Every Split Second Counts

Catherine Consiglio ’81, associate professor of viola at WSU, sees music as more than an art form. For her, music is foundationally important not only in developing and maintaining mental fitness but also in serving as a way of building community connections.

Raised and educated in Wichita, Consiglio says that her hometown realizes the value of music and music education. "Wichita is an amazing place," she points out, adding that many other cities have not made the strides in music education that Wichita has. But like many music and arts educators, she is concerned that the arts too often come under attack during times of tight budgets. "We’re always under the threat of being taken away," she says, noting that she keeps in her office an ever-growing file chronicling the struggles to keep music education alive and available to public school students.

So why is music worth fighting for? Studies indicate, she says, that students who play an instrument early in life develop neural pathways that non-musicians don’t. Plus, she adds, even if a student stops playing, those developed pathways remain open. "It’s been shown that it’s easier for those students to learn," she explains. For Consiglio, music is even more fundamental than that: "Why do people paint? Why do people write? Why do people play music? We have to express ourselves. If we don’t, I think we’ll die."

Consiglio’s own musical expressions include performing as principal violist with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and as a member of the renowned Fairmount String Quartet. While she’s certainly amassed her measure of acclaim as a performer, she’s also, she says, had "a few very bad performance experiences" through the course of her career. In response, she sought ways to help herself and other musicians cope with the anxiety that sometimes comes with performing. And she’s developed a course in managing performance stress, which is offered to both graduate and undergraduate students.

Nancy Luttrell ’68/73, WSU associate professor of music, says this course is a key one for many students. "Managing performance stress is an important skill to have," she notes, adding with a laugh: "I wish I could have taken a class like that." Knowing how to handle performance anxiety translates to better performances — and to bigger bank balances, Consiglio says. "In school, you play a recital. That’s a grade. You leave school, it’s a job," she explains. In the fast-paced performance world of triplets and quintuplets, every split second counts — there’s no time to be overwhelmed with stress. "With writing and painting, you can create it and refine it over time," she says. "With music, we have that one moment on stage to show our stuff."

Showing one’s stuff, she notes, means that performers must learn to get their egos out of the way. They might strive for perfection, but they also need to be comfortable with doing the best they can at a given time. It’s a matter of knowing, she says, that "you are what you are in the moment when you’re performing."

Consiglio has used her skills as an educator, her love of music and of live performance to energize the Chamber Music at the Barn concert series at Prairie Pines (just outside of Wichita). A series co-founder (along with Prairie Pines owner Bob Scott ’60) and the artistic director, she says the barn concerts present live music in an exceptionally comfortable setting. "It’s not all stuffy," she says. "You can enjoy yourself."

Consiglio encourages people to get out and attend concerts of all kinds. She believes that experiencing music performed live is as important as hearing it. "It’s amazing to see what happens when you perform music in front of an audience. How they react to the performers and how the performers react to them and all of it coming together in one place," she recounts.

"That’s what it’s all about."