I.Lass —

I can't imagine playing for an audience who couldn't applaud what they liked and not applaude what they don't like. It would leave me wondering if the liked anything I was doing.

Maybe I'm just insecure, but I want to know when they're pleased and when they're not so I can adjust what I'm doing. But then, I've always worked on the maxim that a performance is never about the performer, it's about the audience.

If I'm an audience member, I would consider it pretty presumptuous of the performer to tell me NOT to applaud — the inherent message being "I know you'll think I'm great, so I'll ask you ahead of time not to tell me so."

I'd probably walk out.

david