Audience Etiquette

There have been things said on both the MMN (My Manilow Network) and the alt.fan message board on Google concerning performances on the piano and audience etiquette. Fans complaining about having to watch Barry from behind when he’s playing the piano as they were sitting to the left of the stage. Fans bragging online about cussing out “civilians” (non-fans) because the civilians asked the front row seated fans to sit down during the songs as they couldn’t see Barry perform.

Let me start off by disclosing that I was 7 years old when I began learning to play the piano. I’ve learned a lot of things along the way, and was exposed to classical piano performances, with the etiquette training included.

When you go to a concert and the artist is a pianist, this is the instrument they want to highlight. The piano is positioned on the stage in such a way as to allow as many of the audience members to see the pianist's fingers move on the keyboard. On some performances, I have seen a large mirror hung diagonally over the pianist, allowing more of the audience to also be able to see the performance. Part of viewing the performance of a pianist is viewing the movement of their hands on the keyboard.

The other part of the performance is listening to the pianist, and the lid of the piano is lifted to provide greater volume and a more rich tone to the sound as the piano is played. The lid is the top part of the piano case, covering and protecting the strings. It only lifts from the side, which is another reason why pianos are traditionally performed on with the side of the piano facing the audience.

Another reason why the piano side faces the audience is the point of view for the audience members, particularly the folks sitting in the front 6 – 10 rows in the audience. If the piano were positioned on the stage in a way for the pianist to face the audience, the large body of the piano would make it so the front part of the audience wouldn’t see the pianist at all, they would be hidden behind the piano.

Some may say Barry Manilow’s primary instrument in concert is his voice, Barry might actually tell you it’s the piano he’s playing. I’ve had the ability to sit in the audience in a spot that allowed me to view him playing the piano and he is, in my opinion, very gifted.

That said, there are some rules of etiquette that people are not remembering when they go to Barry’s concerts, particularly in the smaller venues.

1. Arrive promptly. It is rude to the performer for people to walk into the audience once the show has started. It is also inconsiderate of others who have to move to allow the late people to get to their seats. In some theaters, late audience members are not allowed into the auditorium or theater until the first set of music has finished and there is a bridge between songs before people are allowed in, if at all.

2. Turn off the media. You are not there to text or take phone calls. Turn off your devices or leave them at home. It’s distracting and rude to others (and the performer) when the performance gets interrupted by phone calls or people texting.

3. Once you are in your seat, stay in your seat. It is considered rude to others when people stand while someone is performing, and it is also considered rude to the performer if you get up and leave during a performance. Basically it is a slap in the face to the performer in the music world.

4. Some performances allow applause and/or standing ovations in between songs, some performances ask that you withhold your applause and ovations until after the full performance is completed. If the latter is the case, it will be on the program, ticket stub or will be mentioned at the beginning of the program.

These are some of the basic rules, but more can be found here:

http://modlin.richmond.edu/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1195

It seems like Barry is trying to give a really classy performance in a really classy show. I’m sure Barry would appreciate it (and the civilians would as well) if his fans could also conduct themselves appropriately to the theme of the show. Barry works so hard to give all of his audience members a show to remember, it defeats his purpose if fans are being rude by standing during the songs and swearing at people in a loud voice to anyone who objects. Not only can the target of those comments hear this, but so can everyone else, including Barry.

How A Bill Becomes A Law... In The 21st Century

I'm assuming this is a new century thing, as things sure have changed since I was a kid.

Do you remember Schoolhouse Rock, with the song about how a bill becomes a law? Well, things have changed a bit since then...



Here's the link with the transcript: On The Media

And for those of you who long for the good old days...

No, Hell Has Not Frozen Over, It's Iceland

Perspective

It’s almost 4:00 in the afternoon, and I’m sitting on a camping chair at a park for a picnic with my mother. It’s a nice, cool 80 degrees with a slight breeze. Mom has these picnics once a year, the last Sunday in March, with the people she used to work with.

They talk about what’s happened during the past year, who’s died, who’s in hospice, who’s children and grandchildren are doing what and where they are living. We also have some of these children and grandchildren who come, they keep the party lively. Today, we had a 3 year old who was going around, shaking everyone’s hand and introducing himself. Look out John McCain, you’ve got competition.

I was catching up with the former secretary/timekeeper for the company for a little while, she hadn’t seen me since I graduated high school, so there was a lot to talk about! Oh, and I got to show off the pictures from the Impact Awards ceremony and the picture of Barry and I from Palm Springs.

