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Famous Quotes
Inspirational Music Quotes Inspirational Music Quotes The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there a meaning to music?" To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable. The truest expression of a people is in its dance and its music. If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. Imagination is more important than knowledge. It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception. After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends. Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart. Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that. Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate. The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes --ah, that is where the art resides. A friend is one who knows my song, and sings it to me when I forget. Most of us go to our graves with our music still inside of us. Music is what feelings sound like. Music speaks what cannot be expressed Play the music, not the instrument. The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it. Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Bach gave us God's Word. Mozart gave us God's laughter. Beethoven gave us God's fire. God gave us Music that we might pray without words. A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges. Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Music springs from and is replenished by a hidden source which lies outside the world or reality. Music ever spoke to me of a mysterious world beyond, which moved my heart deeply and eloquently intimated its transcendental nature. Music has been my playmate, my lover, and my crying towel. He who sings scares away his woes. A song has a few rights the same as ordinary citizens. If it happens to feel like flying where humans cannot fly, to scale mountains that are not there, who shall stop it? Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing which can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms. Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. I never use a score when conducting my orchestra. Does a lion tamer enter a cage with a book on how to tame a lion? You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require. A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside. . . I'm going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do. I sing like I feel. Music rots when it gets too far from the dance. Poetry atrophies when it gets too far from music. Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God. In 1968 I ran into Steve Lacy on the street in Rome. I took out my pocket tape recorder and asked him to describe in fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation. He answered: "In fifteen seconds the difference between composition and improvisation is that in composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in fifteen seconds, while in improvisation you have fifteen seconds." His answer lasted exactly fifteen seconds. Music is an outburst of the soul. Without music, life would be an error. The German imagines even God singing songs. Music is the vernacular of the human soul. There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music. Americans’ true music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today. I'd rather be a musician than a rock star. The history of a people is found in its songs. In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain. The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic. If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music. Where words fail, music speaks. Bach opens a vista to the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all. Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it. Music is perpetual, and only the hearing is intermittent. When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest. A song will outlive all sermons in the memory. Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best. Music is the universal language of mankind. Of all the earthly music, that which reaches farthest into heaven is the beating of a truly loving heart. Music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between man and time. My music is best understood by children and animals. The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music; they should be taught to love it instead. Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. Beethoven concertos ... Tchaicovsky concertos ... With a lot of these wonderful masterpieces there's always something wonderful to find. There's always something new to find. Everybody has a different kind of talent and a different timetable as to when they develop. Human beings sing because we have to. When we’re happy or sad or angry, energy builds up inside. Then, before the pressure can do damage, a valve opens and we cry or laugh or sing. And once those tears or notes are outside of us, the universe shifts a little. If you’re going to make music, you’d better understand it. Shh. Listen to the sounds that surround you. Notice the pitches, the volume, the timbre, the many lines of counterpoint. As light taught Monet how to paint, the earth may be teaching you music. Singing, the first art. Before we draw or dance or even crawl, we sing. We begin by making sounds with pitches attached. Some of our initial squeals and gurgles will become language, but some are on their way to becoming song. The best lesson of all: I learned how to learn. For the glory of the most high God alone, 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. The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. Music's the medicine of the mind. Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains. Sound is what drives my solos, not verbal concepts. I never think 'I'm going to use a Lydian Dominant scale and then go up a half-step', even though that might be exactly what I end up doing. Music is the art of thinking with sounds. Music isn't just learning notes and playing them. You learn notes to play to the music of your soul. Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. Perfect practice makes perfect. Music is the medicine of a troubled mind. Silence is the fabric upon which the notes are woven. Music is the medicine of the breaking heart. Music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable. A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. Music is the effort we make to explain to ourselves how our brains work. We listen to Bach transfixed because this is listening to a human mind. There's music in the sighing of a reed; What we play is life. Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents. Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend. There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity nearer than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind. Tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes. What I have in my heart and soul - must find a way out. That's the reason for music. He is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb. I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours: it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology. Satan hates music: he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us. My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary. Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It's a marvelous feeling when someone says ‘I want to do this song of yours’ because they've connected to it. That's what I'm after. Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. We composers are at least as significant as the stars who make $14 million or $15 million. You just don't see us. There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent. Don't play what's there, play what's not there. Music is a gift and a burden I've had since I can remember who I was. Every disease is a musical problem. Its cure a musical solution. The more rapid and complete the solution, the greater the musical talent of the doctor. The blues is celebration, because when you take sorrow and turn it into music, you transform it. Alas for those that never sing, but die with all their music in them. Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body. All the sounds of the earth are like music. Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory. Without music, life is a journey through a desert. Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains. Are we not formed, as notes of music are,
For one another, though dissimilar?
