I have seen jokes several times in Beijing caused by too enthusiastic applause between movements. One time was at the opening ceremony of the Beijing International Music Festival in 2000. Since a larg

I have seen jokes several times in Beijing caused by too enthusiastic applause between movements. One time was at the opening ceremony of the Beijing International Music Festival in 2000. Since a large part of the audience had government hospitality tickets, as soon as the first movement of Sarah Zhang's Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto ended, the whole audience erupted. The thunderous applause and warm applause alarmed the lady in charge of presenting flowers outside the venue, so she hurriedly came onto the stage holding flowers to present flowers. The following scene was really embarrassing for the Chinese people. . . Another time was in the auditorium of Tsinghua University. As soon as the first movement of Brahms' Violin Concerto ended, there was thunderous applause. Several female students also stood up after hearing the sound and ran onto the stage to lay flowers. . .

After solving the problem of blind applause, all that remains is to avoid "little actions" that are quite disturbing, such as whispering between pieces of music, looking at the program list, drinking water, eating melon seeds, etc. No matter what "little actions" you do, You have to first consider whether your actions will affect the people around you. After all, this is not a comfortable environment for one person to listen to speakers at home!

Many classic records are produced by the most prestigious orchestras, the most outstanding conductors, the best recording venues, the best equipment, and the most outstanding recording engineers, coupled with careful In the post-production, that kind of "celestial disc" level auditory performance is far better than an ordinary domestic live performance. If we listen to an orchestra with poor quality in a concert hall with unsatisfactory acoustic conditions, I can't forget the wonderful things in those "Heavenly Disks" in my mind, and frequently make various comparisons between them. This is not only unfair, but also has no positive meaning. We are here to listen to live "real" music, not to look for gaps and shortcomings, let alone find fault with it (of course gaps and shortcomings inevitably exist). The positive and wise approach should be: put aside all the prejudices in your mind, actively immerse yourself in the music you hear on the spot, feel the music itself with your heart, and capture those musical moments that shock and move us. This is what we usually do. The real purpose of listening to live music is the real purpose of music lovers, and only in this way can they be worthy of their hard-earned money and precious time!

At the end of the song

In a regular music season performance by a regular orchestra, after the official program ends, there is usually no encore (encore), and those exchanges, Visiting performances, because they are rare to see and hear, are always indispensable for encores. At this time, the orchestra and conductor will try their best to give their best and most exciting touching moments, and their The amount of encore performance and encore repertoire largely depends on the intensity of the audience's applause and cheers. If you really like their performance, you might as well applaud more vigorously and enthusiastically.

For etiquette reasons, as long as the concertmaster (the one sitting in front of the first violin) does not get up and leave, we the audience had better not get up and leave in a hurry. People have come all the way to express their love for you. We shouldn’t be rushing to travel just a few minutes away for a performance!

When you are still immersed in the aftertaste of the music and have to leave the show, don’t forget the objects left on the seats and the things left at the door.

If you are willing, after listening to the concert, you may wish to communicate with some music friends about your own listening experience, or write down some unforgettable feelings so that more friends can understand through your description. , indirectly feeling those musical moments that you will never forget, "it is better to enjoy it alone than to enjoy it together", which is also a wonderful thing!

When visiting a country, you still have to do as the Romans do - Thoughts after the concert

Author: Hao Jian

How do we listen to the concert

In recent years, the number of symphony concerts in China has increased day by day. Recently, there are many concerts in Beijing. At the end of May, Domingo came to give a solo concert. On June 1, the Philadelphia Orchestra brought Lang Lang to the Great Hall of the People to give a symphony concert. It was only 20 days apart, and only two or three arrows were moved. In this place, the three tenors came again. I went to listen to the show in Philadelphia, and Sangao watched it live at home.

A topic that I had wanted to write a few sentences about since I was an undergraduate came back to bother me: whether we would go to concerts.

What I want to say here is definitely not the topic of "can't understand the symphony". I have always felt that music is not like words. It doesn’t matter whether you understand it or not, you just understand it if you like it. Listen more if it pleases you, if you listen, if you feel fascinated. As for music, as long as you want to listen to it and enjoy it, you understand it and you like it. If you get a little more feverish, read some books on harmony and counterpoint, and learn some knowledge of music history, you will naturally be able to keep up with the development and changes of themes and the succession and transformation of musical ideas. But I don’t know anything about music theory, but as long as I listen to it more, it will still be pleasant to my ears. I am an example myself. Not to mention that I understand harmony, I still don’t even know staff music, and I can’t even read simplified musical notation well. But it doesn’t stop me from enjoying listening to it, it doesn’t stop me from having a fever, and it doesn’t stop me from becoming familiar with many pieces of music.

