What Classical Music Protocols and 50s Hairstyles Have in Common

It’s a vital piece of knowledge for the first-time concertgoer: don’t applaud in between movements, lest you suffer an angry glare from the snobby patron in front of you. But has it always been this way? Apparently not, as Greg Sandow reveals in a recent blog post. Beginning with the assertion that the average musician is oblivious to the sociocultural history of classical music, Sandow goes on to show how protocols for classical performances evolved much later than most of us believe, even as late as the 1950s, with substantial evidence for this timeline apparent in both analytical and primary sources. An understanding that the “no-applauding-between-movements” rule was not, in fact, instated by C.P.E. Bach at the performance of his first symphony can ultimately be liberating for us as we consider alternative presentations of classical music, Sandow implies, and “if we know how classical music has changed in the past, we’ll more easily see how it can change in the future.”

Of course, the idea of changing protocols is quite controversial; after all, no matter when these “rules” were introduced, they were still suggested with good intentions based on artistic rationale, and thus any discussion propagating their eradication merits a thorough evaluation of their effectiveness, appropriateness, and general practicality. But what I think Sandow is really saying in this post is that we need to recognize the possibility for conventions to change, and that we shouldn’t be content to just keep going about things the way we did fifty years ago. Imagine if we treated all aspects of culture that way–we’d still be living in the 1950s, complete with slicked-back hairstyles and segregation. That’s essentially the place we are in when we continue to uphold some of these protocols. Sure, they work–I mean, if I slicked my hair back today it might look okay, I suppose–but are they better than what we have come up with in the intervening years? Probably not. And from a musical standpoint, dressing formally and uncomfortably suppressing coughs at a concert are definitely not the “in” thing today. Imagine if one of today’s pop stars got up onstage and said, “Okay, everyone, no cheering or applauding until my piece is over, please. Oh, and if you didn’t come wearing a tie the ushers will escort you out now.” I’m not exactly sure what would happen, but I suspect that such a mandate would provoke an onslaught of indignant tweets. Of course, formalities are not a bad thing–after all, we do still dress up for church, work, or smart parties–but a failure to recognize that they’re not absolutely necessary is tantamount to ignorance. After all, no rules or protocols in life are necessary; it’s up to us to decide the way things should be, and the first step in doing so is to learn the truth of the way things have been.