It’s a far cry from all of the explosions going on this past week in Manilowland. Just in the space of a few days there was a post from someone’s personal blog talking about an archived post being published (without the author’s permission) on the My Manilow Network (MMN).

Then another fan who posted an unfavorable review of Barry’s Friday night show, was confronted by Barry’s people at Saturday night’s show and when she refused to leave, was emailed by Barry’s management that evening informing her she would no longer be allowed to attend Barry’s concerts. Basically, she’s been shown the door.

I’ve loved Barry and his music for a long time. I remember seeing him perform for the first time while I was in high school. I did, however, take a break from Barry when I felt I just couldn’t enjoy his music anymore being surrounded by people fighting over who Barry liked better.

During that time, I moved out of my parents home, moved jobs from retail to banking while earning my AA degree and later my BS degree in Business Management. I then had to move home when my mother had a mini stroke as I couldn’t handle running two households. A few years later I met my husband and we married six months later, in June of 1998. Decker passed away unexpectedly in 2000 and my father was diagnosed with his first cancer 4 months after Decker’s death.

I had been going, and going and going, and I finally needed to take a break so I could actually grieve after my father’s death. Mom’s health has been up and down, so what time I’m not working I’m usually with her. My grief counselor suggested that I look into the things that interested me from before my marriage to see if there was something I still wanted to do. That brought me back to Barry.

It’s been 30 years, but there has been a lot of life in between all those years. My life is not consumed with Barry, I have too many things pulling me in other directions to allow me time to do that. I’m thankful for that. Barry probably isn’t, but I am. :o)

There are so many other things we should be talking about right now, but instead there are some people in the fan club who have wrapped their lives around Barry.

Here’s a few things to think about:

How many homes were foreclosed on during the time all of this was going on this past week?

How many children went to bed hungry here in the U.S. during this past week?

How many people lost their jobs this past week?

How many uninsured people died this past week whose lives would have been extended had they had basic preventative health care?

How many people died this past week in Haiti and Chile as a result of their natural disasters? Keep in mind, these people don’t have homes to go back to, and what money they have is being used to survive, not see Barry Manilow in concert. Multiple times.

How many people died from violence in the Middle East this past week? How many people are now left widowed or without one or both parents due to these deaths? Their pain will last longer than a week.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t go to see Barry, but what I am saying is we should be keeping things in perspective. There are a lot of people enduring a lot worse than missing a Barry Manilow concert.

JMHO.

On a side note, I did play Barry's QVC Extra CD with Nature Boy on it. My mother knew that song from her childhood and is now repeatedly singing it. Thanks Barry.

Super Couponers

I have a memory to share with this video.

When Decker and I married, we both agreed it would be in everyone's best interests for me to quit working in order to graduate with my bachelor degree faster. I did this - and ended up on the Dean's List my last full semester - and was looking forward to being a stay at home mom after graduation.

Decker would repeatedly tell me about how stay at home wives are the unpaid CEO's of the home - and it should be allowed to be reflected as such on a resume. Studies have shown this. I used to be a couponer, although, I was never this good, but I used to score big time with my couponing exploits and save some really good money on the things we actually used.

Seeing thrift like this on the video brings a smile to my face and warms my heart, because it reminds me of those happy times with Decker.

The Hidden Costs of Employment

Here's a little article for those who never took Entrepreneurship 101 (I did) in college, and why companies try to go as long as they can without hiring extra help.

The Hidden Costs of Employment

This is also why public sector offices don't run as efficiently as private sector ones.

Rural Doctors

This is the side of health care you normally don't hear about, unless you happen to watch it on PBS.

Why The U.S. Faces A Shortage of Rural Physicians

You see, in our health care system, med students who go into Primary Care practice actually take a pay cut compared to those going into specialty areas of medicine. This is why so many med students are graduating to become specialists and almost none are going into Primary Care. After the cost of med school for Primary Care, it takes longer to pay for med school student loans, plus be able to handle the financial burdens of having an office staff, plus the added expense of malpractice insurance. This is also why you see so many doctors who share their practices.

The discounted rates demanded by Medicare have put a lot of doctors out of work, because they can no longer afford to run a practice anymore. The cost of malpractice insurance alone as forced a lot of OB/GYN specialists to leave that field of practice.