Notes from Maine on friendship
A few weeks ago I was in Blue Hill, Maine, for a whirlwind of Bach and French baroque dance music. In between rehearsing and performing, I had time to see an art show at the Blue Hill library with a friend. We were both surprised and delighted by how much more we enjoyed looking at the artwork together than on our own.
Liz LaManche, “A Quick Scramble”
Sometimes a painting reminds you of something you can’t recall, and another person can help you find that memory. My friend and I pointed out tiny details and interesting techniques to each other- a perfect suggestion of a birch tree across a lake was actually a scratch through the paint into the paper; a minimalist composition of grey squares realistically portrayed a scene of docks and floats on a foggy harbor. I was able to point out that a painting of a loon floating on a river of fish was done by a children’s book illustrator I knew, and suddenly what had been a disorienting image came into focus as a fantasy on the natural world.
Music can also be so much better when shared with a friend. Two people, or an entire audience, can hear the exact same notes, yet the range of emotions, images, and memories they evoke can be endless. But perhaps most powerful experience is when many people in a live audience feel something similar— when the musicians are so in sync with what the composer was feeling that the message is unmistakable.
Please visit our website to see ticket info for our concerts on September 10 and 11, and please consider bringing a friend (or two, or three, or more!) to one of our September concerts. We need your help to spread the word about these concerts, and we will all have a richer experience for it. We can’t wait for you to share what you hear and experience with us.
-Andrea