Fed up with people making noise at classical shows

We spent 12 billion a month in Iraq. That's a lot of CDs.

Next weekend I will attend a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra performing Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade. I believe there will be less,(if any), distractions due to the material being played and the volumes that will be reached. This is what I meant from the beginning. Much different than attending a performance of Chopin.

MAybe people should be required to go to a training class on proper protocol and etiquette before being allowed to attend classical performances?

Really, this stuff bothers me as well but people should really be more worried about how this kind of music can obtain a larger following moving forward to avoid extinction rather than looking for ways to make it more restricted and exclusive. Most people learn proper protocol over time sufficiently given some experience. We should be more tolerant. Of course there are always the exceptions, but hey, nobody's perfect all of the time. Sometimes ya just gotta sneeze or cough. We're people, not machines.

A most interesting collection of posts. I really enjoyed reading everyone's responses and reasoning. As I mentioned previously, to me, it does depend on the type of concert being performed. I played classical violin for many years (was actually first chair for a time), and I can tell you that in several classical and jazz performances, silence from the audience is critical. In other jazz, blues, rock, pop concerts, well, lets just say, it is okay and fun to get up and sing and dance with the performance. Despite the sometimes negative views expressed here, I know for certain that every single one of us has their upper limit as to what they consider acceptable. Going to a performance, concert or especially a movie and someone constantly kicks my chair is not only distracting, but downright rude. A cough now and then is not a problem. But every other person in the theater coughing is downright rude and distracting and again, unless you are absolutely sick and dying, you can absolutely control your coughs. Other bodily functions, well, that is simply controlable and rude if you do it in public. I went to a concert a little while ago with Eliane Elias. She was wonderful. However, on one introduction passage, quiet piano absolutly quiet, about to hit the key note to begin the melody and a person's phone rang. Dead Silence afterwards. The artist simply stopped, looked at the person, said something humerous to play it off and continued. However, it absolutely killed the introduction and the moment. And, all of us were asked to turn off our phones before the performance began. Some people are paying attention, don't care or don't like others telling them what to do. Some others are simply inconsiderate and rude.

I stick by my opinion. no disrespect to others here, but rude is rude. Inconsiderate is inconsiderate. There are times and places to make noise and there are other times and places where it is not acceptable.

enjoy

Good point Minorl. Now also think about the effect not on the audience, but the musicians. Surely one would think that a musician can play more passionately when he/she doesn't hear distractions from the audience, so the quality of the music being played would be more emotional and enjoyable.

So, think about this: Maybe someone sitting on the opposite end of the theater wouldn't hear a cough or sneeze, but the musician did. So the music suffers, which in turn affects him anyway.