Do Concerts Suffer from "Ovation Inflation"?

Whether or not a concert was exceptional, standing ovations are becoming de rigueur with today's audiences. Is this reflective of declining music programs in the schools?

As a 7th grader in the late 1960s, I sang in the Columbus Boychoir (now called the American Boychoir). When we toured around the U.S. a standing ovation was an event to write home about—literally. We were arguably the best children's choir in the country, but standing ovations were a rarity, and that seemed perfectly reasonable. These ovations were rewards for especially good and engaging performances.

Now, as a regular concert attender in Philadelphia, I find audiences frequently leaping to their feet, especially when the final work is an orchestral repertoire standard with a loud and intense finale. I sense that visceral excitement driven by the thundering repertoire and concomitant visual drama leads to these ovations far more than considerations of how well the music was played.

Sadly, ovation inflation is real. I believe it reflects something lacking in our audiences. But blaming the audiences would be akin to shooting the messenger.

Shouldn't we be glad that audiences can be engaged so readily? Certainly there is an obvious, immediate benefit from excited engagement. A standing ovation can confirm/reinforce audience members' belief that they have had a special experience.

However, I believe the propensity for standing ovations is rooted in an increasing shallowness of perception that does not bode well for us, and is another delayed result of four decades of declining/ineffective/non-existent music programs in U.S. schools.

Without the enrichment of a more thorough exposure to music, younger audience members may lack effective tools for meaningful listening. A shallower, visceral excitement then becomes the only hook for a strong connection to the music.

We don't need more audience rules—that's not a helpful way to curb ovation inflation (and don't we have enough rules already?). I suggest the answers are to be found through richer musical experiences, exposure, and education. More experientially-based music education programs in the schools might offer a long-term remedy.

Without the enrichment of a more thorough exposure to music, younger audience members may lack effective tools for meaningful listening. A shallower, visceral excitement then becomes the only hook for a strong connection to the music.

In the shorter term, we should find ways to help our audiences see into and experience more deeply the richness of the music. We might look at changes in concert format, presentation, and even the goals of musical performance itself.

Some might regard ovation inflation concerns as just some elitist obsession. That's an understandable response if we appear to be wagging our fingers at an "inferior" audience. I don't say "bad audience!" I say "inadequate music education."

To anyone making the elitist criticism, I ask that we not cheerily pretend there is no problem by saying, "Gee, what's wrong with enthusiasm?" Ovation inflation results from what audiences are unable to bring into the concert halls—the ability to connect more deeply with the music.

Audiences know intellectually that this stuff is "good for them." But without the needed tools for deeper listening, they grab onto the most obvious (visceral) part of the experience as a kind of self-validation. Or self-deception.

When the emotional experience from that self-validation ultimately proves too "thin" to sustain the audience member's interest, I suspect we will lose that person.

We should regard ovation inflation not as a problem to be solved in and of itself, but as another symptom of the larger problem for classical music in the U.S. Our children's senses of wonder, curiosity, and joy are not being harnessed in understanding and experiencing the richness that music has to offer. Lacking that experience with music as children, they grow up without the rich base upon which to draw as adult listeners. Now we are beginning to pay the price, and ovation inflation is just one manifestation.


This article is adapted from The Voice, Winter 2007-08.