Music From the Inside Out: An Intimate Portrait

Anker, Daniel.
Music From the Inside Out
New York: Docurama, 2007

As a musician and teacher, I am constantly searching for resources that capture the essence of music and art-making in an accessible manner. Of the music-related documentaries that I have seen, only Music From the Inside Out manages to carefully reveal what it means to create, perform, and experience music on a very human level. Spending five years with the 105 musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, filmmaker Daniel Anker succeeds in uncovering the profound magic, mystery, and intimacy of musicians and music itself.

Opening with the long-debated question, ”What is music?,” Anker presents the musicians in personal moments, both on and off the stage. The subjects describe their experiences in unique and emotionally-connected ways, carefully depicting their process, passion, and devotion to making music. By showing the artists at home, or in other non-musical settings, Anker helps to break down many stereotypes of classical musicians, while revealing very human, vulnerable, and multidimensional individuals. Some musicians describe the community or teamwork experience of making music. Others respond to the deep connections that music can catalyze between parent and child, or student and teacher. Each of the artists’ experience, however, seems interconnected by a universal struggle, by love, and by a quest for self-expression.

Behind each personal story plays an exceptional soundtrack, performed by the orchestra members themselves. While the musicians are often surrounded by classical music, we also get to see them in their off-time, playing with salsa bands, sitting in with bluegrass performers, or—as with a French horn player improvising over an up-tempo bebop tune—otherwise creating music in non-orchestral contexts. An especially charming moment features orchestra members pausing to pay homage to a German street musician performing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” on accordion, once again bringing classical music down from the heights and giving it a human face. Furthermore, this film depicts each musician in her or his purest, essential form, showing their wide appreciation for all forms of music and art-making, and also revealing the utter joy and necessity of music in their lives.

This is a very informative, entertaining documentary with no predictable Hollywood trappings. The musicians are portrayed on a human level, and their stories are heartwarming, captivating, and inspiring. Daniel Anker gives us an opportunity to examine various ways that we can enrich our lives when we open our minds and hearts to musical experiences.

For a fascinating story about Anker’s film, listen to NPR’s Weekend Edition story by Susan Stamberg.

View the theatrical trailer.

Click here to learn more about Daniel Anker.

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