Current etiquette re choruses etc

Subject: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 May 26 - 06:00 AM

I'm presuming it's still OK to join in on choruses at folk clubs and sessions. Or do you have to be invited now?
Verses, of course, are another matter although that's occasionally acceptable especially at significant moments.

How about concerts though?

I went to see Richard Thompson(again, again, again) last night. Suffice to say, it was an excellent concert and he featured many songs from his back catalogue. I couldn't resist sing along on some of the choruses. In fact , he specifically requested us to do so on "Bright Lights".
I was at the end of the row and no one was directly behind me. So, I think I got a way with it. ;-))

However, I thought the audience was generally subdued although they enjoyed the gig(On their feet at the end). Maybe they didn't all know the material or felt it was inappropriate? It's hard not to get caught up in the atmosphere even for a poor old pensioner like me.

One pleasant aspect of this gig was that there were no photographers, phones etc from what I could see.

Anyway, do you take a different approach at a concert, even a folk concert, to a larger gig than you would do at a folk club?

My worst experience was at a Lonnie Donegan gig at The Queens Hall in Edinburgh when an irate customer grabbed me by the neck and told me to be quiet just for singing along in a very well known chorus!

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 May 26 - 06:02 AM

"OR" larger gig, I meant to say. ;-)

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 May 26 - 09:53 AM

Ah, discussed before I see.. /mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=116333

However, please feel free to add more comments here.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: mayomick
Date: 29 May 26 - 10:11 AM

you were maybe mixing up "Cane on the Brazos" with "cor blimey trousers" ?

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: GUEST
Date: 29 May 26 - 11:25 AM

You know, I have been at concerts daily this week, mostly (instrumental) dance music. I knew most of the tunes and would have been well able to pull out a whistle and play along (the audience had a a large percentage of musicians and they could have done the same). Would haht have been appropriate? Turning the whole thing into a big aul session. No ofcourse not. Time and place. Is it different for singers? I don't think so, to be honest.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 May 26 - 11:36 AM

You might have tapped your feet though or "clapped your hands"(I'm not keen on that myself, mind you). That's quite common audience response during instrumental performances.

I'm not talking about sing along to the entire song. Just the choruses.
After all, there is a reason for choruses after all.

By the way, I'm not a singer as such. At least not on a regular basis.

Fair enough, "I want to see the bright lights" was the only song when we were specifically requested to join in but there were many others where it was a fairly obvious thing to do.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: GUEST
Date: 29 May 26 - 12:18 PM

I am not usually a foottapper and certainly not a clapper at concerts, it always seems a bit too performative. Singers often encourage the audience to join on some songs and that's fine, if you are into that, but please, don't assume the right to sing along all the time.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: r.padgett
Date: 29 May 26 - 12:35 PM

If you are lucky enough to have competent singers who know the songs fine but but chorus joiner ins can sound bad

Ray

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 May 26 - 01:33 PM

Well, I wasn't exactly "belting it out". I'm not that rude or over assertive.   I'd also say that I'm a competent singer..."Competent" being the word, otherwise I'd be up on stage myself.

It all depends on the type of concert. I often tap my foot when playing and listening to music. It is a very natural thing to do. Of course it doesn't have to be "audible". My body might gently sway and my head sometimes "bobs about" slightly too. God forbid that we should all have to "sit to attention"for two hours. We would be as well off on a parade square.

Whether you agree or not, my behaviour is on the relatively "harmless" end of the scale. It doesn't involve heckling, whooping, dancing in the seats/aisles, shining mobile phone lights and so on.

Of course, it DOES all depend on the venue and type of performance too. You can even get away with some of the above in some places although I wouldn't do it it myself.

Also, even at a folk club or singing session, it's not always appropriate to join in either especially at "pin drop" moments.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 29 May 26 - 02:09 PM

Putting aside the aesthetics of a concert situation we are talking about folk music here and songs were given choruses for everyone to join in. However, there have to be some riders to this. A quiet singer does not go well with a loud bombastic person drowning them out. Also someone singing out of tune can cause annoyance, and the inevitable drunkard perhaps, oh, and my frequent crime, not being fully conversant with the chorus.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: The Sandman
Date: 29 May 26 - 04:32 PM

what would roy harris have said

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: GerryM
Date: 29 May 26 - 06:30 PM

Any thoughts on audience members tossing in harmony lines? I'm talking about talented audience members, capable of singing good harmonies.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: GUEST
Date: 30 May 26 - 04:24 AM

It is an issue with so many grey areas between what us and isn't acceptable. As I said above, don't assume a given right to sing along with everything you happen to know but at the same time also don't assume the opposite. Time and place. I have been in situations where a quiet harmonising singing along on the row behind me was just a lovely addition but in other instances I cringed at the singing along. Play it by ear.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 May 26 - 04:25 AM

it depends on the situation, if the guest performer has asked and wants people to join in, however if the performer is not singing a chorus song and has his..her own accompaniment with a harmony, its not appropriate
if its a singaround situation that alters the situation a bit, it might be ok it might not,
generally speaking it is not etiquette to sing a spontaneous hrmony on a non chorus song particularly if the two people have not practised together, it can be off putting for the main singer

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 30 May 26 - 05:56 AM

"it depends on the situation"

Exactly, it was some of the really well known(to me, anyway) RT songs where I was singing along in the choruses and I wasn't loud either. I doubt if anyone would have heard me with the PA system

There wasn't really a chorus on Vincent Black Lightning although I admit that I "diddled" a wee bit on the guitar parts. ;-)
Again unobtrusively. It wasn't the situation for "air guitar" either.
:-)

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 30 May 26 - 06:50 AM

I agree that it's best to stick to only singing the choruses unless (unusually) you are invited to join in the whole song. Several folk clubs in this area have acquired the reputation of being "great chorus-singing clubs" and the guests usually encourage and enjoy this. Before my ears went AWOL, I admit that I might have sung in harmony too.
But in other genres and in anoither theatre in Edinburgh, e.g. musical theatre, people have been asked to leave because they were singing along loudly with every song.
And in a different place, even Eliza Carthy got told off for singing from the audience, while her mother was singing on stage!
And I recall one instance of reversal of roles, when we had a visiting American singer at one of our local folk clubs: she sang mostly songs that were folk bordering on country, which none of us knew. She got really angry with the audience for NOT joining in with her choruses - "Aw come ONNNN, you MUST know this one!" Well, sorry but none of us did!

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: GUEST,James E
Date: 30 May 26 - 08:03 AM

Tattie Bogle, the Eliza Carthy incident was worse than that (unless there's been two incidents...) She was singing along at a Peggy Seeger gig, to a song dedicated to her mother, only a few weeks after Norma had died. No idea if people had been invited to sing along, but it was at Kings Place in London, where audiences can be a bit on the stuffy side.

Subject: RE: Current etiquette re choruses etc
From: Johnny J
Date: 30 May 26 - 09:04 AM

Anyway, let's indulge ourselves...

https://youtu.be/0Bm4fZHv5j0?list=RD0Bm4fZHv5j0