Don't play the notes. Play the meaning of the notes.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of expressing emotions and ideas rather than merely playing notes technically.
Pablo Casals suggests that true musicality comes from understanding and conveying the deeper meaning behind the notes we play, rather than just replicating them accurately. This perspective invites musicians to connect with their audience through emotional expression and interpretation, highlighting the art of music as a profound form of communication.
In practice
In a speech about musical education at a conference, one could use this quote to inspire budding musicians to delve deeper into their art.
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.
In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.
I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.
To the whole world you might be just one person, but to one person you might just be the whole world.
In HEATHEN, R. Flowers Rivera remixes the classical and the Biblical, the usual and the typical until what we thought we knew of ourselves and others is new again. The mythic becomes particular; the particular becomes mythic in these fascinating poems of personalities and personas. Riveraβs work is rich in empathy and invention. Heathen is a book of psalms for the present day.
Cruelty in the theatre is unrelenting decisiveness, diligence, strictness.
There are three things that make a person a writer: inspiration, perspiration and desperation.
Art is a never-ending dance of illusions.
If a novelist tells you something she knows or thinks, and you believe her, that is not because either of you think she is God, but because she is doing her work - as a novelist.
Filmmaking is exploring. Why would I want to make a film about something I already understand?
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