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful. The music masters familiarize children's minds with rhythms and melodies, thus making them more civilized, more balanced, better adjusted in themselves, and more capable in whatever they say or do, for rhythm and harmony are essential to the whole of life. Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul. Truly to sing, that is a different breath. Truly to sing, that is a different breath. Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto. I write music with an exclamation point! Music is the poetry of the air. Who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once. Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. For me, music is always the language which permits one to converse with the Beyond. Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. There are still so many beautiful things to be said in C major. Music is the mortar of humanity. It binds people of all backgrounds and experiences, as it poignantly expresses universal human emotions. It is an amazing and elusive complement to our existence. And yet, this spiritual art form is rooted in concepts that are easily explained in the practical realm. I have come to the definite conclusion that musical ability is not an inborn talent but an ability which can be developed. Music is love in search of a word. Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory. Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. Those who wish to sing always find a song. Music ~ The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. I sat down at the piano and my hands began to browse over the keys. Then something happened. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, one I'd never heard or played before, and words came into my head -- they just seemed to fall into place. Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite. All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! The pause is as important as the note. It had never occurred to me before that music and thinking are so much alike. In fact you could say music is another way of thinking, or maybe thinking is another kind of music. It is incontestable that music induces in us a sense of the infinite and the contemplation of the invisible. Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. Music is God’s gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven. Poetry, Painting & Music, the three Powers in man of conversing with Paradise, which the flood did not sweep away. Music has charms to soothe the savage beast, to soften rocks or bend a knotted oak. There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. When griping grief the heart doth wound, Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous. If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing. Funny Music Quotes I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the manmade sound never equaled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig. One man's noise is another man's music. If I ever die of a heart attack, I hope it will be from playing my stereo too loud. 2,400,000 Americans play the accordion - hopefully not at the same time. Listen Edith, I know you're singing, you know you're singing, but the neighbors may think I'm torturing you. God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way. The organ is the instrument of worship for in its sounding we sense the Majesty of God and in its ending we know the Grace of God. Sign on a music store: "Gone Chopin. Bach in a minuet."
There's people making babies to my music. That's nice. My daughter McKenna thought I sang with the Everly Brothers. I said, “No I was one of the Righteous Brothers” and she said, “didn't they invent the airplane?” When she started to play, Steinway himself came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano. I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means “put down”. "Already too loud!" In opera, there is always too much singing. If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune. Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding he sings. Some kids in Italy call me 'Mama Jazz’; I thought that was so cute. As long as they don't call me 'Grandma Jazz.' I liked the bit about a quarter to eleven. All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff. A drummer is a musician's best friend. There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem. Mr. Wagner has beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour. Oh how wonderful, really wonderful opera would be if there were no singers! You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly. Country music is three chords and the truth. I once sent him a song and asked him to mark a cross wherever he thought it was faulty. Brahms returned it untouched, saying "I don't want to make a cemetery of your compositions." I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know. Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it. If you wanted to torture me, you'd tie me down and force me to watch our first five videos. Music hath the charm to soothe a savage beast, but I'd try a revolver first. The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial. Protect your hands! Some fans demonstrate their enthusiasm with bone-crushing hand shakes. My former teacher Julian Bream often bows Japanese style with his hands behind his back. Smart man! All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song. Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. Wagner's music is better than it sounds. Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together. Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass? The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scotts as a joke, but the Scotts haven't seen the joke yet. Cute little babies that fall out of swings - These are a few of my favourite things. You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. Of course the music is a great difficulty. You see, if one plays good music, people don't listen, and if one plays bad music people don't talk. Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them. If you can't take the heat, stay away from the beat! Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable. An exotic and irrational entertainment. I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don't understand. Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away. The Mandolin is the bottom four strings of the guitar, backwards...so a person with dyslexia has no problem learning to play the Mandolin. Talking about music is like dancing about architecture. The way to write American music is simple. All you have to do is be an American and then write any kind of music you wish. You play Bach your way and I'll play him his way. Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years. Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years. I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland. Funny Music Terminology In an effort to keep you abreast of the ever-changing world of music terminology, we provide you with some terms with which you should be familiar: A Patella Accidentals Adagio Fromaggio Agitato Agnes Dei Allegro AnDante Angus Dei Anti-phonal Appologgiatura Approximatura Approximento Bar Line Beat Bravo! Chromatic Scale Compound Meter Concerto Grossissimo Conductor Coral Symphony Cornetti Trombosis Disastrous Counterpoint Crescendo Da Capo Al Fine Dill Piccolino Discord Duration English horn Fermantra Fermoota Fine Fog Hornoso Frugalhorn Gaul Blatter Glissando Good Conductor Gregorian Champ Gregorian chant Half Step Kvetchendo Lamentoso Mallade Messiah Metronome Molto bolto Opera buffa Orchestral Suites Poochini Musical Pre-Classical Conservatism Spritzicato Supertonic Tempo Tantrumo Tincanabulation Tonic Trill Vesuvioso Vibrato Vibrato Virtuoso ZZZfortzando Music Theory Jokes Phone songs All of the following songs may be played on a touch-tone phone. Though not completely accurate, these melodies closely resemble well-known songs! Commas are pauses, and hyphens are held notes. Mary Had A Little Lamb 3212333, 222, 399, 3212333322321 Jingle Bells 333, 333, 39123, 666-66333332232, 9, 333, 333, 39123, 666-6633, 399621 Frere Jacques 1231, 1231, 369, 369, 9*9631, 9*9631, 111, 111 Olympic Fanfare 3-9-91231, 2222-32112312, 3-9-91231, 2222-32112321 The Butterfly Song a.k.a. The Honeybee 963, 23621, 3693236236932362, 963, 23621 Happy Birthday 112, 163, 112, 196, 110, 8521, 008, 121 What's the inscription on dead blues-singers tombstones?
What's the least-used sentence in the English language?
What's the first thing a musician says at work?
How many altos does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
How many bass players does it take to change a light bulb?
What's musical and handy in a supermarket?
What's the definition of an optimist? What do you get when you put a diminished chord together with an augmented chord? What do you get when you drop a piano on an army base?
What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?
What do you get if you enroll in a liberal arts program and the only subject you do well in is music?
What do you get when you play a new age song backwards?
What's half of a tuba?
What do you get if Bach dies and is reincarnated as twins?
What do you get when an army officer puts his nose to the grindstone?
