Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner WouldYou stop playing if someones phone rang during concert?

As Hamelin says, the performer has not so much trouble, he is paid anyway. But all the other people in the public are suffering. If I had a vote, the piece would be replayed from start and these people were removed with a stiff fine (to compensate the performer and public) :-/

>I had a recital once where i played Rach's c# minor prelude, and the whole hall full of musically (and behaviorally) uneducated people started clapping along as i reached the part with the big chords.

Clapping along with Rach c#minor ??? Wooot?

Here's what you do in these situations: Stop playing immediately, wait for about ten seconds, then resume playing where you left off.

If you're really good, you can just do what this guy did when he was interrupted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uub0z8wJfhU

That video's been posted above.

Study before your next concert.

Not only a stiff fine, but also maybe a mandatory short term in jail (without cell phone access) would be good, just to drive the point home to anyone too wealthy to notice the fine. They are, after all, defacing works of art.

Replayed from start? No way.
The performer is paid to perform the program once. Why should he/she be punished for the public's mistakes?
In fact, the only person who should decide whether to start a piece again from the beginning is the performer.

The last classical concerts I attended did not have cell phone interruptions, but lots of coughers.
What's next, mandatory gas masks for every person in the audience?

When I go to a concert, I expect people to make noise. Whether I'm a performer or a spectator. If the performer doesn't like it: Don't give live performances. Stick to recording. And if the public doesn't like it: Don't go to live concerts. Buy recordings.

What would you do if a cell phone went off right before the coda in the 4th ballade?

Play the coda louder and stormier?

I'm not familiar with that piece (I assume by Chopin).
Maybe I'll listen to it later. Then I may say what I'd do.

Respect by the audience for other audience members. Is that not the crux of the issue?

I prefer to hear live musicians performing over listening to recorded music. I don't want to hear the audience.

The only problem with an audience is the noise they make (to paraphrase a famous Beecham quip).

It's a pity Bugs Bunny's excellent method for dealing with coughers wouldn't work in this case.

One of these is an unnecessary gadget. Not really a reasonable comparison.

Couldn't get away with that today.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this delicious anecdote about Liszt from Alan Walker's biography. (I recently mentioned this in another thread):

"He himself (Liszt) occasionally went out of his way to make an enemy of powerful aristocrats if he thought that his dignity as an artist had suffered. Into this category falls his chilling rely to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, who arrived late and started talking during one of Liszt's recitals in St. Petersburg. He stopped playing and sat at the keyboard with bowed head. When Nicholas inquired the cause of the hushed silence, Liszt relied, 'Music herself should be silent when Nicholas speaks,' This public rebuke may well have cost Liszt a medal. It was...the first time that "music herself" had answered back."

WTF?

As irritating as a cell phone ringing can be during a concert, I don't think I would ever bring myself to stop cold in the middle of a piece to put a stop to it. If it happens more than once, it would probably be best to address it in between performances.

I take my phone out, I check my textos and my messages, I call my kids to remind them to warm up the dinner and to assure them that I won't be home too late and tell them that I've got to go because I'm giving a concert. Then I cough a little, and stretch my neck, do a little martial arts to center myself, discretely unwrap a hard candy to calm the itching in my throat.

Hmmm --- Perhaps you could syncopate and try to lose them? ;-) Sort of like a driver in a car chase weaving through traffic....