The Values Study Rediscovering the Meaning and Value of Arts Participation
Sue Sue is an avid follower of the arts in Hartford and has been attending Chamber Music Plus performances for almost ten years. She was interviewed by Johannes Neuer, with assistance from Don Carso, on September 5, 2003. Sue doesn’t think of herself as a creative person but expresses herself in her business writing, gardening, and special attention to presentation when entertaining. However, she surrounds herself at home and in her office with art collected from her travels throughout Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. She “sees” art everywhere: in architecture, parks, and even offices. “You notice when it’s not there,” she says. Although Sue never followed up on music lessons, her brother is a percussionist who played in a band and now gives local performances whenever he can. She traces her love of the arts to attending the ballet with her father on her birthday as a child and fondly remembers attending the opening of the Lincoln Theater in New York City. Sue has expanded these early encounters with the arts into continued attendance at concerts, theater, and art shows, both gallery exhibits of fine art and craft shows. She is, also, an avid reader and finds that reading and the performing arts help her connect, enrich, and fill her life. If isolated in a cabin in New Hampshire for a month or more, Sue would bring with her a big book to keep herself occupied. The scenery alone would provide all the art she needs and fulfill her need to connect, be enriched, and avoid boredom. Discipline Focus: Classical Music. Sue’s father loved classical music and often played it and discussed it with his daughter. Now Sue has a good knowledge of classical music and opera. She loves the symphony and finds the music relaxing but not sleep inducing. Of the many arts activities she attends each year, more than one-third are classical music performances, both indoors and out. She supplements this by listening to classical music on the radio and purchasing CD’s. “Classical music reaches my soul. I find it an intense, deep experience,” she says. “Dance is visual, theater intellectual, while classical music is more about emotion.” Chamber Music Plus. Over the last ten years, Sue’s appreciation of Chamber Music Plus has increased continuously. The piano and cello are her favorite instruments and she finds the music selection of each performance excellent. She especially likes the Parallel Portrait series for its combination of story and music. Page 47