What I am thinking about today is "whether we can attend concerts" is whether we should respect some hard principles when we go to attend concerts, some visible and audible rules that have been formed over hundreds of years elsewhere. customs. Many listeners and cultural figures have been discussing these rules recently, and I find them interesting.

Some people will definitely laugh at me if I tell you this. When I was an undergraduate student 20 years ago, I once wanted to write an article for the school newspaper introducing the code of conduct for attending concerts. concert". I'm just afraid of being laughed at, so I haven't written anything yet. These rules may seem a bit cumbersome now that you think about it, but they are important. It may be a bit exaggerated and annoying to talk about it every day. Look at our behavior at concerts and listen to what some of our cultural people have to say about this matter. I really feel that it needs to be talked about every year or every month.

First of all, you should be careful when you are not going out. If you are going to attend a classical concert or opera, you should be more particular about your clothing. Even in the summer, many traditional Western men wear suits and ties, even if it gets hot, they carry their suits on their arms. Needless to say, women generally wear dresses. This is a ceremony and an opportunity for them to show off high-end, expensive clothing or unique creativity and taste. Of course, if you are watching the landscape opera "Aida" or the Meridian Square concert at the Shanghai Stadium, your clothing can be more diverse. Many young people and children wear traveling shoes.

Then, you must go out early, because the most taboo thing about attending a concert is being late. As long as the conductor comes out and stands on the podium, the entire audience should become silent. But here we are often still buzzing with people, and mobile phone pagers are popping up one after another. At the end of May 1996, it was Savalisch who brought the Philadelphia Orchestra. The first day he performed at the Great Hall of the People, many in the audience remained the same after he came out. He stood on the podium, turned around several times to look at the noisy auditorium, and once simply left the podium. The conductor of the band must "conduct" the concert together with the audience, so holding a concert in this way would have too many Chinese characteristics. When the conductor raises his baton, latecomers will have to stand at the door and wait until the first movement or song ends before they can enter. This is the rule for all concerts in other parts of the world. This is also required on our tickets here. However, it seems that the management of the Great Hall of the People has not informed its male and female night gatekeepers of this rule. They let in all the latecomers, and I also saw them enthusiastically giving guidance to the latecomers, helping the elderly and the young, and providing excellent service, making the aisles full of people.

Of course, operas many years ago were not so quiet at the beginning, so there was an overture. Acheng, the third son of Mr. Zhong Mengpei, was right when he said in his Venice diary that "the opening gongs and drums of Chinese opera have the same early function as the overture of Italian opera, which is to suppress the noise of the audience and remind the play to begin...". Now everyone has formed a custom in communication that is better and more accepted by most people: during music, the audience should be quiet. It is said that there was a "battle" between performers and individual spectators in Shenzhen: that day, the violin soloist Lu Siqing got serious. As long as there was a mobile phone or BB player below, he put down his violin and stopped playing. He stood there and watched. Next, when the audience becomes quiet, set up the violin again and start playing from the beginning! This scene is too dramatic.

The next problem is: there should be no applause between movements.

I think this rule is relatively difficult to follow, and ignoring or trampling on it is the most excusable here. Because most people who come to concerts nowadays are not that familiar with the music, as long as the music stops suddenly and people think that the music is over, they will be very active in applauding and encouraging the performers according to their own emotional reactions. In fact, the necessary conditions for following this rule are not high musical standards, nor do you have to be confident about the works to be performed on stage. As long as you have some general cultivation, know the principle of doing as the Romans do, and generally know that you should not applaud between pieces of music - just clap after others who know better.

If it is a matter of common sense in music that there is no need to applaud between movements, then it is a matter of common sense that there should be no talking, mobile phone or pager sounds during the performance. You don’t have to be a Communist Party member at all. Some cultivation. Sometimes there are even worse ones. That day, Lang Lang and the Philadelphia Orchestra were leading us on stage, and the two or three late men and women behind me actually started arguing over whether to ask the "audience" who had already arrived and occupied their seats to leave!

Finally, after the songs specified in the program are performed, you can applaud to request encores and encores. This is an evaluation and encouragement for the band's performance level, and it may also be a satisfaction for our own unfinished entertainment. More broadly, it is a conversation between us and the musicians, a regular ritual of social activity. Applause is a rule, but encores are not. They may not perform an encore if the conductor is unwilling or unhappy. As far as the concerts I have attended, Tang Muhai doesn't like encores very much. When I mentioned just now that the Philadelphia Orchestra performed at the Great Hall of the People in 1996, Savalisch did not perform an encore. Isn't it because you are angry? If you are listening to an opera or a concert by an individual or a group of people, applause and encores are the tacit rules of the game. The three tenors' concert at the Meridian Gate two days ago, because the response from the audience in front was not very enthusiastic - I wonder if it was because there were many spectators who came in with free tickets and few experts and true fans - the three singers could not get In response, even the repertoire indicated on the program list was almost abandoned. The newspaper said that Chinese songs were originally prepared. Perhaps because no one cheered, they died down.

