Pictures at an Exhibition: Inspiration inspires greater inspiration

The unfortunate demise of a relatively obscure Russian artist at the age of 39 became the inspiration for the creation of one of the most loved classical orchestral compositions ever written. Artist Victor Hartmann was a good friend of Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer. Although he was not a main figure in the art world, Hartmann’s life works were still put on display at an art exhibition in 1874, shortly after his passing. Upon hearing of his friend’s death, Mussorgsky sought to immortalize him with a piano composition devoted to that exhibition. Mussorgsky’s composition never took off in his lifetime. But when French composer Maurice Ravel orchestrated the work in 1922, the brilliant colors of the piece created the instant crowd-pleasing success it has since achieved. This story has led me to many major takeaways in where I look for inspiration as a teacher. It has also helped me create opportunities for inspiration in my students.

Although Pictures at an Exhibition is considered a great work by many, the initiation of this piece came from humble beginnings and might never have existed if not for this series of events. Hartmann’s works inspired Mussorgsky to create something perhaps better than the original paintings. Although a very talented composer, Mussorgsky was not one of the composer greats that you would expect would create a mainstream work. But his composition certainly inspired Ravel to orchestrate it. And Ravel, being one of the great composers of his time, helped to culminate that composition into a masterpiece. This community effort to produce a masterpiece could not have happened had Hartmann’s works not been displayed at the exhibition, or had Mussorgsky not tried to immortalize Hartman after his passing. Inspiration builds upon previous inspiration.

And inspiration doesn’t always come in a linear fashion. Sometimes I am inspired by watching other teachers. Other times I’m inspired to teach by thoughts coming into my head that are totally unrelated to teaching. Although watching violin teaching and performance is stimulating, I also love watching other instrument players, like pianists, perform and teach masterclasses. Pianists are masters of using timing for phrasing and building and dropping back dynamics. Their mechanisms are different from those that string players use, which fills me with awe and inspiration to innovate my own techniques. Vocal performances also influence my playing. My family regularly played records of opera arias when I grew up, and I know I am more musical because I have internalized that raw vocal expressiveness. Learning from viewing other instruments unlocks the boundaries of my rigid violin-thinking mind frame. I learn rhythm from listening to percussionists, timing from listening to pianists, and phrasing from listening to singers, expanding my boundaries sometimes even more than by listening to string playing. Inspiration can be eclectically inspired. 

Inspiration is critical for teachers and students alike, so every Suzuki teacher would benefit from having their very own “Pictures at an Exhibition” for their studios. My program has a website with a special section that has an exhibition of videos. This Solos page features students in my studio performing Suzuki repertoire. I aim to eventually have a sample of one of my students performing at every age from three through high school.

The main purpose of those solo videos is to help my students learn pieces more efficiently and to inspire my current students to aspire to excellence. They can see the piece they are working on, or are about to start playing, being performed with generally the same bowings, bow distribution, dynamics, tempi, as their teacher prefers. This greatly reduces the amount of practice time needed to learn those pieces. 

It is so easy to find model performances these days on YouTube, and students are welcome and encouraged to watch a diverse group of professional musicians. But students watching other students can make success feel more attainable. It’s also nice to have a controlled environment of pieces the teacher has taught to their own students. This prevents the student from finding some overly creative version of the piece and coming into the next lesson playing Perpetual Motion with all ricochet bowings!

Dr. Suzuki knew that having students play for each other in groups inspires motivation and that watching and listening to excellent models reduces practice time. The same can be said for a teacher’s digital exhibition. Perhaps you and your student are trying to fix a collapsed left hand. Why not look up a student their age and see them shifting and using vibrato, which they couldn’t do properly with a collapsed left hand? What can a student sound like when they are 11 years old if they keep putting in regular practice and listening? The answer is as easy as a click away. Solid video examples of well-performed pieces are a valuable resource to students, boosting practice efficiency and boosting motivation. 

Putting up a “Pictures at an Exhibition” can be inspiring for teachers, too. We often get so caught up in trying to listen critically and fix imperfections in our students that we can’t fully enjoy their performances each week in their lessons in the same way we would at a recital. The very act of listening critically somewhat diminishes the overall enjoyment of hearing the student’s playing at the lesson. Watching those old videos of my students resurrects the enjoyment I find in recitals, where I get to hear them play and saturate my non-judgmental ears with their beautiful music. It’s also very nostalgic to go back through time and remember how certain students played when they were younger, much like looking at a photo album. And if I just can’t control my urge to not listen critically, it can also be helpful to look at numerous students and notice some common pedagogical issues. This practice helps us to become more aware of those problems and helps us to better focus our teaching.

Setting up your own exhibition of student example videos can have a similar impact on the student as Hartmann’s works did on Mussorgsky and Ravel 130 years ago. If those videos inspire students to play those pieces with their own unique style, you have boosted a student’s awareness and creativity. Your students’ playing may evolve much in the same way that Hartmann’s visual display evolved into a great classical symphonic work. Along with your students’ playing evolving comes the realization that you as a teacher are continuing to evolve too, trying different approaches to expand the boundaries of performance, and utilizing modern techniques to achieve results that were perhaps more elusive in the past. And that is what makes teaching so rewarding!

To see my studio’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” visit my website: [url=http://www.kirkwoodacademyofmusic.com/]www.kirkwoodacademyofmusic.com[/url]