How should I handle this?

[peter birch]

don't handle it, ignore it. The man next to me in my band is never off his mobile, text messaging whether we are in rehearsal or playing during worship. I don't know if it is business or Facebook. It annoyed me, mainly because he thinks of himself as the section leader even though he is quite a poor player, if it was one of the kids in the band we would be down on him like a proverbial ton of bricks.
Then it struck me that it was my peace of mind being affected and I decided just to let it go, ignore his behaviour and concentrate on what I am doing whenever we are playing. You can't control these people, don't let them get to you.

[sloan]

(S)he who annoys you, controls you.

[sousaphone68]

There are much worse sins for instance the Bari sax player turned up 30 mins late as usual expects to share my stand and for the second week running has no music and then transposes mine on they fly badly,knocking me of pitch.

A local expression here which may not translate across the pond is that he has a neck like a jockey's privates and won't take a hint or a direct instruction

[arminhachmer]

During the 2nd mvt of Shostakovitch 9 rehearsal tonight, the first trombone guy and I ducked out and he inspected, took-possession-of, and paid-for a trombone repair that I had done for him between the last rehearsal and this one. Isn't that scandalous ? (It meant that when the rehearsal was over, we could each jump into our cars, turn the ignition keys, and go.)

When I accepted his check, we were both very "serious".

OK Joe, thank you for shattering one of my few remaining illusions.
Namely, that professional musicians, especially tubists and even more so, tubists who are respected repair technicians as well, are indeed respectable. Dam...

So, what's left? I know. Concentrate. Tolerate. Ignore.

Please consider yourself re-categorized, catagorically.
Sincerily,
Armin

[Rick Denney]

...ducked out...

Why did you do that? Why didn't you just take care of it right there on the stage?

Rick "who doesn't mind when people duck out when the music has stopped and when they are not playing to fool with their cell phones, if they can do it without knocking over my music stand, which means this doesn't apply to trumpet players" Denney

[muttenstrudel]

Aha ...
I remember some stories from my trombone teacher while I was in university. He was playing in a good, renowned orchestra in our region. He told me that the brass players had a card playing club with the 1st trumpet as the chief. He knew every piece exactly by heart so whenever he dropped his cards and left everyone was jumping back to their seats 'cause they had only like five seconds before they had to play once they were seated. Is this bad or not?
Just to mention that the trumpet guy NEVE missed a note ...

[muttenstrudel]

And the others either ...

[Stefan]

Unless the light is bothering you or the sound is turned up, this is not anything I'd worry about. If she had a magazine on her stand would you be posting about it? If her ability to come in at the right time is affected by this, then that's a problem. Wouldn't matter if it was a cell phone or a book. If I were in a community band I would occasionally do the same. Although I'd probably just look for a couple of seconds and then put it down. Probably wouldn't do it in the middle of piece - but maybe between.

Stefan

[MartyNeilan]

Would there be a special exemption for surfing TubeNet?
(not applicable to the off-topic section)

[arminhachmer]

Would there be a special exemption for surfing TubeNet?
(not applicable to the off-topic section)

Of course Marty, anything goes in community band. Right Stefan?
Personally, i would object to nose hair trimming if it is acompanied by wimpering.


Armin (who plays in community band, concert band, german band and oldies dance band)..(always one at a time)

[Rick Denney]

It has been suggested that musicians can expect to quietly take care of business during long tacets when they are doing service in an amateur group, given that they owe no further duty to the amateur ensemble.

I would suggest that it is the reverse. Professional groups clearly define what is expected of the musicians, and they are paid money to provide the service of producing the right notes at the right time (among a few other things). Amateurs, on the other hand, are not there merely to provide notes. They are there to participate in a group music-making activity. When they choose to undermine the value of that commitment by playing with their iPhone, I'm supposed to feel guilty because it annoys me. Huh?

I have always appreciated performing with professionals. By and large, they act professional, which means the only thing I notice about them is their beautiful contribution to the group product. In our amateur group, professionals we occasionally hire to fill out our numbers don't get asked again if they bring a mercenary attitude. Fortunately, that almost never happens.

If they play with their phone such that I don't notice it, then I don't care.

Rick "refusing to feel guilty for expecting participants to participate" Denney

[arminhachmer]

It has been suggested that musicians can expect to quietly take care of business during long tacets when they are doing service in an amateur group, given that they owe no further duty to the amateur ensemble.

