What’s Good For The Goose

More on the whole booing issue, I ran across this wonderful suggestion from oboist Patricia Mitchell’s blog, oboeinsight: Anyway, if the audience wants to boo, fine. May we boo back when they are annoying? 😉 It made me remember an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs is the featured piano soloist performing Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody.  Right before Bugs begins to play, there’s a patron who keeps interrupting his concentration by coughing.  After …

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Reader Response: You’d Give Your What?

In response to yesterday’s article about audience feedback during concerts, a member of a major orchestra viola section sent in some worthwhile observations and strong feelings about standing ovations, rhythmic applause, clapping between movements and booing:

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I’ll Clap Between Movements And Boo If I Want To

There’s been an interesting thread having to do with audience participation going around some of the more prominent classical music blogs around the country.  It has to do with audience participation;  should you clap between movements or boo after a performance that fell short artistically?  Although there appear to be some definitive rules in place, nobody seems to know who made them. But one thing is certain, we all know who enforces them; our fellow patrons.

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Patrons Unite Part 2

To continue where things left off in Part 1, the concept of evolving giving circles into some thing like a Philanthropic Action Committee may be precisely what some orchestras need in order to help build their supporter base and increase active participation. Case in point, look at what’s going on in St. Louis right now.  The management and musicians are in a heated labor dispute that has de-evolved into a PR …

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Reader Response: Just The PhACs, Mam

After reading through the articles about orchestra patrons forming Philanthropic Action Committees, Chris Carson, a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, made a good suggestion about changing the acronym from PAC’s to PhACs (pronounced “facks” or “facts”). I like that suggestion, so from here on out it’s just the PhACs