Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I was obsessed with the idea that no two sounds on 'Oxygene' should ever be exactly the same. I wanted a heartbeat feel, something human.
If Anthem finds an audience in New York City, my hope would be to see the play transferred to a commercial theatre for an open-ended run.
On your 60th, here's something philosophical To give the old grey matter a stir How old would you be If you didn't know how old you were?
A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.
Help me reach a friend in darkness; Help me guide him through the night. Help me show thy path to glory By the Spirit's holy light. . . .
Since age seven, I've been composing and have never stopped composing, yet, the creative process is as elusive to me as it has ever been.
I said if I ever conducted, I would always give myself the best chance to succeed - though sometimes, despite everything, you still fail.
Music is an incomparably more powerful means and is a subtler language for expressing the thousand different moments of the soul's moods.
I have only a mind to live, to enjoy - i.e., to work as an artist, and produce my works; but not for the muddy brains of the common herd.
I have always believed that I need a circumference of silence. As to what happens to when I composer, I really haven't the faintest idea.
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge. Bring order to the whole Through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony.
I didn't really want to write just lyrics, but I wanted to meet Leonard Bernstein. Music was always the first reason I was writing songs.
I’m not a prophet. I’m a destiny-changer. It’s all right to prophesy, but the best thing to do is change things, if you’ve got the power.
I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness.
Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song.
Rather than making money I believe in making people happy, all other things are secondary. Money isn't important, creative satisfaction is
As a composer at a point where I can absolutely pick and choose what I want to do, I don't want to write about anybody I don't care about.
The jazz band's chief stimulus, of course, was the rise of the negro 'blues' and their exploitation by the negro song-writer, W. C. Handy.
When you have 13 horns, and one is soloing, you have 12 people to play the richest, fullest chord you could ever imagine behind that solo.
There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world, and there are times when there is nothing worthwhile at all.
In a lifetime there are only a few people you can work with... where you can trust each other and push each other in different directions.
Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.
It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.
To the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.
Students think they must write down the idea immediately, but I tell them if it's a good idea it'll be in your head in five minutes' time.
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear, And he shows them pearly white. Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear, And he keeps them out of sight.
The wonderful thing about sound is that it is invitational, so ultimately each person is going to find their own relation to the material.
For you maybe I'm a fool but it's fun. People say you rule me with one wave of your hand. Darling, it's grand, they just don't understand.
Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.
Off with you! You're a happy fellow, for you'll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!
No one should be allowed to make music as if he were made of wood. One must reproduce the musical text exactly, but not play like a stone.
Your task it is, amid confusion, rush, and noise, to grasp the lasting, calm and meaningful, and finding it anew, to hold and treasure it.
I am also interested in music expanding consciousness. By expanding consciousness, I mean that old patterns can be replaced with new ones.
The audience is requested not to refrain from talking during the overture. Otherwise they will know all the tunes before the opera begins.
The truth is that I don't like rehearsals. I get embarrassed hearing my own work. I assume that the cast is embarrassed to sing the stuff.
I live in a neighborhood that's really filled with sound - there's a lot of Jamaican auto body shops, and the guys next door play hip hop.
You know that I immerse myself in music, so to speak- that I think about it all day long- that I like experimenting- studying- reflecting.
So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.
Sometimes a piece of music in the score isn't effective. When a score is too well finished with too many elements, sometimes it's too much.
I'm wondering whether to have someone go around with my mobile to completely throw everybody off the scent. I could appear in weird places.
I love it that my father is such a classical musician and such a traditionalist, and at the same time has had a wild life and a crazy time.
I think all kids are creative, so I wouldn't say my kids are geniuses. But they immediately respond to music. And they've got great rhythm!
For me, writing something in the spirit of Halloween is like Mother Teresa writing on charity and sacrifice. It's just second nature to me.
There are eight girls in the house in which I am living, and practically all of them are good looking. You can realize that I am kept busy.
Over a pint in the pub, you have a good moan That's the fate of every Magpie While Mam perfects her game show skills Giving talks at the WI
It's good Mam, you've got a bike It's so much better than walking Dad just thinks it's a blessed relief It's the only time you stop talking
This goodbye will only seem Like an eternal pain If I fail to merely miss you Until we meet again As we assuredly will I've made my mind up
Great musicians accept everything that they hear and find something good. They take what they like and they throw away what they don't like
It is obvious that anything a scientist discovers or invents is based on previous discoveries and inventions. The same applies to the arts.