[HANASHIR:14224] Re: comments on noise

[Batiya5723 <Batiya5723...>]

In a message dated 5/8/2003 7:49:50 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
Danielkare (at) aol(dot)com writes: 
> I try to just do my thing and not worry about the noise in the audience.  
> After all I often have little children and even babies come crawling up on 
> the stage.  I just keep going and smiling! (But feel free to interject 
> suggestions here if you like!)
> 
Any parent who lets their young child crawl up on the stage is negligent, 
especially if there is equipment that could fall on the child. I have played 
in synagogues where parents allowed their children to come up on the stage 
while I sang and did nothing when the child began to play with power cords.
 
In one memorable case two years ago, a toddler came onstage and began messing 
around with my second guitar, plugged into an amp and perched on a stand near 
my stool  -- played with the tuning knobs, grabbed at the strings, etc. When 
the parents did nothing, I interrupted my song to ask the parents to remove 
the child, for safety reasons. After the performance I was taken aside by the 
education director and told that I handled the situation "inappropriately"; 
that the parents were deeply offended and I needed to respect their right to 
handle it "their"way. I strongly disagreed, saying that there's a time and 
place for "free-range" child rearing. I have not returned to that synagogue.

Bottom Line: live performance includes certain aspects that could almost been 
seen as communal rituals (i.e., dressing up to go out somewhere special; 
listening respectfully and keeping such things as program-rustling and 
animated conversation at a minimum to allow others to enjoy the music; 
applauding at the end if you liked what you heard). Parents need to teach 
older children the importance of these  "rituals" and prepare theim for the 
live performance experience; and to restrain younger children when their 
safety is in question.

I invite you to share your comments with me privately off-list.

Thanks much --Beth Hamon
www.beth-hamon.com