I would suggest that it is the reverse. Professional groups clearly define what is expected of the musicians, and they are paid money to provide the service of producing the right notes at the right time (among a few other things). Amateurs, on the other hand, are not there merely to provide notes. They are there to participate in a group music-making activity. When they choose to undermine the value of that commitment by playing with their iPhone, I'm supposed to feel guilty because it annoys me. Huh?

I have always appreciated performing with professionals. By and large, they act professional, which means the only thing I notice about them is their beautiful contribution to the group product. In our amateur group, professionals we occasionally hire to fill out our numbers don't get asked again if they bring a mercenary attitude. Fortunately, that almost never happens.

If they play with their phone such that I don't notice it, then I don't care.

Rick "refusing to feel guilty for expecting participants to participate" Denney

B I N G O , Thank You Rick

Armin

[timothy42b]

It annoys me, but lots of things in rehearsal annoy me. I've prayed for patience, but it's taking so %$#@ long!

Is there some age discrimination on this one though?

I've played in groups where people don't pay attention except when they're playing, and are sometimes disruptive chatting or noodling. In groups like that to single out cell phone use would seem unfair.

Other groups enforce the no disruptions rule, but are lax about the paying attention. Again, singling out cell phone use seems unfair, if you let somebody get away with reading a paperback or daydreaming.

In educational groups where you can/should learn something from every note played, and every instruction given, cell phone use is as bad as not showing up.

[Tortuba]

Here it is, three years later, and this thread is still active. Just goes to prove that the topic is still relevant.

As a follow-up to my original post, you might be interested to learn that the original reason for my posting has left the building. The young woman who insisted on using her smart phone during rests has drifted away from the band, never to be heard of again.

That doesn't mean that the whole issue of smart phone use has disappeared. In fact, from my perspective, it is worse than ever. I see more community musicians using their phones during rehearsals, not less. I guess we will just have to accept the inevitable. Phone in one hand, horn in the other while trying to guess when your entry is coming up.

Perhaps the music stand manufacturers should build a stand that has a little purpose-built shelf for smart phone users so they don't have to rest the phone on their laps. Remember the ashtrays that use to be attached to music stands?

Maybe I can adapt the lyre bracket on my tuba so that it will hold my phone.

[Erik_Sweden]

I have my phone on the music stand. Not because I like to text but I have my tuner app on all the time. I find this really helpfull

[Radar]

Every group is going to have their own policy on cell phone use during rehearsals. I've observed professionals use cell phones during down time in rehearsals as well as amateurs, I've also over the years seen people knit, do crosswords, read, etc. I would quietly tell the director that you are distracted by her cell phone use, and inquire regarding what his policy is, and ask him to address the issue from the podium.

[ppalan]

I'm not usually particularly disturbed by what other players are doing while they aren't playing. As long as it never interferes in any way with their their playing (or others). If it does, it needs to stop. While I was in my college choir, we had multiple performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Seated behind the orchestra, you could observe what folks were doing when not playing. The lower brass section all had magazines or books on their stands. (of course this was only during rehearsals) Sure, this is not the same as a school, student ensemble. I never tolerated this at rehearsals because this was after all a rostered class. Even in community groups my feeling is that as long as whatever you are doing doesn't interfere with the music, no problem. I've learned to be more tolerant over the years especially with the volunteer groups I direct but I do state my rules clearly and up front. My personal mode of conduct when I'm playing in a group (at rehearsals) is that the only use of my cell phone is for tuning (during breaks) and occasionally for photographs or brief videos that are used on the website. (but only with the director's permission).
Pete

[MaryAnn]

Back when I was in the horn section of a very good community orchestra, I was still in my 24 a day on call job. If I got a call after hours, it was because we had had a major outage on the transmission system and my expertise was needed to help the system operators deal with it. But.....the company provided cell phone was in the car during rehearsal.

I think there is a younger vs older cultural divide going on here....in the rest of the hours of the week when the texters are not in rehearsal, what they do is the norm with the people they are spending all their time with. It simply does not occur to them that their behavior is seen as rude by a different set of people, who are older and have a different definition of what is acceptable.

I don't have any advice; the two concert bands I play in, I have never seen someone texting. Our problems are all people talking while the conductor is trying to rehearse, and my section leader waltzing in 20 minutes late on a regular basis, sitting down and talking over me to the person on my right, and then blatting in my ear. I'm going to play percussion for the next cycle.