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LISZTS | Nine Things That Should Change About Classical Music

By Michael Vincent on June 1, 2016

Crowd surfing like it's 1781
Crowd surfing like it’s 1781

Two years ago a respected scientist and artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic was thrown out of a concert for attempting to crowd-surf. The show was part of an “accessible and informal” classical music concert.

According to the Independent, the Royal Society Research Fellow was so moved by the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ that he began physically rocking back and forth and raised his hands above his head. Calling out during the music, and then attempted to crowd-surf, prompting angry audience members to physically remove him from the concert hall.

While this is an extreme example, the concert etiquette at classical music performances can be a stifling experience for newbies attending symphony concerts. Whether it’s the anxiety about when to clap or what to wear, the fact is, none of these things have anything to do with the enjoyment of music.

If classical music is ever going move beyond a reputation for stiff upper lips, it’s time to start to look carefully at the conventions that have formed around the concert ritual.

Here are my personal picks for none things that should change about classical music. Agree or disagree —  share your opinions in comments below.

Clapping between movements

The urge to embrace your palms in a manner so as to express your appreciation comes from an innate need for connection. But when it risks the disruption of the enjoyment of the flow of sound between movements, the unforgiving among us will disapprove. Sure, reverence is nice, but let’s not take ourselves too seriously. If Mahler, didn’t want people to clap at the end of the first movement of the 8th, he should have made people sit on their hands. If it were I, I’d be clapping at the recapitulation. This is revolutionary music, and a bit of noise from the audience is to be expected.

Standing ovations

I’ve always felt standing ovations should be reserved only for most astonishing performances. Otherwise, the gesture risks losing its meaning — and somehow cheapens the act. It is the highest honour a performer can receive, and the sincerity of an ovation depends on it.

Cellphones

Cell phones are here to stay, and there will always be people who forget to turn off them off before a concert. The result is the inevitable mortifying mid-concert phone call drawing the ire of the entire concert hall. We need a solution, and I know this may sound heavy-handed, but wouldn’t jamming cell phone signals for the duration of the concert be reasonable?

Update: I’m told cell phone jammers are illegal in Canada and the US. Probably a good thing, but certainly not for classical music.

Tuning on stage

All orchestras tune onstage these days, and so we’ve stopped thinking about it. But it wasn’t always this way. Andras Dauscher claims that Opéra de Paris orchestra tunes in a green room, and that German orchestras should do the same in his publication, Kleines Handbuch der Musiklehre und vorzüglich der querflöte (Ulm, 1801). The fact is (and despite what people will tell you), there is no reason why orchestras, soloists, and chamber ensembles can’t pre-tune before the concert, and at intermission.

Conductors walking on and off stage

This tradition seems as though it was born from affectation. Lenny Bernstein was the only one who could pull it off anyway. Let’s toss it.

Conductors shaking hands with the Concertmaster

The concertmaster is a vital part of any orchestra, but the tradition of the conductor shaking their hand risks becoming an expectation, rather than an earnest greeting or show of respect. The sense of spontaneity is gone, robbing it from any kind of sincerity.

Concerts billed with “Emerging Composers”

I always cringe when I hear the term “emerging composer”. Unless the composer is still in school, or under the age of 18, they aren’t “emerging” any more than any other musician.

Tailcoats

For those of us who live and breathe classical music, in the here and now, seeing orchestras perform wearing what amounts to 18th-century-period outfits (a.k.a. tailcoats) is cringe-worthy.  A classical music performance practice is not a museum exhibit, and unless we’re going to bring back top hats and monocles, let’s get rid of them.

Contemporary music

The tradition of ghettoizing contemporary music to the beginning of a program, regardless of how it balances with the rest of the repertoire, does no one any good. If we want to give new music a running chance at becoming the masterpieces of the future, we should treat them with the respect they deserve.

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO

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Michael Vincent
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