Classical Music and Newcomers

[Papy Oli]

I think I'll go and order the tickets and to hell with it.

great move - hope your friend enjoys it !

[greg]

My experience has been that intelligence, whether high or low, has absolutely no bearing on what kind of music a person appreciates. The most intelligent individuals I know have no interest in classical music. On the other hand, my brother-in-law, who has a learning disability, loves it.

I kinda learned that after I got that one guy that used to be in my class into Mahler.
The guy was really dumb, and all of us made fun of him because of it. The first day, he didn't even know how to turn on the computer, and he thought the "operating system" was the actual computer itself, or the tower. Not only that, but he talked nonstop the whole class- and because of that, he got kicked out of the class. Then, I heard he took Auto Mechanics and got kicked out of that class, too, for being disruptive. That's pretty bad.

Once, we tried to pull a prank on him- when he left the classroom for a few minutes, we turned the screen upside down (not the monitor, but the actual on-screen display) and set the mouse speed to as slow as possible. Except it froze the computer, and he complained to the teacher like a little kid. 

[Wanderer]

Another vote for taking your friend. Actually, Wozzeck's sprechgesang might prove to be a more interesting and theatrical element for him than e.g. another opera with more conventional vocal numbers would be, even if he finally decides that opera is not his thing.

Except it froze the computer, and he complained to the teacher like a little kid. 

As opposed to what you guys did, which was so much more grown-up. 

[Superhorn]

  I've been involed for several years with programs bringing CD recordings to play for people who are elderly and infirm in nursing homes, and  also formerly at United Cerebral Palsy on Long Island.
  Some of my audience have already been classical music fans for quite a while, but others are fairly new, and I'm always trying to get more people at these places to come, but not everybody is willing.
  I was also a subsitute music teacher at a variety of public schools and sometimes introduced kids to classical music, withvarying degrees of success .
  I'm hoping to expand my programs elsewhere and try to reach more people, and my ultimate goal is to start an organization whose purpose would be to try to introduce more and more people to classical music,
of whatever age. It's still in the planning stages, and I hope to find some kind of financial support if possible.
  Maybe I'm like Don Quixote, and would be fighting a futile battle, but I want to see what I might be able to do.

[greg]

As opposed to what you guys did, which was so much more grown-up. 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

  I've been involed for several years with programs bringing CD recordings to play for people who are elderly and infirm in nursing homes, and  also formerly at United Cerebral Palsy on Long Island.
  Some of my audience have already been classical music fans for quite a while, but others are fairly new, and I'm always trying to get more people at these places to come, but not everybody is willing.
  I was also a subsitute music teacher at a variety of public schools and sometimes introduced kids to classical music, withvarying degrees of success .
  I'm hoping to expand my programs elsewhere and try to reach more people, and my ultimate goal is to start an organization whose purpose would be to try to introduce more and more people to classical music,
of whatever age. It's still in the planning stages, and I hope to find some kind of financial support if possible.
  Maybe I'm like Don Quixote, and would be fighting a futile battle, but I want to see what I might be able to do.

Best of luck with all that, Superhorn.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Just a intelligence has no bearing on a person's moral compass or ability to be a good person, intelligence is not a determinant if a person will enjoy art, or if so, the specific kind of art they prefer.

Here are Cipolla's Five Laws of Stupidity. The 2nd one is relevant to your observation:

First Law
We always underestimate the number of stupid people.
Second Law
The probability of a person being stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
Third (and Golden) Law
A stupid person is someone who causes damage to another person, or a group of people, without any advantage accruing to himself (or herself) — or even with some resultant self-damage.
Fourth Law
Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid people. They constantly forget that at any moment, and in any circumstance, associating with stupid people invariably constitutes an expensive mistake.
Fifth Law
A stupid person is the most dangerous person in existence.