Inspiration
At a very early age my mother taught me to make lists. Lists for chores I had to complete, lists for items I might want to buy, lists of who to write thank you cards to for birthday gifts, and so on. I am a life-long list maker, and I now joke that if it isn’t written down, it isn’t real.
This month’s post is a list about inspiration – my inspirations, to be specific. I can’t and won’t even try to claim that this list is exhaustive (so if you believe you inspired me and you don’t see your name, I’m expressing my deepest apology in advance). And it will be a jumble of people, places, things, and experiences I’ve had that have had an impact on me wanting to be a professional in the arts. I’ll provide links, in case you’re looking for more inspiration and mine may be of help to you.
Inspiration is important to all artists, and inspiration can come in many forms and from any number of places. What and who inspired you to become an artist? What and who inspires you now? I encourage you to make your own list of inspirations.
Before digging into my list, let’s all enjoy a great Beatles song written and sung by George Harrison:
First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the great inspiration I get daily from my family. And I’ve been tremendously inspired by all my private percussion teachers, whom I’ve named in previous posts. There are several hundred drummers and percussionists who have inspired me, so I’ll leave those names for (perhaps) another time.
Here, then, in no particular order, are some of my artistic inspirations:
Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo
The Adirondack Mountains
Janis Ian
Miles Davis
Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
J. David Abt
Piet Mondrian
Aretha Franklin
The Geirangerfjord
Gary Burton
Beverly Sills
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5
Alexander Calder
Mel Brooks
Eileen Southern
John McLaughlin
Neil Simon
The Beatles
Jimmy Smith
Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings
The (Young) Rascals
Carole King
St. Thomas, V.I.
João Gilberto
Sly and the Family Stone
Los Papines
The Monkees
Coastal Italy
African textiles
Salome by Richard Strauss
Ella Fitzgerald
Oscar Peterson
Pat Metheny
Herb Deutsch
Martin Dreiwitz
Automobile design
The Marx Brothers
Marvin Gaye
Chick Corea
Stevie Wonder
Steely Dan
Dave Brubeck
Claude Monet
Roberta Flack
The waterfalls of western North Carolina
Danny Kaye
Tito Puente
Salvador Dali
Pavane pour une infante défunte by Maurice Ravel
Duke Ellington
Rich, inspired by the students in a recent cajon circle
I’ll stop there for now. Here’s something else inspiring for me: taking the time to create this list, reminiscing about who and what inspired me, reading more information, listening (again) to several favorite selections, and thinking back to my childhood and early developmental years (as an artist) and how meaningful these (and other) inspirational moments were to me. It was a heartwarming trip down memory lane, and I recommend you do the same.
Our Life in the Arts, February 2022.