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Excessive Ovation Syndrome
There's a malady sweeping the nation that's highly contagious to concertgoers. It doesn't have a name yet, so let's call it Excessive Ovation Syndrome (EOS for short). Those suffering from it stand and applaud at performances that aren't good enough to deserve such enthusiasm. In extreme cases, they shout “Bravo!” during events that are best forgotten.
The more people pay for tickets, the more susceptible they are to EOS, because ovations confirm that their money was well spent. Even those in bargain seats can easily catch it from their neighbors. The urge to stand and cheer may be irresistible if everyone around you is doing it.
Here is more. Is the fear that too much costly clapping goes on? I believe most of these people enjoy the pretentious show of approval. A more plausible worry is that audiences, if they approve all performances, can no longer signal quality to performers. Given that other and arguably more accurate signals remain in place (critics, bloggers, the conductor, etc.), I am not sure we should be concerned by greater noise in the audience signal. After all, the very complaint suggests that the audience cannot be trusted to judge quality, so why not neutralize them?
And if the excess clapping gives the less musically sophisticated attendees a better memory of the show, that is arguably a benefit. Are we not, after all, committed egalitarians?
Against my better aesthetic judgment, I am on the verge of endorsing Excessive Ovation Syndrome.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 11, 2007 at 06:38 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
EOS - talk about irrational exuberance. Ai yi yi yi yi....
Posted by: chug at Jul 11, 2007 7:17:34 AM
At concerts I'm always the first to stop clapping even if I loved the performance. I beleive in signalling my approval through market mechanisms. I pay my money and you give me a performance, the quality of which ought to be commensurate with the ticket price. Do you clap when your grocery clerk delivers the 'performance' you've just paid the supermarket for?
Posted by: Dan Hill at Jul 11, 2007 7:43:27 AM
Theres the negative externality of annoying the people next to you who know better.
Posted by: josh at Jul 11, 2007 7:50:17 AM
The need to stand up and cheer has a lot to do with the folks in the first rows who started it, thus blocking the view for the entire theater of folk behind them, behind them, behind them, etc. Pure mob mentality.
Posted by: susan at Jul 11, 2007 8:23:28 AM
If everybody is giving a standing ovation there is significant social pressure to join in, which is irritating.
The phenomenon is linked with the view that if someone is doing something arty or "creative" it is somehow this wonderful thing that deserves to be gushed over, which is rubbish.
Being moved to give a standing ovation is rare and special, especially for the performers, excessive ovations are robbing every one of these genuinely special moments.
It counts as compensation to performers. EOS is inflation, eating into this value.
How bout using more and more exclamation points to drive home just how excited you are!!!!!! And what is a star these days anyway? Anyone less than a megastar is really just a nobody.
Posted by: stuart at Jul 11, 2007 8:55:15 AM
Contra susan, in my experience standing ovations often emerge rather randomly.
I too have noticed that ovations are going on longer and longer these days. However, I think it's driven by the performers, not the audience. I'm fairly sure that curtain calls are rehearsed. The Washington Shakespeare Theatre is a good example of how to do a curtain call: fairly short and highly predictable. Other companies in the DC area need to study their example. Excessively long curtain calls strike me as indicators of insecurity on the part of the director: "was it good for you too?".
The main reason to discourage excessive applause is that one's hands become quite tired.
Posted by: Rich at Jul 11, 2007 9:00:26 AM
I have been seeing the same phenomenon occur at weddings. As a bride and a groom enter the reception hall, everyone is obligated to give the new couple a standing ovation, while simultaneously casting doubtful eyes to their neighbors about how long that union is truly going to last.
Posted by: Jason at Jul 11, 2007 9:02:01 AM
By the way I definitely favor Excess Ovation Syndrome for economics lectures...
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Jul 11, 2007 9:03:14 AM
EOS is much less prevalent in Europe, I've found. I think our problem is that we're missing a middle level of approval - better than mere clapping, but less than the ovation. The Europeans have the end of concert rythmic clap, which I think fits the bill.
Posted by: Raffi at Jul 11, 2007 9:03:22 AM
One answer would be to install sensors in seats and charge those who stand up first to clap, with higher charges for those who stand up earlier.
The fees could be split among the rest of the audience and the concert performers and organizers, compensating for negative externalities and capturing consumer surplus. Even the stand-and-clappers would benefit somewhat, by getting the chance to demonstrate the depth of their aesthetic feelings and/or their wallets.
Posted by: jonm at Jul 11, 2007 9:15:32 AM
LOL, a bit of accidental wisdom from Tyler_Cowen:
I believe most of these people enjoy the pretentious show of approval.
That explains pretty much all "high art" patronage, not just excessive clapping, I'm afraid to say.
"Oh, *I* enjoy Bach/abstract expressionism/ Shakespeare. *You* just don't get it."
Joshua Bell, anyone?
Posted by: Person at Jul 11, 2007 9:28:56 AM
I go and see and band and unless they are truely awful, they get a polite clap. It feels more like manners, rather than an approval mechanism.
That said, I saw The Hold Steady last night and they got a HUGE cheer from everybody and nobody could doubt they deserved it.
Posted by: tom at Jul 11, 2007 9:35:47 AM
We have no choice. If we don't applaud and applaud, we won't get our encores.
Posted by: Gary Sugar at Jul 11, 2007 9:46:06 AM
On late night talk shows (Leno, Letterman, etc.), the audience will applaud jokes more than they laugh at them. Too bad because the best comedians shine during those times of silence.
Posted by: jtc at Jul 11, 2007 9:58:19 AM
Jokes that get applause rather than laughter can't really be funny. Clever, perhaps. Funny, no.
