클래식 음악 교양담론에서 나타나는 청중 에티켓에 대한 비판적 점검 = A Study of the critical examination of audience etiquette in classical music liberal arts discourse

국문 초록 (Abstract)

현대 클래식 음악회에서 당연한 것으로 여겨지는 청중의 에티켓은 하나의 문화 규범으로 작동하며, 특히 클래식 교양서적을 중심으로 견고히 규범화되어 왔다. 본 논문은 클래식 교양서적에 나타난 청중 에티켓 담론을 통해 한국 클래식 음악회에서 청중 간 계층적 구별과 문화적 위계가 어떻게 재생산되는지 비판적으로 분석하는 데 목적을 둔다. 분석 결과 교양서적에 제시된 청중 에티켓은 '교양 있는 청중'과 그렇지 않은 청중을 구분하는 기준으로 작동함을 확인하였다. 나아가 일부 참여형 공연과 새로운 관람 문화의 사례를 통해 이러한 규범에 균열이 나타나고 있음을 검토하였다. 본 연구는 서구사회에서 형성된 클래식 청중 에티켓이 오늘날 한국 청중에게 고착된 에티켓의 형태와 공연 문화 비판을 위한 이론적 토대를 다지는 데 의의가 있다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

On December 4, 2025, during a performance by pianist Lim Yoon-chan at the Seoul Arts Center, an audience member played a You Tube tideo for about 30 seconds, which became a hot topic under the name “Gwank”.The word “Gwank” is a compound word that refers to an act of disturbing other audience members’ viewing experience. While the audience member was removed, the onlookers were outraged, leading to a news report. The report concluded with the caption, “Korea a stage sought by the world, needs to cultivate a sense of dignity in its audience.” ending with a message of caution to all the audience. This incident higlighted the importance of classical performance etiquette as an important quality for the audience, and sparked controversy with views divided into two categories: senstivity and basic manners.
Audience etiquette is established as a natural order through educational books, and functions as a discriminatory device that selects and hierachizes the audience based on whether or not it has been acquired. This study focused on the reprodution of etiquette through Korean classical cultural textbooks. Among the classic liberal arts books publishes in Korea over the past 25 years and placed in public libraries, there are abour 10 books that contain etiquette. Four of the, were analyzed with a focus on applause, modesty, dress code, and gift etiquette.
In the books, the applause is analyzed to show that the composer’s virtuosity and the score as a sacred text in modern concerts fix the audience in a passive position and exclude sounds that deviate from the norm. However, this 46authority is established by the presence of the audience, and the convention of allowing only certain types of applause is justified and reinforced by the guidelines of educational books. As a result, audience applause becomes more than just a reaction; it becomes a device to differentiate and hierarchize the audience.
In the area of quiet, I focused on etiquette surrounding coughing and cell phone noise, examining concerts where silence isn't strictly mandated. In particular, cell phones were not considered a problem in the past, but they have become an important virtue to be observed in modern etiquette, and tn concert halls, the audience is made aware of this through verbal announcements by ushers or speakers. This is presented as a consideration for other audiences, but it forms a structure that only legitimizes the appreciation of the educated audience and excludes the audience that does not follow the norms. Furthermore, while nor addressed in the text, the prohibition of recording and videotaping is emphasized in classical performances. In the changing digital environment and the reality of audience interest, these prohibitions reveal that the system fails to reflect the conditions of the times.
While dress codes demand that audience members dress neatly in the name of immersion in the performance, they offer no clear justification for why this interferes with immersion. Ultimately, this etiquette serves as a visual standard for determining audience social status and sophistication, restricting and diminishing the diversity of performance culture. Furthermore, clothing etiquette also becomes a device for screening potential audiences,
Although gift etiquette is not a major topic in cultural textbooks, it is noted that it is presented as a norm tn cultural institutions such as the Seoul Arts Center. Within this norm, the audience, acting under the guise of consideration for other audience members, becomes the agent obligated to present a bouquet to the musician, functioning as a device to distinguish between audience sophistication and membership. Conversely, there are concerts where musicians and organizers present gifts to the audience, which can be seen as an attempt to relaz ezisting norms. However, these cases are also onlt permitted to a limited extent within the existing etiquette.
The analysis results show that etiquette is recommended as an implicit norm that the audience must follow without any justification given. Furthermore, by presenting etiquette as a prerequisite for proper appreciation, audiences who fail to adhere to it are subject to criticism. In other words, etiquette serves as a criterion for secretly screening potential audiences under the pretext of encouraging music appreciation. This reveals that classical performance appreciation has been transformed into an act requiring the performance of pre-learned norms, and that audiences are marginalized within the performance
Furthermore, I examined the ways in which potential audiences enter the established order or partially deviate from norms through examples of participatory performances and new audience cultures. However, these cases remain exceptional and do not bring about changes suffixient to shake the structure of audience distinctions built through popular books. This stucture of distinction is in line with the context in which the classical genre is separated as a special artistic realm in Korean society. In Korea, the concept of a concert has become entrenched as a performance centered around renowned performers, and the strict etiquette appropriate to this is emphasized as an essential quality of the audience. Consequently, audience etiquette has become a mandated norm rather than a voluntary choice, functioning as a factor in determining the sophistication and qualifications of the audience. However, etiquette should not be a norm that justifies hierarchy and exclusion, but should be limited to a minimum level of consideration for others. The existing etiquette that fixes this as a norm and hierarchy should be critically reexamined.