If you send up a weather vane or put your thumb up in the air every time you want to do something different, to find out what people are going to think about it, you're going to limit yourself. That's a very strange way to live.
Jessye NormanRead
I enjoy reading about the lives of musicians, and find many similarities in their ideas of preparation and their utter devotion to this great, eternal language: music.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the deep connection between musicians and their art, emphasizing the importance of preparation and devotion.
In this quote, Jessye Norman expresses her admiration for musicians by highlighting the common ground shared among them in their commitment to music. She suggests that their dedication and the way they prepare for their craft resonate with her, pointing to music as a timeless and universal language that transcends individual experiences and speaks to a collective human experience.
In practice
To inspire young musicians, I often share a quote by Jessye Norman about the dedication found in music.
If you send up a weather vane or put your thumb up in the air every time you want to do something different, to find out what people are going to think about it, you're going to limit yourself. That's a very strange way to live.
My parents said to us, practically on a daily basis, that we were as good as anyone else on this earth, and that we would simply have to work harder in order to show that.
Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.
I am grateful that my horizons were not narrowed at the outset.
As for my voice, it cannot be categorised - and I like it that way, because I sing things that would be considered in the dramatic, mezzo or spinto range.
It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.
Between parts I was too old for and roles that were too overwhelming, out of reach then for my voice. I carved out a niche with the Wagnerian repertoire since I am attracted by its theatrical intensity.
Drawing is rather like playing chess: your mind races ahead of the moves that you eventually make.
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
Art is on the side of the oppressed. Think before you shudder at the simplistic dictum and its heretical definition of the freedom of art. For if art is freedom of the spirit, how can it exist within the oppressors?
A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.
When the bright angel dominates, out comes a great work of art, a Michelangelo David or a Beethoven symphony.
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