General Etiquette > Life...in general

The Winter Concert

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squeakers:
We attended my youngest child's winter concert.  For such a small community it was very well attended. Parents, grandparents and siblings all crushed together to listen to the kids sing.

This year the lineup of songs was a very good mix.  And there was a quintet did by some 4th grade girls in concert with the rest of the 4th grade that was absolutely lovely.

2 faux pas unfortunately.

1 was the lovely couple behind us who allowed their 3 yo. to run back and forth behind our chairs in the aisle.  This was on the basketball court which has hard wood floors. Rumble rumble Thud! He fell over a few times because the floor is very polished.

2nd was my own sister's. She kept sending our niece up front with a cell phone to take pix of all our kids. While the niece was discreet and did it quickly (between grades as they got situated on the little tier of risers).. it was still not a nice thing to do.

Every year I wonder why the school doesn't pay to have a pro photographer come in and take a few stills and/or video the concert. I know I would pay to have a copy or two ... anything is better than blurry digital photos taken in the dark and from too far away!

Clara Bow:
You might suggest a photographer to the program director or even the principal of the school. It would be a nice way to make a little revenue for the arts programs as well as a great way to get pictures for the parents without having kamikaze amateurs running up and down. I was in drama in high school and there were numerous parents who would sneak up front to do pictures. It was very distracting to those of us on stage. But it sounds as if your niece did her best to be unobtrusive, too bad others don't follow suit.
And don't get me started on people who allow their young children to act like wild Indians in public. If the child cannot be controlled, then the child needs to be at home!

Scurvy:
The three year old running would have driven me crazy.  I don't like it when parents let their children run around in restaurants, theaters, or other places that are not intended for that sort of thing - but the fact that child fell and the parents still didn't stop him is even worse.  Even if they didn't care that they were disturbing others they should have been concerned about the child falling!

As far as your sister goes, that wouldn't have bothered me.  In fact, that's how it works at the school my son attends.  All the parents take their pictures before and after each class performs, but during the performance everyone stays seated and there is no flash photography.  Parents who are determined to take photos or videotape during the performances line up along the walls at the sides of the room, and they still don't use the flash during the show.  It seems to work very well and everyone is happy with the arrangement.

I would love to have the option to purchase professional pictures or tapes of my son performing at his school, but I know many parents do not have the budget for that sort of thing - or they just enjoy taking the photos themselves.   If many of the parents I know were told that they would have to purchase pictures rather than taking their own they'd be really upset, and I don't think I'd blame them.

stanthedevil:
If you know a professional photographer or videographer, you may want to recommend him or her to the principal.  Another option would be to see if you can form a partnership with a local media center.  The grade school my brothers attended had such a partnership.  Seventh and eighth graders could take a class as an elective and learn how to use the television cameras, sound equipment, etc.  Their final project was recording the winter and spring programs each year.  It allowed the students a great experience, gave the parents a low cost option for a very professional video (the teacher of the class ran the show, so the videos were always very high quality), and it made the school a little bit of money ($2-3 on each copy sold).

Weez:
They may not be allowed to take photographs.  I know some schools here in Scotland have banned parents taking photos or videos of their children's school plays.  Sadly, I think it was because the school couldn't be sure that the photos wouldn't end up in the wrong hands.  Similarly, it's very difficult for schools to get permission to put photos of their pupils on websites - all parents have to sign permission slips.  

Weez.

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