Touching lives with music

American Music Teacher, June-July, 2004 by Martha Kirkpatrick Smith

My role model, as a piano teacher, was my mother, who died fifteen years ago at age 85. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth, I embarked last January on a project to record her favorite piano pieces so her grandchildren would have CD representing part of their musical heritage. My mother was a whiz at playing Maple Leaf Rag (composed in 1899), Glow Worm (1902), Nola (1915) and Kitten on the Keys (1921). Practicing these pieces reconnected me with her spirit and her style.

To prepare for recording, I tried out a short program of "Music from the Early 1900s" for anybody who would listen. First, I played for some neighbors. Their enthusiastic response led me to offer my program to a wider circle of students and friends. At a birthday luncheon for a friend turning 78, the honoree remembered Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy singing Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (1910) with great passion. His comment strengthened my interpretation. In addition to playing the piano, I began interspersing commentary I had collected about each composer and selection. In a program for senior adults at my church, my mention of Jeanette McDonald triggered the memory of a woman who had lived in Los Angeles in the 1940s. She told of seeing Jeanette McDonald in a convertible, singing at the top of her lungs as she drove to her Hollywood studio. A studio car followed close behind to make sure she didn't get lost in her music. Another couple there loved hearing me play Always (1925) by Irving Berlin, which had been sung at their wedding fifty-eight years before. This group especially enjoyed such hymns as In the Garden (1912) and The Old Rugged Cross (1913), which my mother must have played hundreds of times. Each selection stimulated dialogue about its associations.

As my confidence grew, I performed for larger audiences. My last try-out was at a nearby senior day center. Gershwin's I Got Rhythm (1930) garnered the most applause, inspiring me to treat myself to Hershey Felder's one-man show, George Gershwin Alone, at the historic Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. His performance as an actor, singer and pianist was dazzling. During the sing-along at the conclusion of the show, I was chosen to sing, solo, a verse of Embraceable You to Felder's accompaniment. Coincidentally, one of my former students was in the audience and recognized my voice. Four years ago as a high school senior, she had performed the two-piano version of Rhapsody in Blue with me.

While Felder's re-creation of Gershwin proved an evening to remember, my mother's example as a music teacher has shaped my life every day. Presenting her favorite music allowed me to exchange musical remembrances and to create a wider audience for future projects. My hope is that the recording I have made will extend my mother's legacy to future generations. As Henry Brooks Adams wrote, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

Martha Kirkpatrick Smith, NCTM, has a B.A. degree from Rice University and an M.M. degree in piano depagogy >From the Catholic University of America. She has taught independently for more than twenty-five years. Past president of Northern Virginia MTA and Virginia MTA, Martha has served on the Editorial Committee and presided over the State Presidents Advisory Council.