Save the "O"
for a Worthy Performance
by J. H. Huebert
German Village Gazette (Columbus, Ohio)
February 14, 2008
You've experienced it, too, if you've been to see the Columbus Symphony
Orchestra lately.
You're in your seat when the performance ends and the applause begins.
Pleased that you got your money's worth, you smile and clap along with
everyone else. Then somebody stands up. Then a few more stand up. Then
the people next to you stand up.
Yes, you're now in the midst of a full-blown
standing ovation. And while you
liked the performance -- maybe even a lot -- you really hadn't planned
on standing. Sure, the performance was very
good, but it wasn't quite the exceptional stuff
standing O's are made of.
But now the people directly in front of you are
standing, too. Occasionally the clapping gets louder and there
are whistles. Probably this means that a soloist is being
recognized. But your view is now obstructed -- so for all you know, you
might now be applauding a giant portrait of Hitler that's just been
wheeled out on stage.
Because you don't want to accidentally applaud the Fuhrer, or look at
the octogenarian buttocks before you any longer than necessary, it is at
this point that the impulse to just go ahead and stand becomes the
greatest.
And I say: resist that impulse.
The trend toward giving a standing
ovation each and every time professional
classical musicians competently perform must come to an end. And the
only way it will end is if you and I remain firmly seated until the
applause is over.
You know how this gets started. Some easily impressed rube -- probably
the same guy who begins his evening of clapping at the end of the first
piece's first movement -- leaps to his feet immediately. Then the rest
of the sheep follow, slowly but surely. After all, they don't want to
seem rude, like the performance wasn't good enough for them. The social
pressure becomes too great even for many of those who had initially
resisted because they know better -- so being sheep at heart they,
too, cave.
Don't be a sheep. It's not rude to sit. The
standing ovation, after all, was once
a rarity. It was a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime event that wasn't even a
conscious decision -- you were so stirred by an amazing performance that
you and your fellow audience members suddenly found yourselves on
your feet not knowing how you got there. You say that's never happened
to you? My point exactly.
Just as too much money being printed has cheapened the dollar, too much
standing has cheapened the
ovation. With standing
ovations becoming the norm, how are you going to let the musicians know
when the performance was truly extraordinary? Beat your hands together
for 20 minutes? Stand on your seat? Rush the stage?
Come on, Columbus. Show a little class. Resist the influence of the
least sophisticated among us. Show that you aren't so culturally
starved that you need to overreact in this way.
The orchestra members won't feel bad -- when you stand every single
time, though, they can only presume you have no notion at all whether
what you just heard was outstanding or not, and I can't imagine that
makes them feel so great.
Please don't misunderstand: you don't need to swing to the other
extreme and be that guy holding court in the lobby during intermission,
rolling his eyes and complaining about the minutiae of the conductor's
choices, apparently under the mistaken impression that the Ohio Theater
was Lincoln Center. Instead, just show that you can understand and
appreciate good music by responding in proportion to what you are given
for your money and to what you really feel.
Do the orchestra, your fellow patrons, and yourself a favor. Make your
applause worth more by sitting down for it.
© 2008 J. H. Huebert