I consider music like a mirage in the desert. You're obsessed with the ideal piece of music, and the more you think you're getting closer, it's not there.
Jean Michel JarreRead
The major rock instruments and classical instruments were designed for performance, for sharing the music with an audience, and then later people put microphones on them and recorded them. But for electronic music, the opposite was true - they're designed in laboratories, and later, we tried to put them on stage.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the contrasting origins of traditional and electronic music instruments.
Jean Michel Jarre points out the fundamental difference in the design and purpose between classical or rock instruments and electronic music instruments. Traditional instruments were created for live performances and audience engagement, while electronic instruments were initially developed in controlled environments and laboratories, with performance adaptation being a later consideration. This shift illustrates the evolving nature of music creation and presentation.
Themes
MusicInstrumentsPerformanceElectronicClassical
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on music production, I shared this quote to illustrate the evolution of music creation.
More from Jean Michel Jarre
All quotes →With electronic music, you are not confined to the acoustics of a concert-hall, and that inspired me to bring my performances outdoors.
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I thought we had opposite visions of electronic music. Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk had a very robotic, mechanical approach. I had a more impressionist vision - a Ravel/Debussy approach.
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Saying that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.
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If music is to continue to support the livelihoods of artists, it cannot be taken without the permission of artists.
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