As a music education major, I’m expected to attend all kinds of concerts for convocation credit. These concerts are all enjoyable, until someone becomes a distracting element.
Take last semester for example, I attended a concert at the Kroc Center to listen to The Panhandle Symphony. I arrived a little late because I got my concert times mixed up. This brings me to my first pet peeve: Don’t walk into a concert late. I know, I know I’m just a big hypocrite so you should stop reading and move on, right?
Wrong. I understand that we can’t always get from place to place on time. That’s just life, and we all deal with it. But people should know the proper way to enter any concert hall, gymnasium or auditorium without being disruptive. The trick is to enter between songs when the audience is applauding. It helps if you’re polite as you squeeze in front of people to get to a seat. I recommend sitting on the end if it’s available. Your friends will still be there after the concert.
I go to these concerts with my fellow music major friends all the time and we’re usually pretty well behaved. However, I’ve gone to plenty of concerts, even before college, where some audience members are just straight-up rude.
My senior year of high school, we performed for the faculty and, I kid you not, one teacher fell asleep. During the JazzNIC concert, a group of high school girls giggled and talked the entire concert. It got to a point where one of the girls laughed so hard she rolled out of her seat, and they were in the front row.
Here’s another tip: Don’t go to a concert unless you really want to be there. If you’re just going to talk and goof off, you might as well do it somewhere else where the scene is appropriate.
Speaking of appropriate scenes, a concert is not the place to text or let your kids play video games. A whole group of kids sat in the corner playing their Nintendos with headphones in during the same concert I entered late. Not only is the bright screen distracting, but their constant arguing about who played next was annoying. If they were actually sitting down watching the concert, their parents should have kept them there. Nobody wants to see kids run up and down aisles or play in the front of the auditorium during a performance. The idea there is pretty simple: If your kids can’t behave without constant supervision, leave them with a babysitter.
Opinions expressed in editorial and opinion articles are the views of individual NIC students. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Sentinel, North Idaho College, or any other organizations or groups there-in. North Idaho College is not responsible for the accuracy of statements or opinions shared.
