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Well, the performances are generally very good. I do think New York audiences may not be as quick to stand up.

If you applaud enthusiastically, you are more likely to get an encore.

Over time, performers have trained audiences to applaud more enthusiastically. I usually want an encore, even if the performer wasn't the greatest in the world, because I enjoy encores.

I don't think pianists themselves make for the best audience. I even wondered at one point if musicians like music!

If the audience liked it, they liked it. There are many things worthy of applause in piano playing! Even if we are not experts, we can at least see that was something difficult to do.

I think we need to separate amateur performances, from professional ones. For amateur, absolutely applaud even if not well done. .. particularly at a student recital.

For professional, shouldn't we expect a higher performance level before we applaud or give a standing ovation? I, for one, am not willing to applaud nor stand for something difficult that was not well executed. After all, the performer is being paid to execute well, and in many cases, we have paid dearly for the ticket. Should applause in this case indicate our approval rather than 'tough piece, but not done well'?



Just IMHO.

I just think the audience liked it when they applauded. Or they were cold and wanted to warm their hands. Or they were in the mood for applauding. I personally see no problem with any of it.

Maybe if the audience were all expert pianists there would be no applause. Would that be better?

The likelihood that I will give a standing ovation is inversely proportional to the comfort level of the seat.

I stayed seated during the post concerto applause just this past Saturday while the concertgoers on either side of me (and a good deal of the audience in general) were giving a standing ovation.

I didn't hate the performance, but I didn't love it, and didn't feel as if my staying seated would be detrimental or diminish the accomplishment of having played.

I applauded because the feat of having done it at all in any entertaining fashion deserved applause. But I didn't feel like standing because it didn't make me leap to my feet in enjoyment. So seated I stayed while applauding.

I cannot remember a time in which I did something like refuse to applaud at all or something, though.

Oh, I did that once. I was sitting in the upper balcony where I was not visible. The performance was technically perfect and musically dead. The artist simply did not understand the music nor did she connect with it in any way. It was note perfect. During the applause, I quietly got up and walked out, while grumbling to myself.

people enjoy music for many reasons, just too bad that most of them are not for the music itself.

there are indeed those who really enjoy the activity of playing together in a group more so than because of the music being played. Rarely the case for soloists, sure.

I tend to applaud for the effort...A perfect performance is not required. If they are putting all they have into a piece, then that's all it takes.

I remember our college choir director told us (not unkindly) the day after a concert that he was sorry we got a standing ovation, because he didn't think that particular concert deserved it. He said that the point of a standing ovation was that people were so emotionally moved that they rose to their feet.

My teens make fun of me because I am often reluctant to stand when everybody else is. (Although I am happy to stand when I was [i][/i] very moved by a performance.)

I particularly hate it when people automatically stand at the end of a kid/teen performance, presumably just because they're kids. Sorry, but I do. By all means clap hearily, smile, be encouraging, say wonderful things ... but that's what a standing ovation is about.