Cellphones in concerts

[Bogey]

I don't think it works like that. Somehow the tone of most users is different on the phone. I find it annoying in resteraunts and on the train.......

Mike

Not really, too often I hear people shouting into their phones.

Bingo!  Very annoying.

[oyasumi]

On the contrary, selfish rudeness and incivility are rampant and seemingly on the increase. It's getting hard enough to find people who say "Sir" and "Ma'am", "please" and "thank you", let alone turn phones off out of respect for others.

This is completely unrelated to adapting to a new technology. Maybe people are regressing in your area. Hard to find people who thank you? Sounds cynical and curmudgeonly. That first sentence was a real joy to read.

People shouting into their phone is not as common as you think, compared to speaking at a normal volume. It isn't mysterious. Usually the person isn't aware that they're shouting, or it's out of necessity from being in a noisy area. It's so easy to whine on the internet about things, but why don't you try thinking about why these annoying things happen, instead of dismissing it with "people are rude" or whatever.

[knight66]

Quote "why don't you try thinking about why these annoying things happen, instead of dismissing it with "people are rude" or whatever."

I have thought about it and have come to the conclusion that they don't give a damn about the people around them, they want to chat on the phone and if it means speaking loudly and disturbing those around them, they clearly don't give a stuff.

Thank you.

Mike

[jochanaan]

"To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Cell phones are a great advance over stationary ones, and there are places I really wish I could afford one--but a concert hall is NOT one of them.  I play, and go to, concerts to get away from "life," or rather to experience a purer mode of life, to cleanse myself from the cares of the rest of my life; I sure don't want to have to endure interruptions from that other life.

I've noticed the same thing in church services.  Used to be, no talking from the congregation was aloud.

[Guido]

Modern concert halls should be built with a Faraday cage...

[orbital]

But something really has to be done about this problem, and I don't have a clue what that might be at the moment. 

A solution, -though it might be costly, I don't know- may be to install those scramblers they have in some airports in auditoriums

[MishaK]

At Orchestra Hall in Chicago, I can't get any reception at all. I have never heard a phone go off here. In any case, they always have announcements asking people to turn off the phone, usually read by some famous performer. The other day they had, I think, Emanuel Ax asking patrons to check the program to see whether the works performed are in the same key as their phone and if not, to please turn off their phones. 

[Steve]

At Orchestra Hall in Chicago, I can't get any reception at all. I have never heard a phone go off here. In any case, they always have announcements asking people to turn off the phone, usually read by some famous performer. The other day they had, I think, Emanuel Ax asking patrons to check the program to see whether the works performed are in the same key as their phone and if not, to please turn off their phones. 

Yes, that was amusing! I have yet to hear a phone go off in Symphony Center. I'd hate to see what would happen to said person. Perhaps Haitnik would storm the audience!

[m_gigena]

In my town the problem looks very much like this: the audience is very much conformed of senior citizens, who carry cellphones but don't really know how to use them. So when they ring, they do it for about 30 seconds, until the call is directed to voicemail. I have turned off many of those phones myself.

[Larry Rinkel]

I am certain that if Ligeti had written his Poème Symphonique in the early 21st century, instead of 100 metronomes he would have used 100 cell phones.

[m_gigena]

I am certain that if Ligeti had written his Poème Symphonique in the early 21st century, instead of 100 metronomes he would have used 100 cell phones.

Hamelin worked on a similar idea.

http://rapidshare.com/files/20604648/Waltz_IrritationHamelin.zip.html

[Harry]

I always as a rule turn of the phone if I go to a concert, or if not possible put it on vibrate, that way I can see if it is urgent.

[knight66]

In my town the problem looks very much like this: the audience is very much conformed of senior citizens, who carry cellphones but don't really know how to use them. So when they ring, they do it for about 30 seconds, until the call is directed to voicemail. I have turned off many of those phones myself.

Sideways insertion into an orifice of the phone's owner should smother the noise somewhat. It probably takes longer than 30 seconds, but the others will be making sure they know the phone is 'off' next time they dodder in.

Mike

[Choo Choo]

In the Wigmore Hall it's not cellphones going off but digital timers reminding everyone to take their pills.

[Grazioso]

This is completely unrelated to adapting to a new technology. Maybe people are regressing in your area. Hard to find people who thank you? Sounds cynical and curmudgeonly. That first sentence was a real joy to read.

People shouting into their phone is not as common as you think, compared to speaking at a normal volume. It isn't mysterious. Usually the person isn't aware that they're shouting, or it's out of necessity from being in a noisy area. It's so easy to whine on the internet about things, but why don't you try thinking about why these annoying things happen, instead of dismissing it with "people are rude" or whatever.

I have indeed thought about why these annoying things happen, and it has little or nothing to do with adapting to new technology. The essence of manners is making others around you comfortable and showing respect for them and their needs and wishes (insofar as all that is compatible with the dictates of morality). Any person with a respect for others can see that having his phone go off and then yakking into it during a performance is rude to performers and audience alike: it's a selfish, inconsiderate act. It has nothing to do with any complexity or novelty of the device in question, which is, after all, just a telephone.

In my lifetime (never mind over that last couple generations--ask your parents and grandparents), rudeness or incivility have indeed risen. Good manners and class or breeding have indeed declined. That's simply a sad fact--nothing cynical about it.

[not edward]

I once had two old ladies sitting in front of me during a Pierre-Laurent Aimard concert carry on a conversation through it. At one point they even pulled out sandwiches and started eating them.

[Larry Rinkel]

I once had two old ladies sitting in front of me during a Pierre-Laurent Aimard concert carry on a conversation through it. At one point they even pulled out sandwiches and started eating them.

And they didn't even offer you a bite!

My solution to the cell phone problem is simple. I don't have one. I can think of precisely twice in my life when a cell phone would have been of use, and in each case I solved my problem through other means.

[m_gigena]

In the Wigmore Hall it's not cellphones going off but digital timers reminding everyone to take their pills.

That doesn't happen here. I suppose they take their medication in the interval, along with the courtesy wine and drinks offered in the lobby...

I once had two old ladies sitting in front of me during a Pierre-Laurent Aimard concert carry on a conversation through it. At one point they even pulled out sandwiches and started eating them.

I ask ladies to keep quiet and silent, but most of them get angry and think of me as an irreverent boy, just like if I had the bad manners.

Not a cellphone issue, but most ladies take tight-plastic-packed-candies, and they are eager to eat them during 2nd and 4th movements. But as they are so respectful, they open the candy slooooowly, making noise for about 2 minutes and a half. If they are just next to me I ask them to stop. And if they don't, when the movement is finished, during those few seconds of silence I say something like "you may eat your candies now, provided you need more"

[knight66]

Manuel, Start taking an umbrella with a poisoned tip, that ought to sort things out.

Mike

[Rabin_Fan]

My ringtone is unique so far - I made a WAV file of my Hagai Shaham CD of Hubay's music. It is on Hyperion CDA674412. It is track 10 of CD 2 (the Poemes Hongrois Op 27 No 6 (of 1885) in B flat major). If you hear it in the concert hall, I'm the guilty party.

What are your unique ring-tones - fellow forum posters?