Class Act

Yesterday afternoon was our daughter's school Christmas concert, which is held every year to give the students a chance to show their hard work to their parents.  There were songs sung, tunes played on the recorder, and general merriment.  It was clear that the kids had done a lot of preparation, although there were the expected accidents such as a kid dropping an instrument or a music stand falling over.

But the audience.  Oh my goodness, the audience!

I have been to many concerts, both as an observer in the audience and as a performer on stage.  I have never seen such an ill behaved audience in my life.

Many parents talked while the classes were changing in between sets, to the point where the music director had to ask them to stop.  When their kids walked up on stage people called out or stood and waved, thus distracting the kids and delaying the performance further.  Some people were even talking during the musical numbers (including three women who were behind me) and I saw others texting on their phones.  Later one kid told me that she had seen someone actually dozing off.

Has it gotten to the point where people must be taught proper behaviour while in a concert?  Apparently.

I've seen people texting in movie theaters, talking on the phone at a library, listening to music while biking; the last being not only dangerous but illegal.  If you don't have respect for the people around you, how can you expect people to respect you?