Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Cell phones are a turn-off at orchestra
couier-journal: "When I attend Louisville Orchestra programs in the Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall, I sit in the front row of the grand tier (that's the first level up from the ground-level seats). This vantage point allows me to observe my fellow concertgoers sitting below me. And what I see, more and more, is the collective flickering of multiple cell phone screens. Not before the music starts, which would be reasonable. But during the actual performances, which is wholly unreasonable."
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18 comments:
"installing equipment that would jam cell phone signals and thus make them inoperable inside the auditorium."
i remember commenting on another article about this a while ago.
they need to find a way to invent a system that can jam only audience members cell phone signals, because there are people in the theatre, such as crew members that might need a cell phone in case of an emergency.
Okay, so the problem here is not really cell phones - they are just symptomatic of a greater epidemic. As a society, we have somehow completely forgotten manners and we have also somehow decided that it is better to communicate with a machine than with humans - standing right in front of you - not on the other end of a machine.
At a recent Blue Man Group concert, the Blue Men have come up with an innovative solution. They integrate cell phone use into the concert. Where once lighters were held up in swaying hands, now cells phones take their place.
I would have to agree with this definitely. I know this summer the FCC was up in arms of the fact that Theatres and Movie Theatres wanted to "blanket" their buildings so that cell phone signals were scrambled in-house, so that cell phones were inoperable. Personally I think it is a great idea. No one, unless it is an emergency needs to have their cellphone on for 2 extra hours while they sit through a show. To top that all off, if you REALLY have a medical emergency, or maybe an oil tanker crashes into your house, you can still put the phone on vibrate, while we can still hear a buzz, is a lot better than hearing Canon in D during Death of a Salesmen.
i can never believe people are capable of turning cell phones on during shows. i never exprienced hearing ring tones during shows, but i can imagine how annoying it would be. i experienced people next to me text messaging during entire show. because of the light, i could never pay attention to the show. if you are in emergency, just don't come to the show or get out from the seat when you talk to someone.!
At the Hobby Center in Houston, the theatre has been shielded with a cell phone scrambler of some sort. I don't know how localized it is, but I know my phone works backstage and in the lobby, just not in the house.
My beef is w/ phones like nextel that re-sync the time on the phone after a given number of cycles which causes a water sprinkler sound to go thru your com system. but thats just me.
-Serrano
I have to agree with this article. Sure cell phones are a convenient method of communicating but there is something to be said about being unreachable. When I go to a performance of any kind, it is to enjoy it, not to tune it out. Do we have to start teaching cell phone etiquette in schools now?
-A Siebert
I think it's funny that the author of this article would prefer audiences to have their phones on vibrate - i say go entirely to the OFF position. Vibrating phones (while probably no longer a distraction to the cast) can be felt through seats and heard shaking against other objects in pockets and purses, ruining the performance experience for the person next to you who paid $50 for that ticket. Also, phones that are on leave temptations to check if you've missed calls and check the time repeatedly. Glowing screens are obnoxious and distracting. Just a "peeve on steriods". -- Maddie Regan
My interesting experience is more boring the show is more people take a look at cell phone. Because cell phone has light and audience want to see the time!
It is very difficult to avoid this kind of situation as people are living under the "control" of technology now.
I have to confess that I've ever seen the clock on the cell phone duing the performance before.
So I agree mostly with these comments. And like the Blue Man Group, the Trans Siberian Orchestra does the same thing by having everybody pull out their phones and wave them around. Though it did kind of become a problem at their concert that I attended on Sunday because everybody with their phone in the air was taking photos with their phones, of all the people with phones in the air. So every couple of seconds you could see little small cell phone flashes go off, and that got old fast.
The cell-phone check though seems like it might not work though because people hold their cell phones higher up for some reason like it is a part of them. And despite the fact that they probably got it for free when they agreed to go another two years with the plan, we all hold our cell phones up like they cost a small fortune, so we would never check them to some kid at the cell-phone check counter.
so often we forget that our cell phones are not just a sound device but the screen is also distracting. I know that wheenver my friends send text messages during movies i want to know to whom they are sending and what is being said, however at a live performance i find it disrespectful.
I had a friend in high school who refused to turn off his phone in live performances he also would pick up saying "what if it was an emergency" and i asked him "what's so important that couldnt wait 2 hours?".
he didnt have an answer.
Apart from missing out on the greater cultural experience of being completely immersed and connected to the art which you are viewing, turning off your cell phone is simply the most considerate thing to do. Because as others have said, while you be willing to exchange a cultural experience for a little web time, other patrons certainly did not pay to watch your little blue light flicker in and out of their sightlines.
however...not to play the devil's advocate I am one of those people who cannot stand to simply sit and listen, I feel so unproductive. But i would never pay for the experience of half listening to music and half doing something else.
-Samantha Englender
I agree and disagree with this article.
People who can't turn the cells off during the performance should be beaten. Period.
But - your typical orchestra/symphany/opera viewer is not a ADHD riddled, text addicted teen - they are adults...and adults, again on average, are fully engaged by their professions. Sometimes you have to check your emial on your PDA because it pertains to something that regards you. Some people work around the clock. I would say that it is people's hard work that enables them the expendable income to spend on their appreciation of "high art".
If the phone is silent and the screen light is low - let them induldge.
(ps - I can't spell)
-J Bogush
I have looked at a number of different cell phone "jamming" technologies for various bids and there seem to be a few different kinds.
The easiest and most illegal ones simply broadcast on the cell bands and confuse the phones so they are not capable of making calls.
The slightly better ones intercept calls and block everything except 911s (they are treated differently somehow...)
The most promising technology is one that essentially "asks" the cellphones to be quiet. Due to the nature of this "asking", people can opt out of it (and the phones need to be compliant in the first place). So it would work for people who simply forget to turn phones off (which is the major cause of mid-show ringing) but not the people who intentionally use them during the performance.
The best option I have seen was at the Mezzi (or something like that) theatre in Lincoln Center. It is 2 stories underground so there is no way you could get cell coverage.
While I do agree with this article, this "problem" with people, especially teenagers on their cell phones is not in many ways their fault. It is a problem of society which does not value artistic indevors in ways it once did. And while I try to avoid it, I have text messaged through performaces that did not hold my interest, and I am in the industry. So maybe instead of ranting about the problem, we should find ways to interest and connect to those teenages texting in the third row.
-Kim Allen-Poole
Bah. Don't rationalize. If the event isn't holding your attention, leave. Using it as an excuse to text is exactly the same as not turning the phone off. "What if it's an emergency call?" "What if it's about work?" "I'm not interested in this so I'll text Bubba."
It's a pretty self centered worldview.
You're either on the bus or off the bus.
Independent of the obvious disrespect of callers to performers, Cell phone use in public spaces, specifically those where an audience has a piad a premium to enjoy uninterepted live art is unforegiveable. At the atrat of meeting I plainly request that particpiants turn theirs off. I would encourage theatre managers to do the same.
Its like a another appendage; pretty soon, they're just going to surgically attach our cell phones to our arms at birth. Oh well, didn't we all see this coming? Who isn't constantly checking their phones? AND we're always talking about how awful it is for the actors when a cell phone goes off...but rarely do we talk about the poor audience members that have to watch the flickering and feel the vibrations of a cell phone going off. Could this estrange a reporters views on the play? Perhaps. No matter what, cell phones are going to be there...no matter how many jammers there are. They'll always find a way. Might as well deal.
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