BassDad

There is an article on the Chorus America website at Chorus America - Encore: Ovation Inflation? that highlights a phenomenon I have noted over the years. While standing ovations used to be pretty rare, they now seem to happen at more performances than not. It does not bother me when the performers are young students. They need all the encouragement they can get and nobody wants to be the only one left sitting when all the other parents of the performers are on their feet. It bothers me more at professional or near-professional level concerts, particularly when a poorly-played warhorse gets the royal treatment and a brilliantly-executed but unfamiliar piece gets only polite applause. It bothers me most of all as a performer on the occasions when I know that the quality of the presentation was not what it could have been, yet the audience members spring to their feet and clap as though it were the performance of a lifetime. I wonder whether they have any concept of what they just heard, or whether they are simply happy that it is over. Does this bother anyone else, or am I just being an elitist snob?

lorelei2702

Quite often, I am the only one sitting. As a professional, my gesture has to mean something. I make it a point to applaud heartily and for the duration. OTOH, there have been a few times when I was almost the only one standing, and more likely than not it was for a performance of an unknown work, challenging, well done, and moving to me. I am with you!

jazzzmomm

I guess I am with you on this, too, BassDad. Even though I am not a musician, I have noticed that the most mediocre Broadway musicals never fail to get a standing ovation from the audience. This irks me, and sometimes I just sit there...like an elitist snob (!)

cartera45

I recently attended the national tour of My Fair Lady in Baltimore and there was a standing ovation. When I read one quite harsh review, one critic noted that "once again, we see that Baltimore will stand for anything." I had never really thought about it much before that. I guess that unless I really feel moved to my feet, I shouldn't just get up because everyone else does, but I'll admit I do.

dg5052

We have witnessed the phenomenon of standing ovations as a matter of course--our large southern city has a well regarded professional theater which we regularly attend. Some of the performances are truly outstanding and some are just ok--but over the last 25 years of attending 4 or 5 shows every year, ALMOST WITHOUT FAIL each performance gets a standing ovation. This really makes me crazy, and I no longer join in unless I mean it.

It's like kissing (or whatever) every single guy you know--at a certain point, it's not special any more!

rudysmom

Well my take on this (coming form a country girl) is I'm just happy to be able to stand. If I've enjoyed a presentation and everyone else stands, who cares? I'm always happy to have been able to attend & probably most feel about the same.

Honestly, I have never noticed this but will from now on - - not that I'll change. I do know when to hold my applause tho

violadad

I've noticed it as well, and have seen my share of professional concerts where the performance was anywhere from adequate to lackluster, and the audience is on their collective feet.

Perhaps some of this is due to a "sheep" mentality, as the back rows rise just because the rows in front have risen. Just being politically correct, perhaps. On such occasions, I also declare my elitist snob status by remaining seated.

thumper1

Sometimes I stand because if I remain seated, I can't even SEE the ensemble or conductor for the bows (short person speaking)

Vieuxtemps5

What's the big deal? With classical music in the state that it is, I'm not going to become a snob about it. It's ironic to me that some of the most incredible performers of the 20th century are the ones who are teh MOST gracious even when there is applaus that should not be there (like between movements).

How do you make people start to realize what's good and what's not? Give them something to clap for. It will take another generation I think, but the quality has got to be raised. People are not stupid, they are only treated like they are, and thus you have a situation with many different problems.

violadad

Vieuxtemps- BassDad wrote:<It bothers me most of all as a performer on the occasions when I know that the quality of the presentation was not what it could have been, yet the audience members spring to their feet and clap as though it were the performance of a lifetime.>

Back in the old days, and I ain't talking last century, the standing ovation tended to be reserved for stellar performances, not run of the mill, expected quality presentations. Perhaps the practice of applauding has morphed from the seated to the standing position. Times change, habits change. It may be that the old school is dying out, and us semi-geezers are just not used to seeing a younger audience and more enthusiastic response for an average performance, be it classical, theater, heavy metal, or a sport star's boring tirade at an awards dinner.

As a performer, it bothers my son to receive a standing accolade if he knows the performance did not warrant it. I assume it would bother you as well.

I agree with you that classical music needs revitalization, and audience participation is one of the means to achieve it. Small ensembles are bringing their performances to club venues, and interspersing Bach and Beethoven with popular and contemporary pieces. Unconventional, yes, but the music is reaching a non-standard audience, who just might start going to the symphony.

I have enough faith that my son's generation of musicians collectively will do what is necessary, and if it means applauding between movements, so be it.

Just don't allow cell phones to ring.

musicmomic

I'm with BassDad. I have seen the SO become more and more typical for lower and lower quality performances and it's not solely in the arena of classical music. As noted earlier, it's true for musicals and other genres.

I am also often one of few sitting but I do save my gesture for outSTANDING performances -- otherwise, it means little and has no value to the performer.

FiddleMom

I wonder if many of our younger listeners even know what a standing ovation traditionally meant- esp. if they are not also performers. Our young people (maybe 40 and under?) aren't accustomed to events that are traditionally "prim and proper."

My observation after a 10+ year hiatus from the USA (in a country of traditionally quieter, more reserved people than Americans) was that, in general, Americans have become louder and less restrained in their applause at all kinds of events. It has bugged me to no end to have to listen to whistling and thunderous clapping in places that previously would have brought mild applause.

neumes

on the other hand--an interesting article in NY Times a couple of weeks ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/ar...talking&st=nyt

BassDad

Please don't get me wrong. Whatever they may think, no performer should ever APPEAR to be ungracious in front of an audience, even when an expression of gratitude comes at unexpected times or in unwarranted amounts. There may be times when one puts on a tight little smile, nods politely and, with no perceptible movement of lips, mutters something scathing sotto voce that only an adjacent performer can hear. That is only human. When done properly, the smile on the neighbor's face may even become genuine. Just be sure that there are no microphones nearby.

BassDad

Holland makes some excellent points in that Times article. I have heard of performances of operas and operettas where the show was literally stopped by the reaction of the audience and the performers were obliged to give an encore in the literal sense - an immediate repetition of all or part of the piece just completed. I also understand that in Baroque orchestras, before conductors with batons were the norm, the usual method of keeping time involved the leader thumping on the floor with a long pole. In fact, the story goes that the French composer Lully died after accidentally bringing the pole down on his foot and contracting gangrene.

While we may simply be regressing to what once was common behavior, it is still hard to teach veteran concert-goers new manners.