I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing. Until I'm lost in the music. Until I am the music--notes and chords, the melody and harmony. It hurts, but it's okay because when I'm the music, I'm not me. Not sad. Not afraid. Not desperate. Not guilty.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the deep connection between the artist and their art, illustrating how immersion in creativity can provide escape from pain and negative emotions.
Jennifer Donnelly expresses the transformative power of music and art through her quote. She conveys that while physical discomfort may accompany the act of creation, the process of becoming one with her music offers a reprieve from personal struggles such as sadness, fear, and guilt. This highlights how engaging with one's passion can lead to an exhilarating experience that transcends everyday hardships.
In practice
In a speech about the power of creativity, this quote can illustrate how art helps artists cope with personal challenges.
Most people, if they were generous, were so because they thought life was short and that one must make the most of it. Sid Baxter was generous because he knew that life was long. It went on and on even when you had no use for it anymore. It was happiness, not life, that was short, and when it visited - in the form of a fine evening spent talking with a friend - he honoured it.
I've made my pact with the Lord for the next lifetime. I would love to be a first-class musician. A super one.
Tea is a work of art and needs a master hand to bring out its noblest qualities. We have good and bad teas, as we have good and bad paintings - generally the latter.
There's no way that music could ever go down the tubes. I can't imagine a civilization without music. When you realize today that music is such a part of people's lives. And will always be, really.
Artists are taught to be humble about their impact, especially in folk music. It's so ingrained that I have a hard time even thinking I had any impact other than what a normal hit song would have.
There's no reason music should be difficult for an audience to understand.
With poets, the choice of words is invariably more telling than the story line; that's why the best of them dread the thought of their biographies being written.
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