Ending of Mahler 9 with iPhone Marimba Sound

[jamesmb444]

Charles Ives: "Frankly, I don't see the problem here."

[TMSVioloncellist]

Kill that phoneeee.

[checkeredpastmusic]

They should just really invest in that paint that blocks cell reception... if you paid X amount of dollars to enjoy an evening of music you should have as little distraction as possible. It's highly doubtful that some world crushing event will happen in that time AND IF there is such a crisis you shouldn't be at the concert in the first place.

[ideologger]

@checkeredpastmusic Uhh... If there was an emergency, you wouldn't be at the concert. You see, a telephone is used to alert one to an emergency- that's the reason someone would be calling if a "world crushing event" had developed. Regardless, there's no reason to leave one's ringer on or be playing with your phone at the orchestra, the movies, etc.

[checkeredpastmusic]

@ideologger OH THAT'S WHAT A TELEPHONE IS FOR! Thanks for the clarification that I already had stated in my last sentence.

PS. Having played in a symphonic bands/symphony orchestras/brass choirs/chamber orchestras etc... there is no shortage of people that don't comprehend concert etiquette and will continue to leave their phones on, clap at the end of the first movement, bring a child with them, get a extreme case of whopping cough the list can go on and on, it's just another day @ the office

[EmpEli]

Stuff happens. Who knows the reason why it went off. It was probably an elderly person based on the statistics of who listens to an orchestra live. What happened if the conductor cut the entire ensemble off if an old person was having a coughing fit? People need to calm down and stop being so damned angry at somebody they don't know or understand.

[cornsyrupsolids]

Philharmonic concertgoers need to start a class action lawsuit against the gay composer of that apple ringtone.

[SerendipitySAHM]

Haha! I really hope the old man w/ the phone just couldn't hear it. Otherwise, how pathetic!

[luigibattista10]

Fake and lesbian

[KnocksX]

The guy apologized to the conductor and felt terribly. He was given a new phone by his company and didn't know there was an alarm set up on it. He did silence the ringtone before the concern, but the alarm went off.

[pharaway]

Fake.

[darktigerx]

i wouldve shot that guy that ring tone with a arrow to the knee

[anuteamsterium]

I witnessed the same thing happen- Mahler's 9th, Mehta and the LA Phil. The final notes had just died out when some twit's phone went off. Could have been worse.

[keoism]

Isn't that video, like, obviously fake? It looks like it's been recorded ~20 years ago and there's noticeable difference in sound quality between orchestra and the ringtone.

[torsorosso]

@keoism Totally fake! I think so too.

[gaijinlaw]

@keoism Is that you Captain Obvious? The uploader never claimed this was Tuesday's performance. It's a mock up to show how it might have sounded.

Also, that's Leonard Bernstein in this video. Safe to say he wasn't conducting this past week.

[abadonna]

the Marimba Mahler. Past and Present merging into the future. I wonder what Marshall McLuhan would've thought of it all.

[sequoia2001]

Please - just turn dat mut-chat chaka chaka chunky-chant off!

[Aroddo]

i always thought that these guys reacted very well to a cell phone going off during the performance:

youtube.com/watch?v=OewAcjYyXV­o

[Aroddo]

@Aroddo

i meant this: "Musician Cell Phone "

youtube.com/watch?v=OewAcjYyXV­o

strange, the original link doesn't lead anywhere. even though it looks identical.

[Sleyah]

@Aroddo This link doesn't work either. And now I really want to see this video. :)

[hengund]

The "silent" setting is good enough for a meeting, but not for a public performance. Just turn it off or leave it at home.

(And I don't even like Mahler.)

[ayabooon]

Thus Lenny said, "in concert, who is a boss? symphony or iPhone marinba?"

[OfGreatLakes]

Symphonic meme in the making.

[Erniesduck123]

This reminds me of a funeral I recently attended. Someone's phone went off not once, not twice, but three times during the service. The first time I thought, well you forgot, the second time, I thought to myself "what the hell?", and the third time, I had to do everything in my power not to make the situation worse by yelling at the guy. It was a 20-something who couldn't just fucking turn his phone off.

[Yogling]

@Erniesduck123 I hope you round-housed him aftewards!

[JessikahAznBabyy]

i like the intricate layers of sound that Marimba contributes

[sljanner]

this is the most painful things i have ever watched

[Onslaughttitude]

Your shitty symphony is no more important than the shitty cover band playing Nickelback in the bar down the road. It's 2012. Get over your shit.

[brianwatson77]

@Onslaughttitude Dude you are totally right. Mahler and Nickelback are the same thing. That's why people will still be listening to Nickelback in 100 years.

[Onslaughttitude]

Rule number one of being a musician: YOU NEVER STOP FUCKING PLAYING. Not for ringtones. Not for fights. Not for strippers. Rarely for police. You keep fucking playing. Because the second you stop, the second the attention isn't on the music anymore.

[mario54671]

@Onslaughttitude They would've kept playing, but it was the conductor who stopped them after the ringtone kept going for 7 minutes. Same thing happened to me when I attended a concert with Salonen conducting and someone's iPhone piano ringtone went off. However, since they weren't in the front row, and because it was only a few seconds, he didn't stop. BUT, this kind of interruption, especially when it's about to go into a quiet ending, he had to just stop because it ruined the symphony.

