GUIDELINES FOR CONCERTS: DOS & DON'TS

• Wear what is comfortable to enjoy a wonderful evening. You will be amazed at the variety of attire at a concert. Women can’t go wrong with a skirt or pants suit; most men wear ties, but there are no rules.

• Don’t overdo the perfume, cologne or after shave lotion. Many people are allergic to strong scents.

• Turn off cell phones, beepers and watch alarms when you enter the hall. If they go off during the concert, it’s embarrassing to you, annoying to everyone else and they rarely chime out in the same key as the music.

• If you arrive after the concert begins, wait in the lobby until an usher assists you into the auditorium. There is nothing more disruptive to a concert than people looking for their seats while the Philharmonic is playing.

• Unwrap candies and cough drops before the concert begins. If you have a sudden coughing attack during the concert, remember, the crinkly paper is no quieter opened slowly than it is opened quickly – the noise just lasts a whole lot longer.

• Stop talking when the music begins, at the first stroke of the conductor’s baton. And, don’t hum, sing along, tap, beat time with a body part, or jangle the bangles.

• If you are bringing a child, please make sure s/he is ready for the experience. Call our office (401.248.7000) or check our guidelines on the website- riphil.org - for concert readiness.

• Please hold off rifling through a purse, backpack or shopping bag while the Orchestra is playing.

• There is hardly ever a situation so urgent that it necessitates climbing over knees and feet to get to the lobby while the music is playing.

• If you are unsure when to clap, wait for the conductor’s shoulders and baton to relax. If you are a new concert attendee, you may not necessarily want to lead the charge.

• We realize that traffic jams are most annoying, but it is extraordinarily discourteous to your fellow attendees, and to the musicians and conductor, to leave the concert before it is over. And, you may miss something very special.

• The bottom line: treat your fellow concert attendees the way you like to be treated.