拍手 and 歓声: what prompts applause or cheers, and when
Compare 拍手 after a performance or for a presentation with 歓声 at a winning goal or a rising curtain. Track the responders, triggers, and timing without treating a theater filled with cheers as proof of full seats.
拍手: applause for a performance or presentation
拍手 (はくしゅ) refers to applause. 「演奏が終わると大きな拍手が起こった。」 means “Loud applause broke out when the performance ended.” The performance ended and loud applause broke out. Keep that order rather than moving this response to a point before the performance started.
「皆で新人の発表に拍手を送りました。」 means “We all applauded the new member's presentation.” Everyone applauded the new member's presentation. The people responding and the new member giving the presentation have different roles; the sentence should not be reversed into the new member applauding everyone else's presentations.
歓声: cheers at a goal or a rising curtain
歓声 (かんせい) refers to cheers. 「決勝点が入った瞬間、観客席から大きな歓声が上がった。」 means “A loud cheer erupted from the stands when the winning goal was scored.” The winning goal prompted a loud cheer from the stands at that moment. The sentence gives the trigger, its timing, and the place from which the sound arose.
「幕が開くと、待ちかねた客の歓声が劇場を満たした。」 means “When the curtain rose, cheers from the waiting audience filled the theater.” The curtain rose, and the waiting audience's cheers filled the theater. The description concerns the sound filling the space; it does not establish that every seat was occupied or that every person cheered.
Preserve each example's trigger and order
Both 拍手 and 歓声 describe responses, with applause and vocal cheers as the forms shown here. The end of a performance, a presentation, a goal, and a rising curtain are separate triggers. These examples do not establish a single event in which all the responses occurred in sequence.
Applause after the performance and cheers as the curtain rises are the timings of these particular sentences. They do not form a rule that applause always follows a performance while cheers always precede it. Identify who responds, what prompts the response, and when it happens in each example.
In 「幕が開くと、待ちかねた客の歓声が劇場を満たした。」, did the cheers occur after the performance ended?
Show the answer and why
No. The cheers filled the theater when the curtain rose. This differs from the 拍手 example in which applause broke out after a performance ended. Cheers filling the space do not establish that every seat was occupied or everyone cheered.