The plan I made to bring music into my holiday celebrations is working! I love concerts, especially this time of year, when every venue seems to be decked out in poinsettias and twinking lights. I was able to hear some great music over the weekend. There were eight hours of music at the silent auction, including my little group as well as my nephew Tanner. He did great, and he had a huge group of fans! Saturday, Freestone (and Ellison, good job!!) had a violin performance at a church luncheon, which was fun.
Sunday night we got a chance to hear my niece Lexie sing in a young women's choir at the Stake Night of Music. The girls did a wonderful job! The night of music is a tradition for us. I commented on how lucky we were to have a concert to go to that was close to home, FREE and so GOOD! And something unique happened at the performance last night. Drum roll please....there was nobody sitting around us who texted the whole time, had their phone ring in their pocket, talked throughout the performance or let their baby run around. That is so rare! In fact, it never happens. Even last night, despite the relative good manners of the crowd, a teen girl near us kept getting up and going in and out in her high heels. Picture it: The end of a quiet song...slee-eep in heavenly...CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! Was she starved for attention? Did she have bladder control issues? Did she not notice there was a concert going on?
OK, citizens of the world, we have to have an intervention here. You may disagree with my guidelines, but here are my rules for concertgoing.
1. If you can't sit quietly, don't come.
2. If you are a baby, you are inherently unable to sit quietly.
3. If you are under the age of five, you probably still can't sit quietly.
4. If you are under the age of 8, you STILL may not be able to sit quietly.
5. If you are an adult who is with a child who likes to ask questions, you will be unable to sit quietly, especially if you have not taken the time to teach the child that it is inappropriate to ask questions while there is a concert going on.
6. Nobody goes to a performance to hear someone else's baby cry. Scott went to the new James Bond movie, and there was a crying baby in the audience! Another audience member shouted out in the dark, "TAKE THE BABY OUT! I DIDN'T PAY MONEY TO HEAR HIM CRY!" Amen! When my students give a recital, it doesn't matter if a baby or child shouts out or toddles up and plinks out a few notes on the piano. That is an environment where kids are just learning about manners. Yes, there have to be places where kids can try out their developing self-control, patience and regard for rules. Dollar theaters at 11 am. Suzuki recitals. Take little kids to those places. Do not take them to something that cost the rest of us big bucks to see and then talk to them throughout the show. They don't need to cut their teeth on The Ring Cycle. Nowhere in The Messiah do the lyrics say, "I WANTED TO GO HOME! I WANTED TO GO HOME!" That's why Ptolemy is not going to the sing-along this year. (It's bad enough when he has to be taken out of sacrament meeting for screaming, "BUT I SAID I HATED CHURCH! I STILL HATED IT!"
7. While you are sitting quietly, it is rude to use your phone for games or the internet because the light is distracting. Even the very fact that you are capable of being that rude and clueless may be distracting. I remember my junior high math teacher, Coach Leo, telling us about the time he got to go to the Superbowl. He paid through the nose and was ecstatic about the opportunity. Then he sat by a woman who read a book the whole time! It really bothered him. If the woman didn't care about the Superbowl, she should not have taken up that seat! I sat by a guy at the symphony who appeared to be grading a stack of papers with a red pen throughout the performance.
Ladies and gentlemen, you can't just do whatever you want all the time, wherever you go. There are unspoken rules and if you are not aware of them, you not only look like an idiot, but you make people lose faith in humanity.
Like I said, all this beautiful Christmas music is bringing peace to my soul and joy to my heart. Can you tell?
Sunday night we got a chance to hear my niece Lexie sing in a young women's choir at the Stake Night of Music. The girls did a wonderful job! The night of music is a tradition for us. I commented on how lucky we were to have a concert to go to that was close to home, FREE and so GOOD! And something unique happened at the performance last night. Drum roll please....there was nobody sitting around us who texted the whole time, had their phone ring in their pocket, talked throughout the performance or let their baby run around. That is so rare! In fact, it never happens. Even last night, despite the relative good manners of the crowd, a teen girl near us kept getting up and going in and out in her high heels. Picture it: The end of a quiet song...slee-eep in heavenly...CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! Was she starved for attention? Did she have bladder control issues? Did she not notice there was a concert going on?
OK, citizens of the world, we have to have an intervention here. You may disagree with my guidelines, but here are my rules for concertgoing.
1. If you can't sit quietly, don't come.
2. If you are a baby, you are inherently unable to sit quietly.
3. If you are under the age of five, you probably still can't sit quietly.
4. If you are under the age of 8, you STILL may not be able to sit quietly.
5. If you are an adult who is with a child who likes to ask questions, you will be unable to sit quietly, especially if you have not taken the time to teach the child that it is inappropriate to ask questions while there is a concert going on.
6. Nobody goes to a performance to hear someone else's baby cry. Scott went to the new James Bond movie, and there was a crying baby in the audience! Another audience member shouted out in the dark, "TAKE THE BABY OUT! I DIDN'T PAY MONEY TO HEAR HIM CRY!" Amen! When my students give a recital, it doesn't matter if a baby or child shouts out or toddles up and plinks out a few notes on the piano. That is an environment where kids are just learning about manners. Yes, there have to be places where kids can try out their developing self-control, patience and regard for rules. Dollar theaters at 11 am. Suzuki recitals. Take little kids to those places. Do not take them to something that cost the rest of us big bucks to see and then talk to them throughout the show. They don't need to cut their teeth on The Ring Cycle. Nowhere in The Messiah do the lyrics say, "I WANTED TO GO HOME! I WANTED TO GO HOME!" That's why Ptolemy is not going to the sing-along this year. (It's bad enough when he has to be taken out of sacrament meeting for screaming, "BUT I SAID I HATED CHURCH! I STILL HATED IT!"
7. While you are sitting quietly, it is rude to use your phone for games or the internet because the light is distracting. Even the very fact that you are capable of being that rude and clueless may be distracting. I remember my junior high math teacher, Coach Leo, telling us about the time he got to go to the Superbowl. He paid through the nose and was ecstatic about the opportunity. Then he sat by a woman who read a book the whole time! It really bothered him. If the woman didn't care about the Superbowl, she should not have taken up that seat! I sat by a guy at the symphony who appeared to be grading a stack of papers with a red pen throughout the performance.
Ladies and gentlemen, you can't just do whatever you want all the time, wherever you go. There are unspoken rules and if you are not aware of them, you not only look like an idiot, but you make people lose faith in humanity.
Like I said, all this beautiful Christmas music is bringing peace to my soul and joy to my heart. Can you tell?
3 comments:
Amen! I might have to post my own blog about this. At Adaline's choir concert I bought we were at a sporting event there was so much hooping and hollering! It was so annoying. I just want to go and listen to good music.
I think this should be posted at all cultural events! So very true! I don't know where I have been lately, not blogging I guess. But I love the picture of X and Esme with their dolls!
I love that you remember a coach Leo story and included it with this post! I totally agree with this but have to admit we have a few offenders in our family....I won't name names. :)
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