I first noticed this 20 years ago when I move up to SD, so I thought it
was just an upper Midwest thing.
I had another opinion as well, . . .
________________________
Joel Rauber
Department of Physics - SDSU
Joel.Rauber@sdstate.edu
605-688-4293
| -----Original Message-----
| From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
| [mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf
| Of Bernard Cleyet
| Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 4:36 PM
| To: PHYS-L Maillist
| Subject: [Phys-l] Agressive grade inflation invades concerts.
|
|
| STANDING AGGRESSION BY OVATORS
|
| DENNIS ABRAMS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE - I attended a concert of
| the Houston Symphony. The soloist, Louis Lortie, performed
| two piano concertos:
| Tchaikovsky #3, and Prokofiev #1. He did, I felt, an admirable job.
|
| The crowd, of course, gave him a standing ovation. I remained
| in my seat, applauding at a level somewhere between polite
| and enthusiastic.
|
| A woman in front of me, one of the standers, turned around,
| saw me still sitting, and asked, "Why aren't you standing?"
|
| I was startled by her question. Why should I have to explain
| my response to the performance? I shrugged.
|
| "Didn't you find the performance ecstatic?" she asked.
|
| Not having achieved a verifiable level of ecstasy, I replied,
| "No, it was OK."
|
| "Just OK?" she asked.
|
| "OK," I responded. "It was good."
|
| "I guess it takes a lot to get you to stand up."
|
| "Yep," I replied, hoping that would end the discussion.
|
| She turned back to the stage, then back toward me, trying to
| understand why I obstinately refused to go along with the crowd.
|
| "You must be a Sagittarius," she said.
|
| I would have liked to reassure her that the fault, indeed,
| lay in my stars. But I answered truthfully: "I'm just picky."
|
| She tried one more approach, "You must be very discerning."
|
| I stifled the impulse to say "I guess you're not."
|
| And blessedly, the ovation reached its end, and she left to
| enjoy the intermission.
|
| I was stunned: No longer content to give standing ovations to
| performances that don't warrant them, the ovaters have begun
| to question why others aren't standing too.
|
| http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/classicalmusic/42
| 39471.html
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