They're not particular whether you're playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.
Dizzy GillespieRead
Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.
Interpretation
Mastering a skill allows for personal creativity and expression.
This quote by Dizzy Gillespie emphasizes the importance of acquiring foundational skills, such as learning an instrument, as a means to unlock one's potential for creativity and unique expression. By first understanding the basics, one can then innovate and develop their own artistic style, making the music truly personal and original.
In practice
During a music class, a teacher could use this quote to inspire students to practice diligently.
They're not particular whether you're playing a flat 5th or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance.
How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don't you ask him? And besides, maybe we'd all like to be like Miles, and just haven't got the guts.
I'd like to play for you one of my compositions, my only composition.
I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.
I always try to teach by example and not force my ideas on a young musician. One of the reasons we're here is to be a part of this process of exchange.
They're not particular about whether you're playing a flatted fifth or a ruptured 129th as long as they can dance to it.
I figured I could do "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World" because I believe it's the truth.
I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.
The curious beauty of African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad tale. You may be poor, you may have only a ramshackle house, you may have lost your job, but that song gives you hope.
This is the thing about hip-hop music and where people get it most misconstrued: It's all hip-hop. You can't say that just what I do is hip-hop, because hip-hop is all energies. James Brown can get on the track and mumble all day. But guess what? You felt his soul on those records.
If you come from Africa with your economic poverty and your cultural riches, and you meet someone like Peter Gabriel or a person from a big record company, and they tell you that what you are doing is marvelous, that makes you feel powerful.
Motown will always be a heavy-duty part of my life because those are my roots
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