The great thing about jamming is that you come in with zero preconceptions. Someone might want to play something that suggests something else to you, and the next thing you know you're on a 20-minute adventure.
Chris ThileRead
I'm a musician, and I feel like musicians owe it to themselves and owe it to music to concern themselves with as much of music as interests them. Even if you decide that you're never going to compose, you will be a better performer if you concern yourself with the craft of composition.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Musicians should explore all aspects of music to enhance their performance skills.
This quote emphasizes that musicians have a responsibility to engage deeply with the entirety of music, not just the parts they perform. By understanding and appreciating elements such as composition, even if they do not compose themselves, musicians can greatly enrich their performance abilities and overall musicality.
Themes
MusicianMusicCompositionPerformanceCraft
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop discussing musical growth, this quote could inspire students to explore composition.
More from Chris Thile
All quotes →Similar quotes
The weapons an author has at her disposal are flawed. There are words that feel shapeless and overused. Love, for example. I could write the word love a thousand times and it would mean a thousand different things to different readers.
Jodi PicoultRead
A dramatic experience concerned with the mundane may inform but it cannot release; and one concerned essentially with the aesthetic politics of its creators may divert or anger, but it cannot enlighten.
David MametRead
Unfortunately many young writers are more concerned with fame than with their own work... It's much more important to write than to be written about.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously.
Henry MillerRead
Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed, and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them.
Diane ArbusRead
While I admire writers who are able to write with a vitality based on order and action, I work in a different vein. I often feel that if I can get the language just right, the language hypnotizes the reader.
Jesmyn WardRead