Tattling

A single concert doesn't normally inspire four postings from me, but here goes, with thanks to Patrick for reminding me of the one aspect of the last night's concert that I haven't yet gone ballistic overwritten about, with a nod to OT, who always notices.

The audience. What to say about last night's audience?

First of all, there were many kids in the crowd. I consider this a good thing, and by and large they behaved as well as the adults in the audience. I know there were some exceptions, because the woman behind us whispered to the two children with her at least twice while the orchestra was playing.

During the Gabriela Lena Frank piece, we heard what sounded like random claps - truly random, definitely not rhythmic - coming from someplace to our left, in the center of the hall. My first thought was that they were part of the music, but after the fourth or fifth occurrence, I leaned forward a bit to get some triangulation, and nope, the sound was not coming from the stage. The claps happened randomly for the next minute or so. Very strange.

I save my real frustration for those people who couldn't pay enough attention to the blinking house lights and the time to get back to their seats before the Bartok started. Yes, the house or stage manager should have noticed this, but adults should also be mindful enough not to worsen the concert experience for everyone else.