The following article is related to the etiquette of enjoying music

============================ =========

What do we think about differences in cultural customs

What should we do if we fail to follow these rules for a while?

Of course there are some realities. Our audience here has some Chinese characteristics. My musical literacy is not very high and I am not punctual when doing things to make money. Why should I be punctual when I spend money to attend concerts? Compared with the usual loud noises when eating in restaurants or gatherings in public places, when we entered the concert hall, we were already very restrained and panicked. We were also asked to turn off our mobile phones and pagers, and were asked to turn off our cell phones and pagers even when the music stopped. Applause casually, how do I know where is the interval between movements and where is the finale?

There are also some outrageous things that are determined by material reality and have little to do with culture and literacy. The Great Hall of the People is so big that it can accommodate many people. If it were performed at the Beijing Concert Hall, there would only be a few hundred people seated. If the appearance fee of the Three Tenors is charged the same way and the organizer does it, then the ticket price cannot be sold for US$10,000? Then music will return to the nobility. In what lifetime will we ordinary music lovers be able to hear it? However, when performing in the Great Hall of the People, it is a big deal for tens of thousands of people to enter the venue, and it is difficult to be on time. During the performance, one or two busy people among the 10,000 people have to answer their mobile phone BBs at any time, so the other audience members have to "listen to the sound of crickets."

But this is not our excuse. A lot of things can be done. From the organizer's point of view, even though Sawallisch has already opened the gong over there, tickets are still being sold here. Doesn't it make it clear that I am late? Now that a parking lot has been opened in the holy land of Tiananmen Square, let all cars park in it. Don't let the car that comes after you become a headless car again, driving in circles around the city hall. If he makes such a fuss, he will definitely get in late. The audience has no common sense about the concert, but the organizers do.

What I mean is that leaders should not lead the way. Of course it would be better if we can lead everyone to civilization. That day at the Meridian Gate Square, the three tenors had taken an intermission and the chorus had begun. Only then did the leader of the team arrive belatedly. Among them seems to be Ms. Wu Yi, who is famous for her love of listening to classical music. I don’t come before the show starts, and I don’t come during the intermission. I have to come, and I have to wait until the intermission is over and the performance starts. I don't doubt that the leaders have high musical accomplishment, but they seem to lack a bit of a commoner mentality, a mentality of doing as the Romans do, a courtesy mentality, and a sense of obeying the rules. It is not easy for a leader with such a mentality to talk to others about entering the border. I think he will talk for a few more rounds. Of course, it is also possible that the responsibility lies with the office under the leader. Then if I am bolder, I can criticize you a few words: Your level is too low, and you are not worthy of arranging leadership activities, and let the leader embarrass you in front of the country and the world. , what crime do you deserve?

Why do you think of leadership? Because I discovered a strange phenomenon. The order of attending concerts was the slowest to establish in Beijing. It stands to reason that there are more music performances here, the most leaders, and the cultural level of the people is not lower than elsewhere. In addition to material factors such as the performance venue being too large, I think human factors come first. There are more people here who are arrogant, who have the courage to flout the rules of the Communist Party, who like to find a maverick feeling to be awesome, and who are chauvinistic about the culture of a small country. It also has something to do with the official culture. There are many free tickets and many laymen come. I saw with my own eyes that a row of seats was an office or a family. Such audiences tend to feel as if no one else is watching during a performance, and they themselves tend to feel like they are listening to a concert. It is also in these areas that the most people are drawn halfway. What’s interesting is that the free tickets are for front-row seats, so the visiting band sees the performance for these audiences first. In seven years, Beijing will host the Olympic Games and build high-rise buildings. As long as we have money and migrant workers, we can do it just around the corner. But what kind of spirit should we use to welcome guests, whether we have a normal heart to abide by the rules, and whether we have a sense of following the rules in everything we do, are not things that can be accumulated immediately after we have money.

Still the same sentence, go to any mountain, sing any song, ask questions when entering the country, and do as the Romans do when you enter the country. If we are going to listen to rock music, of course we don’t need to be so particular. I want to emphasize that I love listening to symphonies, but I have never heard that symphonic music and opera are more serious or elegant than rock music. I have never seen any difference in morals, ideals, and sentiments between the audiences of the two. I just want to say one thing: Xiangqi is the rule of Xiangqi, and Go is the rule of Go. Don’t get confused.