Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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THE CONCERT HALL — They say music can soothe the savage beast, but did you know classical music can bring out beastly screams?
Music director Scott Seaton knows more than most that classical music ain't all sweetness and lullabies that stills the mind to encourage calm and sleep. Classical music is also thrilla, chills and goosebumps.
Composers of such music may wish to make you jump and scream in the movies with timpani drums and screeching strings — and a movie theater is an acceptable place for that reaction. But most classical concerts have strict rules and decorum to follow.
Silence is the respectable way, meaning there is no unwrapping of cough drops and no talking to your neighbor. Even if you're supremely moved by the music, there is absolutely no clapping unti the piece is done and the conductor lowers his or her arms.
Seaton was directing the North State Symphony in Redding, California, when this rule of silence was broken. While conductors, musicians, and patrons alike may be offended by such a disruption, this disruption had a different reaction.
In the video, the specific piece that led to the disruption is a soft, slight tense passage in Igor Stranvinsky's "The Firebird." Unfortunately, for a musically lulled person in the audience, the next part is the complete opposite and the orchestra blasts out at almost full volume.
And that's when the startled scream cracks through the air.
It's not clear whether the person was snoozing, not paying attention, or easy to frighten, but it's clear that Seaton gets a kick out of hearing someone startled to a scream during the performance. He immediately smiles as the audience titters in reaction. He even looks back with a wry smile so the audience knows he shares their delight.
Maybe the next classical faux pas we see is a mosh pit during Tchaicovsky's 1812 Overture as real cannonfire closes out the piece.
