Coughing and the Meaning of Art

Cosmos & Culture, by Alva Noë, April 05, 2013
A few years back, I attended a Keith Jarrett solo piano recital at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The hall, which seats nearly 3,000 people, was sold out. The first time an audience member coughed, Jarrett stopped playing and commented on the excellent timing of the cough. As others coughed, he expressed concern about possible contagion, wondering aloud why it was that people always got colds at his shows, noting how surprising it is that he never gets colds at his own shows. Before long he was berating the audience, challenging them to shut up and comparing this San Francisco crowd to anti-American audiences in Europe in the 1970s. The audience was enraged. "Just play, will you!" men shouted. People stormed out. Read More