What is another term for trombone? How long does a harp stay in tune? What's the range of a tuba? A Choristers' Guide To Keeping Conductors In Line The basic training of every singer should, of course, include myriad types of practical and theoretical emphases. One important area which is often neglected, however, is the art of one-upmanship. The following rules are intended as guides to the development of habits which will promote the proper type of relationship between singer and conductor. 1. Never be satisfied with the starting pitch. If the conductor uses a pitch-pipe, make known your preference for pitches from the piano and vice-versa. 2. Complain about the temperature of the rehearsal room, the lighting, crowded space, and of a draft. It's best to do this when the conductor is under pressure. 3. Bury your head in the music just before cues. 4. Ask for a re-audition or seating change. Ask often. Give the impression you're about to quit. Let the conductor know you're there as a personal favor. 5. Loudly clear your throat during pauses. Quiet instrumental interludes are a good chance to blow your nose. Make a lot of noise when turning pages and drop your music on the floor frequently. Be sure to pick it up while everyone else is singing. 6. Long after a passage has gone by, ask the conductor if your C# was in tune. This is especially effective if you had no C# or were not singing at the time. 7. At dramatic moments in the music (which the conductor is emoting), be busy marking your music so that the climaxes will sound empty and disappointing. 8. Wait until well into a rehearsal before letting the conductor know that you don't have the music. 9. Look at your watch frequently. Shake it in disbelief occasionally. 10. When possible, sing your part either an octave above or below what is written. This is excellent ear-training for the conductor. If he hears the pitch, deny it vehemently and claim that it must have been the combination tone. 11. Tell the conductor, "I can't find the beat." Conductors are always sensitive about their "stick technique" so challenge it frequently. 12. If you are singing in a language with which the conductor is the least bit unfamiliar, ask her as many questions as possible about the meaning of individual words. If this fails, ask her about the pronunciation of the most difficult words. Occasionally, say the word twice and ask her preference, making to say it exactly the same both times. If she remarks on their similarity, give her a look of utter disdain and mumble under your breath about the "subtleties of inflection". 13. Ask the conductor if he has listened to the von Karajan recording of the piece. Imply that he could learn a thing or two from it. Also good: ask, "Is this the first time you've conducted this piece?" 14. If your articulation differs from that of others singing the same phrase, stick to your guns. Do not ask the conductor which is correct until backstage just before the concert. 15. Find an excuse to leave the rehearsal about 15 minutes early so that others will become restless and start to fidget. Make every effort to take the attention away from the podium and put it on you, where it belongs! Adapted - Author Unknown A C, an E-flat, and a G go into a bar. The bartender says: "Sorry, but we don't serve minors." So, the E-flat leaves, and the C and the G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished: the G is out flat. An F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. A D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me. I'll just be a second." An A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and exclaims: "Get out now! You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight." The E-flat, not easily deflated, comes back the next night in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender says: "You're looking sharp tonight, come on in! This could be a major development." This proves to be the case, as the E-flat takes off the suit, and everything else, and stands there au naturel. Eventually, the C sobers up, and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. The C is brought to trial, is found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an upscale correctional facility. On appeal, however, the C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless. The bartender decides that since he's only had tenor so patrons, and everything has become alto much treble, he needs a rest -- and closes the bar. "Haven't I seen your face before?" a judge demanded, looking down at the defendant.
"You have, Your Honor," the man answered hopefully. "I gave your son violin lessons last winter."
"Ah, yes," recalled the judge. "Twenty years!" Two bass players were engaged for a run of Carmen. After a couple of weeks, they agreed each to take an afternoon off in turn to go and watch the matinee performance from the front of house.
Joe duly took his break; back in the pit that evening, Moe asked how it was.
"Great," says Joe. "You know that bit where the music goes `BOOM Boom Boom Boom'--well there are some guys up top singing a terrific song about a Toreador at the same time." Heard backstage: "Will the musicians and the drummer please come to the stage!" Minimum safe distances between street musicians and the public: Violinist: 25 feet / Bad Violinist: 50 feet / Tone Deaf Guitar Player who knows 3 chords: 75 feet / 15 year-old Electric Guitar Player with Nirvana fixation: 100 feet / Bagpipe player: 60 miles Author Unknown How many sound men does it take to change a light bulb?
1. "One, two, three, one, two, three..."
2. "Hey man, I just do sound."
3. One. Upon finding no replacement, he takes the original apart, repairs it with a chewing gum wrapper and duct tape, changes the screw mount to bayonet mount, finds an appropriate patch cable, and re-installs the bulb fifty feet from where it should have been, to the satisfaction of the rest of the band.
How many jazz musicians does it take to change a light bulb?
1. None. Jazz musicians can't afford light bulbs.
2. "Don't worry about the changes. We'll fake it!"
