Why Don’t we Clap After Classical Solos?

[davidbeinct]

Last year when things started opening up my wife and I got free tickets to our local symphony. The guest soloist was a young man who played a carbon fiber cello. He rocked the h@ll out on that cello. If he had fit that same solo into say a prog concert people would have gone crazy with applause.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Last year when things started opening up my wife and I got free tickets to our local symphony. The guest soloist was a young man who played a carbon fiber cello. He rocked the h@ll out on that cello. If he had fit that same solo into say a prog concert people would have gone crazy with applause.

The same reason you never walk across someone’s putting path on the green of a golf course. Etiquette. Generally, you wait until the composer turns to the audience after the last note of the piece is played. Then the composer will give acknowledgment to the soloist to stand up and take a bow. That’s the proper time to hoop and holler.

 

[GAD]

I wish etiquette was still acknowledged on Broadway. Audiences have gotten ridiculous over the past 10 years or so.

 

[davidbeinct]

The same reason you never walk across someone’s putting path on the green of a golf course. Etiquette. Generally, you wait until the composer turns to the audience after the last note of the piece is played. Then the composer will give acknowledgment to the soloist to stand up and take a bow. That’s the proper time to hoop and holler.

I realize it’s etiquette, but etiquette can change. Your example is actually illustrative of the difference between etiquette that is based on not interfering with another person’s actions and etiquette that to me at least is only rooted in tradition.

 

[Midnight Toker]

I realize it’s etiquette, but etiquette can change. Your example is actually illustrative of the difference between etiquette that is based on not interfering with another person’s actions and etiquette that to me at least is only rooted in tradition.

Isn’t all etiquette merely….tradition?

 

[guitarslinger]

The only once in a lifetime spontaneous standing ovation I’ve ever received as a player was playing classical. It was for a special occasion and I worked on it for weeks playing a first rate Ramirez guitar: Mauro Giuliani Guitar Concerto in A major. I now have neither the guitar nor the chops.
My most memorable moment as a player seems to have been from an uncivil moment by the crowd. LOL! Thank you God…

 

[davidbeinct]

Isn’t all etiquette merely….tradition?

I don’t think so. I used your example to say why I don’t think so.

 

[fronobulax]

The same reason you never walk across someone’s putting path on the green of a golf course. Etiquette. Generally, you wait until the composer turns to the audience after the last note of the piece is played. Then the composer will give acknowledgment to the soloist to stand up and take a bow. That’s the proper time to hoop and holler.

And I'm sure it was autocorrect that changed "conductor" to "composer" ;-)

But, yeah, etiquette. Just like you don't talk during the performance. Or maybe it was tradition since my parents taught me these things when I was a four year old attending orchestra concerts,

If you want some kind of practical reason, one is that it interrupts the flow of the performance or is otherwise disruptive. It also puts an emphasis on one person even though the entire ensemble contributes.

I think there was a time when something was considered a "performance" (or a concert) and that dictated expected behavior. Much of the rules were to allow other people to enjoy the performance. But now many things that might once have been considered concerts are now "experiences" and expected to include singing along, talking during the performance, dancing, consumption of various substances. Did the member of the audience purchase a ticket to see and hear something or were they expecting another kind of experience?

 

[richardp69]

I ain't got no ettiquette and I'm quite proud of that. I think it's super cool when a crowd gives spontaneous applause to a musician who has performed well and who gave the audience a special gift of his/her talents.

 

[fronobulax]

I ain't got no ettiquette and I'm quite proud of that. I think it's super cool when a crowd gives spontaneous applause to a musician who has performed well and who gave the audience a special gift of his/her talents.

It would probably be more enjoyable for both of us if we didn't attend the same concerts

I have seen classical concert performances where the audience did break with tradition and etiquette and applaud when they "should not have". That was in response to an outstanding performance. It may be we are in some general agreement and where would differ is whether a particular performance was outstanding enough to merit the spontaneous applause.

 

[Roland]

We have a great choir at our church led by probably the most sought after choir director in the city. Plus a talented instrumental ensemble. Our new pastor has taken to leading applause during services when they finish a song. I never knew why we always just sat there in silence after those stellar pieces that they do.

 

[Westerly Wood]

 

[fronobulax]

We have a great choir at our church led by probably the most sought after choir director in the city. Plus a talented instrumental ensemble. Our new pastor has taken to leading applause during services when they finish a song. I never knew why we always just sat there in silence after those stellar pieces that they do.

In a church context it has a lot to do with the theology and piety of the musicians. I know lots of church musicians who are church musicians in order to facilitate worship by the congregation, and singing/playing in church for the glory of God. So clapping or otherwise calling attention to the "performance" can be considered insulting and contrary to what they are trying to do, Some of them would have a long conversation with your new pastor. But others wouldn't care.

 

[Uke]

So clapping or otherwise calling attention to the "performance" can be considered insulting and contrary to what they are trying to do

My wife was a church pianist/organist for 40 years. Nothing irritated her more than applause after she had finished an offertory.

 

[Canard]

People were not always "invited to enjoy the silences between movements" of classical pieces. Mozart, for example, had people standing and cheering for his improvised cadenzas. Opera was once notorious for audience participation: shouts of bravo/brava, booing and hissing, flinging dead cats on stage, etc. Liszt was another performer who roused audiences from their seats. Stravinsky started fights among the audience members with the premier of Rite of Spring in Paris.

 

[Midnight Toker]

People were not always "invited to enjoy the silences between movements" of classical pieces. Mozart, for example, had people standing and cheering for his improvised cadenzas. Opera was once notorious for audience participation: shouts of bravo/brava, booing and hissing, flinging dead cats on stage, etc. Liszt was another performer who roused audiences from their seats. Stravinsky started fights among the audience members with the premier of Rite of Spring in Paris.

Yep, same w/ Paganini. During his cadenzas, he'd often turn his back to the audience to not allow them to see how he was able to achieve the sounds he could produce from his violin. Audiences went crazy.

Somewhere in time, cultural etiquette became the norm, and woman would wait until after the performance to throw their panties and hotel room keys at the opera singer.

 

[Canard]

And besides ... clap schlap ... when I played in bar bands in my youth it always required penicillin.

 

[fronobulax]

When the tradition was being passed on to me as a child, I complained to my mother about having to clap at the end even when I didn't like the performance. I was told to "clap because you're glad it's over."

 

[GAD]

When the tradition was being passed on to me as a child, I complained to my mother about having to clap at the end even when I didn't like the performance. I was told to "clap because you're glad it's over."

That’s some glorious mother wisdom right there.

 

[Roland]

In a church context it has a lot to do with the theology and piety of the musicians. I know lots of church musicians who are church musicians in order to facilitate worship by the congregation, and singing/playing in church for the glory of God. So clapping or otherwise calling attention to the "performance" can be considered insulting and contrary to what they are trying to do, Some of them would have a long conversation with your new pastor. But others wouldn't care.

I guess were bucking convention and starting a new trend because everyone is pretty enthusiastic about it.