I think EOS is more prevalent when you are dealing with "blockbuster" shows like musicals of various sorts. I mean if you're going to see some blockbuster musical and its not opening night or closing night or something special, then the performance is most likely not going to be even close to deserving of a standing ovation. However, it will happen, because the audience would feel like they didn't see a 'blockbuster' if they didn't stand and cheer at the end.
I am anti-EOS, for what its worth.
Speaking of ovations for economics lecturers, I found it interesting to note which of my econ professors received an ovation for the last lecture of the year and which ones didn't. It wasn't easily predictable.
Posted by: Sameer Parekh at Jul 11, 2007 10:11:39 AM
I frequently attend various "high" culture events - especially ballet & classical music - and I've noticed that the most frequent offenders are people at the more high-profile events rather than the small performances by lesser-known companies or composers. I suspect that people who suffer from EOS are those who don't have much experience with appropriate audience behavior and model their actions on what they expect other people to do - an expectation heavily shaped by movies & TV. If the only ballet you go to is the Nutcracker once a year, and that performance is also heavily attended by people who are not frequent patrons of dance, chances are that your EOS will be reinforced by the people around you rather than discouraged.
Posted by: elena at Jul 11, 2007 10:40:36 AM
An academic treatment.
"The Standing Ovation Problem"
Miller and Page
http://zia.hss.cmu.edu/miller/papers/ovation.pdf
Posted by: GoodneesOfFit at Jul 11, 2007 10:52:04 AM
I have to agree with Elena - I also observe at many classical concerts that a standing ovation has much less to do with the objective quality of the performance than the audience's expectation of a great performance. There's also a huge bias towards ovationing loud, bombastic music, rather than quiet, moving music even though the latter is much more difficult to pull off well in general. The biggest standing ovations I've ever recieved as a musician in an orchestra have been on July the 4th concerts playing Sousa marches.
Also, if a soloist is playing a major concerto with an orchestra, there WILL be a stnading ovation, no matter how mediocre the performance. If the orchestra plays a blockbuster symphony like Beethoven 9 or Mahler 2, there WILL be a standing ovation - how could you sit through an hour long symphony and pretend to be lukewarm about it?
Posted by: Michael B at Jul 11, 2007 10:53:52 AM
I think a large part of it is that many people do not go to events often. When they do, they want their money's worth so they clap to try to get the encore. So Gary Sugar is right. That especially applies to big name acts or any music with expensive tickets.
If one goes to smaller shows for bands with smaller followings, the cheers and ovation are more likely to conincide with real enthusiasm for the show. Chances are these audiences know the material better as well (as people who follow smaller acts are more likely to have higher interest and more "refined" tastes) and are better likely to know if they got a good performance. The cheaper tickets allows fans to go to such shows more often and thus develop their ear for good performances.
As for theatre and classical music performances, I think many people who can go were not brought up with it. They don't know when they should have standing ovations. They base their decision to do so not on clues from experienced audience goers, but by their expectations from depictions in other media like movies. Usually when such events are shown, people see a standing ovation so when they go into a theatre themselves they expect to do so - and in large part giving an ovation becomes part of the experience they pay for. They aren't a real member of the community, but a "tourist." Such people, should they continue to attend shows regularly, and thereby experience the difference between a routine, good, and exceptional performances, will begin to ratchet down the applause appropriately.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at Jul 11, 2007 11:44:42 AM
EOS is much less prevalent in Europe, I've found. I think our problem is that we're missing a middle level of approval - better than mere clapping, but less than the ovation.
That's why I yell "Hey that was pretty good! Not the best mind you, but pretty good!" I need to find one word that expresses the same feeling. Do Germans have a word for it?
Every single opera I've seen in Seattle has had EOS. I admit I joined in during The Ring but that was mainly to stretch my legs for fear of some horrible vein disease.
Posted by: BlogReader at Jul 11, 2007 12:23:03 PM
Tyler is aware that some of us think not enough "disapproval" is shown at sub-par concerts -- especially of the classical variety.
I once got fed up with a modernist/soi-disant avant garde cello concerto and stood up at the end and started to boo and hiss as loudly as possible.
My wife was appalled, but this is one European custom I'd like to see imitated more often over here.
Posted by: jvn at Jul 11, 2007 12:34:24 PM
We have grade inflation too and yet somehow we still manage to distinguish great students from good and mediocre ones. I think most performers can tell the difference between a real, enthusiastic ovation from an obligatory one.
Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at Jul 11, 2007 12:58:13 PM
That's why I yell "Hey that was pretty good! Not the best mind you, but pretty good!" I need to find one word that expresses the same feeling. Do Germans have a word for it?
I'm sure they do, and I'm sure it has 6 syllables.
Also: what Elena said.
I once got fed up with a modernist/soi-disant avant garde cello concerto and stood up at the end and started to boo and hiss as loudly as possible.
I wish people would do that during church sermons.
Posted by: fustercluck at Jul 11, 2007 1:53:06 PM
I think another factor is that a standing ovation changes the nature of sitting in your seat. If everyone stands up to clap, then the few folks sitting are no longer expressing a satisfied, or even neutral, response - they are now expressing a dissatisfied response.
So everyone else stands and claps and you don't feel the performance was worthy of a standing O, but neither do you wish to conspicuously proclaim that you hated the performance, so you stand as well.
Posted by: Bob Montgomery at Jul 11, 2007 2:11:40 PM
I'm sorry to post something so innane, but I just had to share that when I read the post topic, I thought it said "Excessive Ovulation Syndrome." Combined with the one-line preview in my RSS reader of "There's a malady sweeping the nation that's highly contagious..." I began to worry...
Posted by: Jeffrey Horn at Jul 11, 2007 3:28:36 PM