Two musicians are driving down a road. All of a sudden they notice the Grim Reaper in the back seat. Death informs them that they had an accident and they both died. But, before he must take them off into eternity, he grants each musician with one last request to remind them of their past life on earth. The first musician says he was a Country & Western musician and would like to hear eight choruses of Achy-Breaky Heart as a last hoorah! The second musician says "I was a jazz musician...kill me now!" St. Peter's still checking ID's. He asks a man, "What did you do on Earth?" The man says, "I was a doctor." St. Peter says, "Ok, go right through those pearly gates. Next! What did you do on Earth?" "I was a school teacher." "Go right through those pearly gates. Next! And what did you do on Earth?" asks St. Peter. "I was a musician." "Go around the side, up the freight elevator, through the kitchen..." Author Unknown Person 1: It must be terrible for an opera singer to realize that he can never sing again.Person 2: Yes, but it's much more terrible if he doesn't realize it.
Fritz Kriesler and Rachmaninov had a recital in Carnegie Hall once. In the middle of the music, Kriesler got lost and turned around to ask Rachmaninov, "Where are we?"
Rachmaninov said, "Carnegie Hall, sir!" Kenny G walks into an elevator and says "This rocks!"
Did you hear about the violist who bragged he could play 32nd notes? The rest of the orchestra didn't believe him, so he proved it by playing one!
The difference between a Rolling Stone and a Scotsman is that the Rolling Stone says "hey you, get off 'a my cloud", and the Scotsman says, "hey McCloud, get off 'a my ewe!"
My piano teacher is very religious. Every time I play, she closes her eyes, shakes her head, and says, "Oh Lord." What do you say to an army officer as you're about to run him or her over with a steam roller?
Why don't they know where Mozart is buried?
Why did Bach get rid of all of his chickens? Why do musicians have to be awake by six o'clock?
Why are harps like elderly parents?
What do you say after you run an army officer over with a steam roller?
What key is "Exploring The Cave With No Flashlight" written in?
What key do you play the tight-rope walkers waltz in?
An Instrumentalist's Guide for Keeping Conductors in Line by Donn Laurence Mills If there were a basic training manual for orchestra players, it might include ways to practice not only music, but one-upmanship. It seems as if many young players take pride in getting the conductor's goat. The following rules are intended as a guide to the development of habits that will irritate the conductor. (Variations and additional methods depend upon the imagination and skill of the player.) 1. Never be satisfied with the tuning note. Fussing about the pitch takes attention away from the podium and puts it on you, where it belongs. 2. When raising the music stand, be sure the top comes off and spills the music on the floor. 3. Complain about the temperature of the rehearsal room, the lighting, crowded space, or a draft. It's best to do this when the conductor is under pressure. 4. Look the other way just before cues. 5. Never have the proper mute, a spare set of strings, or extra reeds. Percussion players must never have all their equipment. 6. Ask for a re-audition or seating change. Ask often. Give the impression you're about to quit. Let the conductor know you're there as a personal favor. 7. Pluck the strings as if you are checking tuning at every opportunity, especially when the conductor is giving instructions. Brass players: drop mutes. Percussionists have a wide variety of dropable items, but cymbals are unquestionably the best because they roll around for several seconds. 8. Loudly blow water from the keys during pauses (Horn, oboe and clarinet players are trained to do this from birth). 9. Long after a passage has gone by, ask the conductor if your C# was in tune. This is especially effective if you had no C# or were not playing at the time. (If he catches you, pretend to be correcting a note in your part.) 10. At dramatic moments in the music (while the conductor is emoting) be busy marking your music so that the climaxes will sound empty and disappointing. 11. Wait until well into a rehearsal before letting the conductor know you don't have the music. 12. Look at your watch frequently. Shake it in disbelief occasionally. 13. Tell the conductor, "I can't find the beat." Conductors are always sensitive about their "stick technique", so challenge it frequently. 14. As the conductor if he has listened to the Bernstein recording of the piece. Imply that he could learn a thing or two from it. Also good: ask "Is this the first time you've conducted this piece?" 15. When rehearsing a difficult passage, screw up your face and shake your head indicating that you'll never be able to play it. Don't say anything: make him wonder. 16. If your articulation differs from that of others playing the same phrase, stick to your guns. Do not ask the conductor which is correct until backstage just before the concert. 17. Find an excuse to leave rehearsal about 15 minutes early so that others will become restless and start to pack up and fidget. 18. During applause, smile weakly or show no expression at all. Better yet, nonchalantly put away your instrument. Make the conductor feel he is keeping you from doing something really important. Donn Laurence Mills is the NSOA contributing editor. He holds music degrees from Northwestern University and Eastman School of Music. A conductor and music educator, he is also the American educational director for the Yamaha Foundation of Tokyo. Donn Laurence Mills How many country musicians does it take to change a light bulb? How many bluegrass musicians does it take to change a light bulb? How do you get a guitar player to play softer?
