For some, music can be used as a medium to explain art, like a frame through which the listener can see a painting’s history.

This is just what associate professor of music David Turnbull and instructor of organ, harpsichord and piano Jill Schneider will invite their audience to explore through their performance entitled “Pictures in an Exhibition” at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Bryan Hall Theatre.

The performance will feature Turnbull on trumpet and Schneider on organ. It may seem an unlikely pair in modern music, Turnbull said, but the relationship between organ and trumpet goes way back.

“The trumpet and the organ have a very long history,” Turnbull said. “Trumpet and organ music’s been going on for hundreds of years.”

The theme was inspired by the piece, “Pictures at an Exhibition,” written by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, from which Turnbull and Schneider will be performing movements in the first half of the recital.

“It’s a programmatic piece,” Turnbull said. “It tells the story of somebody who goes to an art museum…each of the movements depicts a particular painting.”

The piece was written by Mussorgsky after one of his friends, a visual artist, passed away, Schneider said.

“The piece was written as homage to his friend,” she said. “The music itself has become way more important than the artwork. It will be familiar to a lot of people.”

For each movement performed, associate professor in the school of music Keri McCarthy will present a slide of the corresponding painting and give a brief historical narrative, Turnbull said. The coming together of artistic, linguistic and aural interpretations will make this performance a unique and multidimensional experience, Schneider said.

“We’ve been playing together for 14 years. We’ve played baroque, romantic and even church songs,” she said. “This gives us a chance to do something very different.”

The second half of the performance will showcase the WSU brass quintet, featuring Turnbull, clinical assistant professor of music Chris Dickey on tuba, Assistant Professor of Music and French horn instructor Matt Aubin on horn, instructor Denise Snider on trombone, and Chris Wurst, instructor in the school of music, on trumpet.

Keeping with the evening’s theme, the quintet will perform “Exhibition for Brass Quintet” by Fisher Tull, a six-movement piece that gives each member a chance to shine.

“The two outer movements frame this particular piece,” Turnbull said. “The middle four movements actually feature, or exhibit, each of the instruments in the quintet.”

The quintet will finish off the performance with Giovanni Gabrieli’s “Canzon septimi toni No. 2.” The finale will feature teaching assistants in the school of music on various horns.

“It kind of fits if you stretch your imagination a little bit. We’re exhibiting a student from each of the studios,” Turnbull said. “Some of our best students get to come out and help us finish the concert.”

As a part of the Faculty Artist Series, Turnbull and Schneider encourage students and community members alike to come out and enjoy an exhibition of the many-sided stories that music can tell.

Admission is free for WSU students with a valid student ID. Tickets cost $10 for general admission and $5 for non-WSU students and those over 60. Tickets will be for sale in the lobby 30 minutes before the concert. Proceeds benefit the WSU School of Music scholarship fund.