Emanuel Ax has a blog. Who knew? Well, I guess Mr. Ross did, but he knows a lot more than I, so that’s not surprise. Drew knew too, but, well, that’s Drew. I think he spends more time online than even I do. And that’s a lotta time.

But anyway, Mr. Ax’s latest entry deals with applause. During pieces, not after. Or, well, he talks about the rules of “only after” too, but he’s encouraging applause during. Not just between movements even, but during.

Next week I’m doing Roman Carnival Overture and New World Symphony, and I’ll be playing English horn. I wonder what would happen if my fan (yeah, I think I have one … hi Mom!) applauded after my solos. I’m going to guess other audience members wouldn’t be terribly happy. But maybe she should try it and see? Oh … my sister will be there too (hi Carolyn!) … so two fans could applaud. That’s four hand applause. I might even hear it.

Truth be told, I really do wonder about all the “rules”, but I am not sure that’s one I’d like to have broken. Applause at the end of a movement? Sure, if it’s something that just screams for it. But during? I hate applause during jazz too, so you can tell where I’d fall on that one.

Oh … and while it’s true that people applaud after something in opera, our opera company pauses for that applause. Well now, there’s an idea! We can just pause if applause starts happening in the middle of a movement. Or maybe not.

Anyway, silliness aside, I’m curious what readers think. Would you mind if someone went ApplauseHappy™ in the middle of a movement because he or she just loved what someone on stage did? I’d love to hear about it.

Meanwhile, I’m going to go check out more of Mr. Ax’s blog. (Oh! Here is his first post about applause, so you might want to read that as well. Heck, read the entire blog … I only see four entries so far. You know you can do it.)

Ack! I’d better get dressed. I might have a student in 30 minutes. (I write “might” because I honestly don’t know if he is planning on being here or not, due to a mix-up on my part.)