There's No Button To Stop The Shame
The New York Times has a great interview with the culprit behind Tuesday night's debacle during the New York Philharmonic's performance. "The unmistakably jarring sound of an iPhone marimba ring interrupted the soft and spiritual final measures of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9," and it was so bad that conductor Alan Gilbert had to stop the performance. Even after he did that, the ringing kept going and going and going, prompting angry shouts from the audience.
Speaking on background, he said:
The man, called Patron X by the Philharmonic, said he was a lifelong classical music lover and 20-year subscriber to the orchestra who was friendly with several of its members. He said he himself was often irked by coughs, badly timed applause — and cellphone rings. “Then God, there was I. Holy smokes,” he said.
“It was just awful to have any role in something like that, that is so disturbing and disrespectful not only to the conductor but to all the musicians and not least to the audience, which was so into this concert,” he said by telephone.
“I hope the people at that performance and members of the orchestra can certainly forgive me for this whole event. I apologize to the whole audience.”
How did it happen? Well, his company replaced his Blackberry with an iPhone the preceding day. He silenced said iPhone but an alarm on the iPhone went off. Even if your sound is off on your iPhone, alarms still ring.
He was identified by the Philharmonic via his front-row seat and they spoke with him. He asked to apologize to Mr. Gilbert.
So embarrassing.
It does remind me of the time that the mother of my brother's good friend took them to the local symphony. As they were about 8- to 10-years-old at the time, they weren't exactly thrilled to be there. That, and we lived in a very rural place where the music couldn't have been too good. My brother's friend was trying to say something to my brother but he couldn't hear. So he said it louder, "This! Is! Terrible!" he said, just as the music stopped. The mother shot both of the boys a look of horror. I know it's awful, but we still laugh about it.
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Mar '11
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
I love Mahler's 9th.
Turn your cellphone off, or don't go to the performance.
May '10
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
I kind of feel for the patron because this is one of several quirks to the iPhone. Surely SIRI could be updated to shut off the alarm when classical music is detected? Or at least a feature to completely silence the phone from the. Volume. Buttons on the side?
Oct '10
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
The other thing about old people and their phones is how funny are the ringtones. Grandma, who probably isn't hip to the latest cultural trends, has a cellphone that plays a Black Eyed Peas song when it's ringing.
Dec '11
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
Crow's Nest: I love Mahler's 9th.
Turn your cellphone off, or don't go to the performance.
I love Mahler's No.1 and am looking forward to attending this symphony yet again (this time, stateside, in SW Florida.) However, cellphones are the least of my worries in this arena... I kid you not, snoring has actually presented itself as a problem!
Jul '10
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
I don't understand why any of you people put up with such public indecency. I went to two major league baseball games this year where there were obnoxious youths in my section. I walked up to their row, screamed and cussed at all of them, and the noise interference stopped dead. I recommend everyone do it. Disrupters tend to be loud but cowardly, and deserve public derision. Evil only triumphs if good people do nothing.
Dec '10
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
I maintain that most folks don't want to turn their cell phones completely off at an orchestra performance because they have come to rely on them to check the time. Who wears a watch anymore?
Jul '11
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
Well some of us do not turn them off because we are on call.
May '10
Re: There's No Button To Stop The Shame
When my brother was about 7 years old, my parents took him to the symphony, for which he protested vehemently. The conductor took the stage and the orchestra began to tune. Arms crossed and in a huff, my brother shot a look to my mom and spat, "See, I told you this would suck!"