Topic: Hecklers
All artists deal with them. I attended a small, intimate concert the other night, and was
reminded "one more time" of the loss of audience etiquette we seem to have sustained over recent years.
People get up and walk in and out at some venues, cell-phones go off sometimes with people actually
answering the phone and carrying on a conversation in the middle of a show, and on it goes.
I used to think that the loss of "arts" programs in schools was purely a loss for kids to create, and
the other night I realized another dimension to that. Those of us in the audience have also lost the
mentoring of the responsibilities of BEING IN the audience, and the purpose and intent of attending events...and
it's not being taught to the next generation in the same way it used to be. I'm not speaking of ALL audience members...most
ARE attentive and courteous.
But there is an obvious decline in the level of respect shown by audiences at live performances.
Again, most audience members ARE respectful...at least at the concerts I attend...but I'm finding that there are a growing
number of audience members who aren't...
and it depreciates the artist's experience, and the experience of those who ARE there to listen.
As an artist, if you've found an ingenious way of dealing with this...
PLEASE, share it with the class here!
-Sandy Jacobson-
