Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
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Cellphone Purgatory

1/12/2012

4 Comments

 
Picture
Cellphone users proceed to the lowest level.
The news of the day is that a man attending a New York Philharmonic concert let his new i-phone ring unchecked for a minute or so, during Mahler’s Ninth. Conductor Alan Gilbert stopped the performance until the offending device was switched off. (You can read about it here, or here.)

This problem has been with us for a while, and it seems to be getting worse, rather than better. Personally, I’ll never forget the mobile phone that went off during a delicate moment in a Toronto performance by Lang Lang, a few years ago. Such things remain etched in the mind – and if Dante were alive today, he’d invent a new circle in hell just for people who perpetrate such outrages.


The blogosphere has lit up with possible solutions to this problem. How’s about asking all patrons to check their mobile phones at the door? Many people would simply decline to do so. Or how’s about jamming the signals of cellphones in concert halls? The technology exists, but apparently there are legal problems: emergency calls to doctors wouldn’t get through.

Perhaps the time has come for concert halls to have a special “mobile phone section,” for those unwilling or unable to part with their gadgetry. It would be walled off and soundproofed: thick glass windows would allow people inside to see the concert, and the sound would be piped in through loudspeakers. There they could chirp, warble and play snippets of Für Elise to their hearts’ content, without disturbing anyone except each other.

Anyone seated elsewhere in the hall whose electronic device uttered so much as a single beep would be banished for life to the mobile phone section.

Dante would approve.


© Colin Eatock 2012
4 Comments
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8/15/2016 03:29:19 pm

Indeed, ringing cell phones during an event or in a place where noise is not allowed is probably the most annoying thing ever. They are primary etiquettes that you switch off you cell phone when with a group or in a meeting or workplace for that matter. I am really delighted to read your post about this issue.

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10/31/2016 04:27:51 am

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6/21/2017 04:48:49 am

Oh yes, topical issue. Every time I manage to tear myself away from my work and go out I feel all crowded by people's phones.

I believe it's just the matter of education and personal culture instilling.. People tend to be so egoistic sometimes.. I love the options suggested though:)

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5/8/2018 10:55:23 pm

Am I the only one who thinks that it's not really a big deal in case this thing happens? I mean, as if the owner of the ringing phone had control over it, what if he just forgot to put it in silent mode? The thing is, some calls maybe are for emergencies and it is a must to be answered. Let's just try to ignore accidental rings like that to avoid conflicts, I’m sure the owner wouldn’t let it ringing like that repeatedly.

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    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


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