I approach everything as chamber music. Even with Beethoven symphonies, I lead from the violin and basically encourage the orchestra to think of it as a giant string quartet.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes collaboration and a personal touch in music, even with grand compositions.
Joshua Bell likens his approach to conducting orchestras to that of chamber music, suggesting a focus on intimacy and collaboration, rather than hierarchy. By leading from the violin and encouraging the orchestra to see themselves as part of a smaller, cohesive group, he highlights the importance of communication and unity in creating music, even in larger symphonic works like those of Beethoven.
In practice
Using this quote in a workshop on music collaboration to emphasize the importance of teamwork.
I always have loved the Stradivarius. My teacher, Josef Gingold, he had a Stradivarius. As a treat, he would put it under my chin and let me play a few notes, and I remember that feeling of the overtones, the complexity of the sound. It's like a great wine.
So much of performing is a mind game. You're memorizing thousands of notes, and if you start thinking about it in the wrong way, everything can blow up in your face.
I used to think that all my Wings stuff was second-rate stuff, but I began to meet younger kids, not kids from my Beatle generation, who would say, We really love this song.
If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!
Paul Ryan's love for Rage Against The Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades
Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life.
The greatest voice of all time.
The whole of life itself expresses the blues. That's why I always say the blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling and understanding. The blues can be about anything pertaining to the facts of life. The blues call on God as much as a spiritual song do.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.