With several incidents of conductors stopping performances for children (this article from Dayton) and cell phones (seemingly the only way to make the news these days), it begs the question especially in the case of children: is there something short of ostracizing them (and their parents) that can be done to allow quiet in a concert hall with children present? Most definitely yes, as guest blogger and Founder/ED of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra Alecia Lawyer will explain…..
Many experiences are either child-friendly or adult-friendly. Rarely are there shared family experiences where both kid and parent are entertained, educated, enlightened, and all at the individuals’ pace. Our ROCOrooters kids program, was created to give parents and kids a separate, but shared experience. The parents attend our 5pm Saturday shows while their kids, 10 years and under (all the way to 2 months!) go to a different part of the performance space, are separated by age and have a music lesson about one piece on our program that evening. The 5-10 yr olds come into the concert to hear that piece performed live. However, they are not sitting with the parents, but are in the balcony with the helpers. Afterward they go back and do a debrief with the music teacher and then stay for pizza and movies until 10pm, giving the parents and guardians a date night. This way on the ride home, the kids and parents can have a conversation about the evening, but will have experienced it in a much different, but completely age-appropriate way (even old age!).
As far as kids in the concert hall itself: as long as parents actually parent, there is rarely a problem. That means taking care of the tired, hungry or bored kid. However, it also means you have to come to the concert accepting that you may only get to hear the tuning notes before it is time to go home. It is so important to bring the kids into your adult life and have them do what you enjoy, too. We are a very child-centered society in many ways, so the idea that children in this day and age should have to come to something the adult wants to do is a bit unusual.
As a mom of two boys myself, I have a high tolerance for kids who are fussy. Sometimes it is out of the parents’ control as to the reaction of the kid in certain situations. However, many times the kids are just out too late or over-scheduled (my own included), hungry or very bored. To top it off, kids are not necessarily great to negotiate with in the heat of the moment.
I just sat through a movie with my kids where the parents and two children behind us spoke in a normal voice through the ENTIRE film. It was so distracting I could not even watch the show. I hear the debate and understand both sides, but comes down to the individual taking responsibility and being gracious toward the rest of any audience.
Alecia Lawyer
Founder, ED and Principal Oboist
River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO)
1973 West Gray, Suite 3
Houston, TX 77019
713-665-2700
So you have, essentially, removed the children for all but a portion of the concert. This clearly is the only way to assure that there can be enough quiet in the hall for the other listeners. It is too much to hope for these days that adults actually do parent in a concert situation. The likelihood that there will be a distractingly large proportion of little families, like the one you describe at the movie theater, in the concert hall is growing greater and greater. In one morning youth concert I saw parents talking with their children throughout the concert, and others letting their kids make noise and climb around the seats. It seems that fewer and fewer parents are willing to remove their children when it is clear that they should. Add the talking parents and the undisciplined children and you have enough noise to make it disturbing to even the performers. How does a distracting amount of noise in the hall benefit anyone’s listening experience? If I had brought my well-behaved child into such a chaotic concert hall I would have been quite upset. Fortunately, I didn’t pay for a ticket; I only had to play the bass for that concert. Many colleagues and staff didn’t think it was that bad (are we just becoming inured to background noise?), but I was appalled at the din. I would guess that a decidel meter would have recorded a sound level quite shockingly high.
How exactly will you build audiences for the future if you remove children from concerts? I realize that noise is not conducive to a pleasant concert going experience, I do feel that it is important to expose children to classical music if the art form is to survive. Perhaps your orchestra’s coffers are overflowing and they don’t need the revenue generated by concert goers to pay your generous salary.
Sarah
I will respond because I think you missed the point Alecia was trying to make. You need to check out their program and the fact that they INCLUDE children in their audience but in a very controlled and educational way. Many orchestras specifically prohibit children under 8 from attending at all. it is far different at ROCO and a quick read will clear that up. What they are doing is pioneering, successful and I wish orchestras everywhere would do the same.
Ron
Ron,
Thanks for the response. I understand what Alicia is saying. My comment was directed more at James’ comment. His response seemed to suggest that removing children was the answer. I should have clarified which comment I was responding to.
Sarah
I was supporting the initiative in Alicia’s article. The initiative does remove the children from the hall for most of the concert. They are brought in for a very specific and brief portion of the performance. Neither are they seated with their parents for that listening period in the hall. My remark was meant to point up the irony of including children in a concert hall experience for which they are mostly absent from the hall. This program unabashedly accepts the fact that it is impossible to guarantee an acceptably respectful and quiet listening environment with a hall full of children and their lax parents. Bravo.
And to address your comment about building audiences for the future I will say that an orchestra’s concerts for children can not possibly make up for what has been lacking in our nation’s abysmal music education. Our non-profit orchestras’ outreach programs (youth concerts, etc) can only scratch the surface of the truly immense and (really) national, task of re-making that music education system so it can once again be capable of building a classical music concert-going audience for the future. Again, Bravo to ROCO’s initiative.