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Concert etiquette
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Concert etiquette refers to a set of social norms of people who attend musical performances. These norms vary depending on the type of music performance and can be stringent or informal.
ert etiquette is particularly strong at concerts featuring music from the Classical tradition, especially those featuring an unamplified orchestra. Such audiences have come to expect quiet, and disapprove of fellow members making any kind of noise louder than light breathing.
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Encyclopedia
Concert etiquette refers to a set of social norms of people who attend musical performances. These norms vary depending on the type of music performance and can be stringent or informal.
Western Classical music
Concert etiquette is particularly strong at concerts featuring music from the Classical tradition, especially those featuring an unamplified orchestra. Such audiences have come to expect quiet, and disapprove of fellow members making any kind of noise louder than light breathing. Unavoidable noise such as coughs or sneezes should be delayed until a loud passage if possible, and muffled with a handkerchief, which is most effective placed at the inner elbow joint with the entire arm then pressed over the mouth. Mobile phones and pagers should be turned off for the duration of the concert.
Concert-goers are expected to arrive and take their seats before the performance commences. The audience waiting for a concert or opera to begin may talk freely until the end of the applause greeting the entrance of the conductor (or the concertmaster if the orchestra tunes on stage). Dress requirements have become less formal in recent decades, corresponding to a general "casualisation" of Western social standards. However, it is generally expected that the audience will at least meet "smart casual" standards. Hats are not tolerated as they block the view of the stage.
The convention of silence during performances developed late in the 19th century. Mozart expected that people would eat and talk over his music, particularly at dinner, and was delighted when his audience would clap during his symphonies.
Mahler clamped down on claques paid to applaud a particular performer, and specified in the score of his Kindertotenlieder that its movements should not be punctuated by applause.
Wagner discouraged what he considered distracting noises from his audience at Bayreuth in 1882.
During the 20th century, applause even between movements of a symphony became regarded as a distraction from its momentum and unity, and is now considered a gaffe or faux pas, though usually tolerated as a well-meaning one; most audiences applaud after the third movement of the Tchaikovsky Sixth and conductors seem resigned to this fact. As most concert goers are considerate enough to restrain themselves while the musicians are playing, a rise in audience noise may be heard between movements, as people shift in their seats, stretch their legs, release pent-up coughs, blow their noses, pass comments to their neighbours, and enter or leave the hall. The musicians will wait for this noise to die down before continuing the performance.
Audience members who are too eager to applaud at the end of piece are sometimes resented, particularly in the case of a quiet finale such as Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony. The conductor always signals the end of the performance by lowering his hands to his sides. Sometimes this is prolonged past the cutoff of the orchestra, with hands held in the air or slowly lowered over several seconds, in the hope of allowing the audience to stay joined with the artistic creation even for just a brief moment after its sounds have ceased.
In Western opera a particularly impressive aria will often be applauded, even if the music is continuing. Shouting is generally acceptable only during applause; almost always the word bravo (or brava in the case of a female singer, or bravi for a plural number of singers or the orchestra itself, though this distinction is not always made outside Italy). Both words have original senses of great and skillful but bravo has come to mean well done and is used even at the symphony. Shouting the French word encore (again) at the end of a concert is understood as request for more, but the French bis and Italian da capo (from the start) are obscure in English.
Perhaps the most famous collapse of concert etiquette occurred at the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring in 1913. The music and violent dance steps depicting fertility rites drew catcalls and whistles from the crowd, soon followed by shouts and fistfights in the aisles. The unrest in the audience eventually degenerated into a riot. The Paris police arrived by intermission, but they restored only limited order. Chaos reigned for the remainder of the performance, and Stravinsky was so upset at the reception of his work that he fled the theater in mid-scene.
Rock concerts
Concerts of rock music typically maintain more liberal norms. At concerts of hard rock, punk or metal, a mosh pit will often form in front of the stage, in which slam-dancing and the like may be performed, usually in an atmosphere of lively camaraderie and mutual assistance. Dancers who have fallen are helped up, and found items of clothing are held aloft to be reclaimed. (Dancing to live electronic music expands to moshing in certain genres.) In general, singing along may not be disapproved, especially during songs of an anthemic nature. Fans may shout or scream or whistle during songs, but not continuously. Male moshers are frequently shirtless, but total nudity is frowned upon.
Heavy metal concerts also usually include head banging, fist pumping, stage diving, and crowd surfing. As many rock and metal concerts are held in standing room only clubs and concert halls, it is sometimes considered an insult to the band to sit during performances, particularly in heavy metal. Even in venues that provide seating, generally the audience will stand for the band's performance.
Sometimes at rock concerts, lighters are held in the air to signal an encore or a power ballad. With the decline of smokers, the restrictions placed on carrying lighters during air travel, and the increase of cell phones in the early 21st century, cell phones are used in place of lighters. While this is generally frowned upon by older fans it is still becoming increasingly popular.
Jazz Music
Jazz music is performed in many different settings and venues throughout the world. When jazz is performed in public places such as outdoor jazz festivals and indoor jazz clubs, quiet conversation is usually considered acceptable. When attending a jazz performance in an indoor concert setting, western classical concert etiquette is expected with one exception: it is considered well-mannered to applaud after each artist has completed their extended improvised solo.
Japan
In Kabuki an expert audience member is frequently heard loudly yelling the name of an actor at a high point in his performance (kakegoe); this is widely appreciated when judiciously timed. At performances of Noh in Tokyo however, talking at any time inside the theatre is tacitly disapproved, but in rural Japan audiences "rather like those in Southeast Asia, talk, eat, or doze throughout the plays, or even throw money at actors they admire."
See also
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