I was just listening to a cello concerto and the number of coughs, especially throughout the slow movement, were just infuriating. It really does seem like people just cough more than usual at concerts.
So I looked around on the net and came across a few articles. This one is interesting and offers some "research" concerning the rate of coughing and the possible causes.
This one is based on the same source, but has input from a concert pianist on possible reasons.
I found it interesting that it was suggested people cough more during concerts of modern music. Wagener (or Wagner...one of the newspapers spells it such) suggests it is to show disapproval and cause minor disruption, but conductor Colin Davis suggests it is because of boredom (and perhaps tension).
I always had a hunch it was because the listener was bored. For instance, I never hear a cough in the Shostakovich symphonies or any other major symphonist. A lot of piano sonatas I hear a lot of coughing. Almost never in a Wagner opera. This could make a nice TC chart on coughing. I might just make that!
As annoying as the coughing in the concert hall is, as I get older and crankier I've realized there is something even worse: plastic candy wrappers. Ironically, it is entirely possible that some of these are from cough drops.
It's one of the reasons I don't attend concerts all that much anymore. It's not just that people cough, it's that some don't make any attempt to muffle them. One can bury one's mouth in a tissue or elbow.
Unfortunately, it affects live concert recordings also: There is a wonderful Beethoven #32 with Trifonov at Carnegie Hall, a pretty resonant venue, on YouTube. It's like the opening of the Arietta was composed for piano and cough. Fwiw, I think it is worse with American audiences. European audiences not as much and I've always been impressed how quiet German audiences are on live recordings.
Unfortunately, it affects live concert recordings also: There is a wonderful Beethoven #32 with Trifonov at Carnegie Hall, a pretty resonant venue, on YouTube. It's like the opening of the Arietta was composed for piano and cough. Fwiw, I think it is worse with American audiences. European audiences not as much and I've always been impressed how quiet German audiences are on live recordings.
I've heard coughing concertos from European live recordings as well. As we know, many of these live performances were done during cold & flu season. That does not help matters especially in more northern climates. Environmental factors inside the hall due to the HVAC system might influence coughing. Maybe the audience does not have water or cough drops like they would have at home. There might be some psychological factors as well as started in the OP. Anyway, live recordings are not my preference, but sometimes the best performances are live recordings and you just have to deal with the background noise.
When I was a child I went to a concert with chamber music that was recorded and broadcast on radio. I coughed extra much and loud deliberately to have a chance to be on radio and I was.
I attend local concerts several times a year. I notice it more at the pause between movements. More annoying is the inevitable boob that doesn't silence their phone.
I would, but all those concert halls went out of business due to a lack of customers!
I wonder if college performances have less coughing than professional ones. You'd think that the young people would be less likely to cough. Of course, you might hear them using their phones, but it's not like old people don't have phone issues either.
I have noticed through the years that concert halls are notoriously dry ... totally void of any humidity. Perhaps at the request of the performing orchestra for preservation of their instruments (?).
Very dry conditions, at least for me, cause me to cough. Some concert halls do not allow bottled water to be taken into the theater.
It's certainly a mixture of things. One notion is that it's more pronounced at Classical concerts since they are so quiet in nature. Also, I think the thought of trying to avoid it makes people do it more.
Humans are not good at doing nothing. If you aren't actively listening at a concert, or at least watching the violin bows go up and down, there's no other activity to distract you from that tiny little itch that you'd otherwise ignore. The only reason there isn't even more coughing at concerts is that most people don't want to annoy others. We can only imagine the amount of suppressed discomfort the average audience contains.
It's been my experience that coughing is a result of an itchy throat, and the more mature one gets the more this becomes a problem. So with a maturing audience in the seats, coughing becomes a issue. Whenever I feel a cough coming on, I rely on this concoction:
Antiquarian's Anti-Cough Remedy and All Occasion Panacea
2 parts Whisky (Blended is preferred here, as single malt should never be wasted on this)
1 part Honey
1 part Lemon juice
I hide a small flask of this in my jacket in case of emergency whenever I feel that I might cough. It makes less noise than unwrapping those cough drops. It is effectual not only in the concert hall, but also in lecture halls, auditoriums of all sorts, or even a library.
I really don't think that people cough any more or less during concerts than they do any other time or place. You just notice it more during concerts because of the circumstances (an acoustically good hall where the sound will travel and most other noises surpressed, aside from the sounds of the musicians).
If you listen to old live recordings the coughing is much worse than today. Some Furtwangler Bruckner symphonies from Berlin and Vienna are ruined by loud, uncovered hacking that's just unbelievable. It's funny but you never hear performing musician's coughing.
Could there also be sympathetic coughing like sympathetic yawning? Did anybody else cough while reading this thread?
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