The diplomacy of tutorial sessions

[davidb1]

I attended a mando tutorial at the Beechworth Pick in Australia last weekend delivered by Paul Duff:Duff Mandolins.Problem:turkey sitting right behind me was determined to play all over Paul as he delivered the tutorial.Consistently turkey decided to play every exercise in a multiplicity of keys, creating distraction for all other players in the room as Paul demonstrated what he was attempting to deliver to all interested parties.
Given, that there is a respect that should be given to Paul, delivering..how do others deal with this?
Surely there is an appropriate diplomacy expected.I gave the offending turkey the evil eye..but he was intent about having an "all about him moment" with no consideration for anyone else attending..incredibly frustrating.
Great tutorial delivered by Paul..Thankyou.
What do you do in this situation?

[bmac]

Ask him to "Play a little louder... Mr. Duff is drowning you out."
In the absence of anyone else commenting it is really Mr. Duff's resposibility. But unless one is used to teaching, it may be difficult for a speaker to be that direct... It probably should have been handled by a fellow student... Like you... The player didn't have to like your comment but If no one else will,,, It is up to you to do it... The rest of the audience (and Mr. Duff) would have thanked you. Big time!!!

I would guess that the player didn't really realize that he was causing a distraction but may have become overenthusiastic about the new information being received. In any case he deserved to be embarassed into silence.

Some people just don't get that a public lecture and demonstration is not the same as a private lesson.

[Randi Gormley]

I think anybody who's ever taken a workshop has run into either this guy or his brother/sister. frustrating as all get out. Most people (including the teacher) are usually too polite to say anything and it does ruin the experience for the other attendees. I think bmac's solution is a good one, if you're not the kind of person who shies away from confrontation (I am, so I just suffer in silence and then complain later).

It actually should be up to the organizer to make sure that attendees get a short lecture about etiquette during the general introduction, and if you have a chance to critique the experience, you might mention that. If nobody knows it's going on, they can't correct it for the next time. I wish I had a solution for what to do when it's happening, outside of "accidentially" kicking the offender if I'm close enough.

[mandocrucian]

This was a recurring problem when I was teaching at camps and workshops. Eventually, my wife gave me a customized shirt to wear during these events to try to preemptively minimize the problem.


(BTW: those CDs are not printed on the shirt, I just tossed a few onto it just to add some color to the pic.)

Maybe attendees thought I was rude, but I never had qualms about telling folks to knock off the doodling while I was explaining something or demonstrating. Sometimes there would be the chronic doodler(s) who wouldn't respond to suggestions to quiet down and I'd have to make much more pointed "third person" comments... (though it's obvious to everyone who is/are the culprit(s)).

"The continued doodling needs to stop; it's distracting to me and it's a distraction to the class, not to mention disrespectful. There are folks who have paid the tuition to be here and many of them have tape recorders on so they can take the ideas and material home with them to study. But they are going to go home, play the tapes and instead of being able to review this stuff we're going over, they're gonna get treated to a 'noodle concert' from someone who was sitting a couple chairs away. And that's not fair to them.... (and in an Elvis voice) Thank you, thank you very much "

Maybe that makes me a "jerk"; but as far as I'm concerned, it needed to be done. Imparting the course material, in a limited amount of time, imo, is more important than concentrating on the PR of a being "real nice guy".

NH