[safiresafire1]

AAAAUUUUUGHHHHHHH!!!

[Tubeistdan]

I'm still completely baffled bay this story. 7 minutes?

Something wrong with the man, but...

7 minutes?!

Something wrong with the conductor?

7 minutes?

Something wrong with the ushers? (Don't we have an expression "usher someone out"?)

7 minutes !?

Something wrong with the audience? (Don't they have hands? feet? hard SHOES!?

7 minutes?!&%@#*?

[sunidak]

Too much misery in Mahler's life. He needs some surprises!

[carlosbashuertas]

More reason to hate the marimba tone.

[stavokg]

I can't stop laughing about this.

[bonita358]

"about 7 minutes of marimba" lol irl

[bill3209]

no alarm should keep ringing like that. They should ring at most half a dozen times and then go silent. Or maybe ring against after 5 min.

[LOTRzagorath]

There's been a NYTimes interview with the culprit. While I agree Gilbert handled it exceptionally well, it was a complete accident on the part of the person who did it.

"his company replaced his BlackBerry with an iPhone the day before the concert. He said he made sure to turn it off before the concert, not realizing that the alarm clock had accidentally been set and would sound even if the phone was in silent mode."

"“I didn’t even know phones came with alarms,” the man said."

[Llednew]

@LOTRzagorath

Still, how hard could it be to stop the alarm? Failing that, he should have left before it went on that long. And if he'd turned the phone off (as most venues ask you to) rather than on silent mode I imagine that would have prevented the problem. A friend of mine said he's so paranoid about this that he actually removes the battery before a performance and puts it in a separate pocket, just to be safe.

[jhallthird]

@Llednew according to the article, the guy had an alarm set -- so that overrides the silence feature. He also says that he had no idea the alarm was set and thus thought it was someone else's.

[Llednew]

@jhallthird

Yeah, I got that, but you failed to get my point. I repeat: "If he'd turned the phone OFF (as most venues ask you to do) rather than on silent mode, I imagine that would have prevented the problem."

Now do you understand?

[jhallthird]

@Llednew oh, i thought the iPhone alarm worked even with the phone turned off... but you're right, off = off with the iPhone.

[LOTRzagorath]

@Llednew I suggest you look for the NYT article. I felt exactly the same as you before reading it, I thought, how can a guy be so insensitive! It seemed from the article that he was struggling to work out how to turn the alarm off.

I agree, he could've turned it off. But he's a regular concertgoer, I suppose it never occurred to him that this could've happened. (cont.)

[LOTRzagorath]

@Llednew (cont.) I know I never turn my phone off at these events, just leave them on silent. (Although, one time I was on stage, and when I wasn't playing I had the job of adjusting volume for the amp on the piano being used as an organ. My phone was on silent, but it still sent a signal to the amp, and the amp did that beep beep beep thing. I've always left my phone off-stage, or at least switched off, since then.)

[earthlingonfire]

"I know I never turn my phone off at these events, just leave them on silent." Like so many concert-goers who are too severely addicted to even consider sitting through a concert without checking texts and emails (talk about attention deficit). But you don't just spoil the concerts with the ringing: the light from their screens is just as distracting and annoying. If you're more interested in your bloody phone than a concert, do everyone a favour and don't go to the concert.

[LOTRzagorath]

@earthlingonfire Woh, dude. Chill out.

First, if it's on silent, it won't "spoil the concerts with the ringing" at all.

Second, if it's on silent, I WON'T EVEN KNOW IF GOT A TEXT.

Third, I don't know how the light's supposed to bother people in my pocket.

I leave my phone on because I still want to be able to receive texts so that I can respond once the concert's finished.

Use your brain before getting all high and mighty next time. Consider what the person is actually saying.

[okforeal]

@LOTRzagorath You can still receive texts when your phone is off. Or rather, you can get them, read them, and reply to them all after the concert.

[LOTRzagorath]

@okforeal Generally, yes. But with my phone (and the Vietnamese phone network) nothing is ever that reliable. If the phone is on silent and in my pocket, and I can guarantee no alarm is going to go off, what harm is there in leaving it on, I ask you?

Besides, that earthling guy was clearly being a dick for the sake of it. I needed to make the point that having a phone in your pocket does not in and of itself cause any problems with other audience members.

[thehackler25]

I was there, and the disturbance was horrible. Everyone can live with an occasional, accidental cell phone bleep that the phone owner notices and turns off. But this was unreal. It was about 7 minutes of marimba! Alan Gilbert could not have handled this better.

[bxbuff]

Good post! Got a laugh out of it!

[jeffburdges]

lol

[captainfluellen]

I'd call this a pre-enactment.

[lilibetp]

I think Gilbert was very patient under the circumstances. I probably would have jumped into the audience, stabbed the man with my baton, then thrown the phone onto the floor and jumped up and down on it until in was in about a thousand pieces.

[herrbrahms]

@lilibetp Lenny would have stopped the music, stood at the podium seething, then reached inside his jacket and lit a Kent to calm himself. After a few drags, he would have hopped down to the front row and extinguished his cigarette on the offender's eyeball.

[anubisrwm]

crap