Re: The Listener as Artist

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@abs.net>]

A bit off topic...

Clapping between movements was once listed in a humorous book of "bad
advice." I didn't even know it used to be accepted. In many cases, I
think it wouldn't be such a bad idea. (Depends on the piece!)

This reminded me of the concerts at my college. I went to college in a
town in the Shenandoah Valley (Staunton, Virginia). Many of the people
in the audience were townspeople. Before the concert, the organizers
felt that they had to warn the musicians that the people in this area
didn't go to many concerts and that they sometimes clapped between
movements because they "didn't know any better."

I wonder how that affected the performances. Did some of the musicians
look down on the townspeople for clapping at the "wrong" time? The
townspeople in these audiences were probably as musically knowledgeable
as the average concert goers  in a big city. Speaking from personal
experience, they were certainly more knowledgeable than the average
college student.

In a report about one of these concerts, a student once referred to
"BROKE music." (The next day, the teacher gave us a spelling lesson.)

-----Original Message-----

>
>But we are definitely on two different sides here; I'm someone who
>believes they should bring back clapping in between movements.
>
> Michael Brenner
>