Concert Etiquette

To the Editor:

Recently, I attended the eighth grade concert, to sell water and candy as a fundraiser for the Newtown High School Orchestra. The music was wonderfully performed by all the groups that played.

However, I would like to note that a small percentage of the audience did not appear to know proper concert etiquette. Some members of the audience got up halfway through a piece and left. Maybe it was because their child/children were no longer playing. That is no excuse to deny the courtesy that they displayed toward their child to all the other performers.

There were other people that didn’t even bother to mute the sound of the doors closing behind them when they left. Trust me, that sound can become pretty distracting while playing.

Here’s the situation: You’re playing your instrument or singing, and you see a group of people get up and leave. They walk to the doors, open them, and then you hear a loud crashing sound that echoes through the auditorium and distracts you. You lose your spot, forget what line your on, what the next verse is, whatever. Then you drag the people around you down, and then the whole song just goes to pieces. All this because you wanted to leave after your child performed.

Its one thing if a small child has to go to the bathroom. It’s another thing entirely to not extend proper respect to the members of our town’s music program. We don’t take four or five months to play music and have people with bad manners mess it up for the majority. Please, next time you attend a concert that the youth of this town happens to be putting on, don’t leave halfway through.

Sincerely,

Matt Cole

Newtown High School Cello player

Junior

9 Scenic View Drive, Newtown                             December 22, 2004