How do you tell when an inexperienced singer is at the door?
How many second violinists does it take to change a light bulb?
How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? What's the definition of a gentleman? How do you get a musician off your doorstep? What do you use to tie saplings to a piano so the saplings won't blow away?
Two musicians are walking down the street, and one says to the other, "Who was that piccolo I saw you with last night?"
What's the difference between a violin and a viola?
What do pirates and trumpet players have in common? Why did the chicken cross the road?
Why do bagpipers walk when they play? What is better than roses on your piano? How many musicians does it take to change a light bulb?
What is the definition of a half step?
How many bluegrass musicians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
How do you fix a broken tuba?
What happens if you play country music backwards?
Inspirational Dance Quotes And David danced before the Lord with all his might. Thousands of emotions well up inside me through out the day. They are released when I dance. When the music changes, so does the dance. Ballet technique is arbitrary and very difficult. It never becomes easy--it becomes possible. The effort involved in making a dancer's body is so long and relentless, in many instances painful, the effort to maintain the technique so grueling that unless a certain satisfaction is derived from the disciplining and the punishing, the pace could not be maintained. The choreographic process is exhausting. It happens on one's feet after hours of work, and the energy required is roughly the equivalent of writing a novel and winning a tennis match simultaneously. The truest expression of a people is in its dance and its music. Dancers are the athletes of God. Human beings, vegetables, or comic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an Invisible Player. Those move easiest who have learned to dance. Dance is called upon to express the loftiest emotions of the human soul. A true artist should have no secrets. On the stage, you must be able to transmit every emotion to the spectator. Master technique and then forget about it and be natural. Good choreography fuses eye, ear, and mind. Anyone who thinks sunshine is happiness has never danced in the rain. Dancing and singing are the only art forms where the artist is also the medium of expression. Ballroom dancing is about two people communicating with their bodies and responding to each other's movements. Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another. Life is a dance, from one stage to the next. Music is an invisible dance, as dancing is silent music. Only the wise can dance the rhythm of life. Too many times we stand aside and let the waters slip away, We do not always dance because we are happy, but we dance and cannot help but become happy. Work like you don't need the money. You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart. You don't stop dancing from growing old. You grow old from stopping to dance. You've never felt pain until you've walked in a dancer's shoes. You leap like living music through the air. When you take dancing lessons, you learn steps and you learn steps and you learn steps. It can go on
for a long time. And then one day, you just learn to dance, and it is so different. Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals. From the moment you could first move To those of us with real understanding, dancing is the only pure art form. Tell me and I will surely forget. Dancing is like dreaming with your feet! To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak. The call to dance is a response to a primitive urge to rhythmic motion.
It is an unavoidable internal rhythm of life.
To everything there is a season... and a time to dance. It is people’s movement that consoles us. If the leaves of a tree did not move, how sad would be the tree – and so should we. I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance. There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good. Things I can't say in words run through my body as I dance… If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution. Dance every performance as if it were your last. The essence of the art of dancing lies in the realm of the soul and heart; it is not the intellect but the emotions from which the dance takes off. Dancing is a sweat job... When you're experimenting you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, and you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable. Some people seem to feel that good dancers are born. All the good dancers I have known have been taught or trained. Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen? He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance. One cannot fly into flying. I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. And let that day be lost to us on which we did not dance once! Dance is music made visible. Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays. I don't want people who want to dance. I want people who have to dance. One is born to be a dancer. No teacher can work miracles, nor will years of training make a good dancer of an untalented pupil. One may be able to acquire a certain technical facility, but no one can ever 'acquire an exceptional talent.' I have never prided myself on having an unusually gifted pupil. A Pavlova is no one's pupil but God's. Dance: the vertical expression of a horizontal desire. The most expedient and certainly the best way to learn to dance is to stand up and try it.
