My friend Eric, a drummer, recently posted a great picture on Facebook. It’s a picture of saxophonist Steve Lacy‘s notes from his time spent with jazz piano great Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) in the 1960s. Monk, like most musicians who log thousands of hours practicing, performing, and honing their craft, had lots to say about what he did:
“Don’t play everything (or every time); let some things go by. Some music is just imagined. What you don’t play can be more important than what you do. Always leave them wanting more.”
“A genius is the one most like himself.”
This got me thinking about some of the other great musical quotes that have inspired me over the years. I used this quote for my high school yearbook, I had run across it while I was looking for ideas for my college essay:
“After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” Aldous Huxley
Of course I later learned that there are many variations of this by others. And later when I was in college and soaking up music history, came this gem:
“Music is the space between the notes.” Claude Debussy
What a perfect summation of his compositional style! Here’s a variation:
“The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides.” Artur Schnabel
And one more, in typical jazz hipster “you need to spend some time in the practice room figuring this out” lingo:
“Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” Miles Davis
There are lots of people who have tried to speak about music and failed, which prompted this great quote from Laurie Anderson:
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
If you’re looking for your own inspiration, I found this fun website, Brainy Quote, with several pages devoted to musicians of all ages and genres.
To be continued……..