No Clapping, Please

Off to a jazz performance the other evening. Most pleasant. Good, tight group with fine arrangements of "Joy Spring,""Lush Life," and a lot of Jobim.

So what's the complaint? The audience, feeling required to applaud after each musician's solo. This means that the subtle, often clever and meaningful segue from one instrument to the next gets buried under a chorus of unrhythmic hand clapping.

This same thing plagues opera, where the aficionado believers he/she is compelled to applaud wildly after every aria.

How come? Applause is frowned upon at the conclusion of movements in symphonic and chamber music. Dare to put your hands together at one of these junctures and you'll be frozen in your expensive seat by cold stares from the rest of the audience.

So go to the jazz concert or opera, and smile appreciatively. And put your hands together, and keep them together, in your lap, until the number ends.