proceeded to walk across the front row of the second tier, cell phone in hand, apparently to take the call. To top it off, I heard a cell phone go off during the Dvorak, took a glance and saw that it was the same aforementioned woman! Unbelievable!
Posted by parent of a performer | May 1, 2008 2:27 AM
Posted on May 1, 2008 02:27
Awful. It shows how truly obnoxious Americans can be -- and I'm an American music lover, so I can say that. I feel so sorry for the musicians and serious music fans in the audience.
Posted by Don Drewecki | May 1, 2008 8:47 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 20:47