No one can ever learn by sitting quietly and looking on.
On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined. The way people move is their autobiography in motion. Let the music play, Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor. What can I say with the words of my lips? Dancing as an art, we may be sure, cannot die out, but will always be undergoing a rebirth. Not merely as an art, but also as a social custom, it perpetually emerges afresh from the soul of the people. Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself. For though man has sorrow and grief in his soul, at once he forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles. Fine dancing, I believe, like virtue, must be its own reward. Dance, and let the dreams of poets half-forgotten Dancing is the poetry of the foot. Dance is bigger than your physical body… When you extend your arm, it doesn’t stop at the end of your fingers, because you’re dancing bigger than that; you’re dancing spirit. You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read. That is why you must look at the skies. That is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life. Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. Dance is the product of the necessity for pure emotional expression. A dancer’s work, like a garden, is never completed but always growing. Dancing is as old as love. A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped. Every child has a right to know how to achieve control of his body in order that he may use it to the limit of his ability for the expression of his own reactions to life. Even if he can never carry his efforts far enough to realize dance in its highest forms, he may experience the sheer joy of the rhythmic sense of free, controlled, and expressive movement, and through this know an addition to life to which every human being is entitled. I explained it when I danced it. They who dance find infinite golden floors beneath their feet. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance. Where there's youth, there's hope… Whoever has seen the masked at a ball dance amicably together, and take hold of hands without knowing each other, leaving the next moment to meet no more, can form an idea of the world. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired. Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for -- liberation. I watch the dancer, The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word. Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances. The only way to do it is to do it. Dance is an ephemeral, a fleeting art. To describe this momentum, every movement on stage, in words is virtually impossible. I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. Dancers work and live from the inside… They drive themselves constantly, producing a glow that lights not only themselves, but audience after audience… They know how to come alive like no other creature on earth and live to do so. It is the body, subject to the harmony of the steps it is executing, which speaks.
And it speaks to the heart in as direct a language as does music.
Swing is so much more than a dance; it's a way of life. The music gets stuck in your mind and the dance is in your heart and the whole scene is engraved on your soul. You can fly. The smile is the dance of the face - the dance is the smile of the limbs. The dance… dramatizes the emotions of mankind; it embodies the color and richness of great paintings; it makes live the beauty of line and form of statues; it charts the measures of poems; it traces the beautiful melodic patterns and visualizes the harmony of music. Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance. Dance can give the inarticulate a voice. Dance is the pure act of metamorphosis. So many dances leave me untouched, unmoved. A dancer should be able to raise an arm and make someone cry ~ in the way Isadora Duncan did. It is a necessity for any art to move you. To sing well and to dance is to be well educated. Let them praise His Name with dancing. Live a balanced life— Learn some and think some, and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Human beings are born with the instinct to express themselves through movement. A dignified and formal dance is a delicately planned geometry. I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words. Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order. What we hope ever to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence. Dancing is like life. The lessons of one are the lessons of the other. It takes an athlete to dance, but an artist to be a dancer. Dancing is silent poetry. Poetry is like dancing. Not all of us can be ballet dancers but all of us dance. Everyone has a poet inside of him struggling to get out. Dancing is an acted poem, sparkling with images. "I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take great delight in my people." I do believe that when dancing is right, the movement possesses a logic common to us all. Whoever has seen the masked at a ball dance amicably together, and take hold of hands without knowing each other, leaving the next moment to meet no more, can form an idea of the world. The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince. O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
When you do dance, I wish you Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. Funny Dance Quotes “Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little.” Toe dancing is a dandy attention getter, second only to screaming. "No touching!" "Gentlemen, remember the 15 second rule. When the music stops, you have 15 seconds to escort your partner back to her seat. If you're too slow, the music will start again and you'll be stuck for another dance." A good dancer has the posture that can say 'I have presence, and you are dirt'; especially when they forget to smile. About balance: Cranes stand on one leg, but cannot dance a step. A man who dances has his choice of romances. Beginning dancer: knows nothing.
Intermediate dancer: knows everything; too good to dance with beginners.
Hotshot dancer: too good to dance with anyone.
Advanced dancer: dances everything… especially with beginners.
Dancers and musicians have always counted music differently.
There is a cute anecdote about Stravinsky yelling at Nijinsky, "There is no 27 in my music!"
He: "Can I have the last dance with you?"
She: "You are having it!"
If dancing were any easier it would be called football. It's not the turning that’s hard in pirouettes, it's that you gotta keep on doin' it. Lesser dancers stumble; better dancers syncopate. Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels! The Ballet toe shoe is one of the few instruments of torture to survive intact into our time. What if doing the hokey pokey IS what it is all about? You can't make a pointe if you don't understand the details. The forms of tango are like stages of a marriage. The American tango is like the beginning of a love affair, when you're both very romantic and on your best behavior. The Argentine tango is when you're in the heat of things and all kinds of emotions are flying: passion, anger, humor. The International tango is like the end of the marriage, when you're staying together for the sake of the children. I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance - waiting for the bathroom. If their feet aren't in the right place, at least their hearts are. Dancing is a wonderful training for girls. It's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it. Never give a sword to a man who can't dance. Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves.
Whistle and dance the shimmy and you've got an audience.
I just put my feet on the ground and move them around. About a year ago I took up line dancing. I got so into it I had to join a Self help group to stop. It's a TWO STEP program. I got started dancing because I knew that was one way to meet girls. Part of the joy of dancing is conversation. Trouble is, some men can't talk and dance at the same time. Carpe Dancem (seize the dance) To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other. We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. No move is too tricky; no spin too excessive… for my partner. Ballroom Dancing just gets more exciting the more you know about it, which is why you have to do well at school so you can spend the rest of your life supporting your habit! Some people march to a different drummer... and some people Polka. There are only two places where indiscriminate hugging is tolerated; the brothel and the ballroom. Dancing is like a shower: one wrong turn and you're in hot water! Never trust spiritual leader who cannot dance. I was a ballerina. I had to quit after I injured a groin muscle. It wasn't mine. Draw a crazy picture Write a nutty poem Sing a mumble-gumble song Whistle through your comb Do a loony-goony dance 'Cross the kitchen floor Put something silly in the world That ain't been there before Shel Silverstien It's not a crime to be a beginner, but it sure is a crime to look like one. Football isn't a contact sport; it's a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport. The girl who can't dance says the band can't play. Quizes Are You A Dance-A-Holic? Count 1 point for every YES answer:
EXTRA BONUS POINTS: Add one point to your score for each dance-related bruise, cut, bump or other injury currently visible somewhere on your body. SCORING 15 or more Houston, we have a problem. You are indeed a Dance-A-Holic! (But is it really all that bad?) Just make sure that there is balance in your life, and not just on the dance floor! Don't be surprised if your family and friends are organizing a psychiatrist to help you. 11 to 14 You are a borderline Dance-A-Holic. A little more involvement and you will surely become a dancing fanatic. With some effort on your part you can take back control of your life without outside help, but you probably do not want to. It may be enough to cut out the dancing in-between dance classes, but don't be surprised if you experience some withdrawal symptoms. 6 to 10 Not to worry. You're one of those social dancers. You can take it or leave it. You can walk off the dance floor anytime. You appreciate dance and can hold your own, but dance doesn't control you. But be wary of missing out on the passion, excitement, and the many benefits that dancing can bring. Be on the lookout for Dance-a-holics who probably view you with suspicion. 1 to 5 WARNING! You are the other extreme! You probably don't know a triple step from a twinkle! You need immediate attention! You must be taking this test as a joke. You have two choices: Head to a dance class immediately in order to save your soles. Or… Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 dollars. And do not get up on the dance floor to shake whatcha Mama gave ya until seeking professional help. (adapted from the Elmgrove LeRoc website) |
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