What really counts isn't whether your instrument is Baroque or modern: it's your mindset.
Simon RattleRead
Orchestras are like people. They're the sonic embodiment of their community.
Interpretation
Orchestras reflect the values and character of the communities they represent.
In this quote, Simon Rattle suggests that orchestras are not just a collection of musicians playing instruments; rather, they represent the collective spirit and identity of the community they arise from. Just as people are shaped by their surroundings and experiences, an orchestra embodies the cultural, emotional, and social fabric of its community, making music a profoundly shared human experience.
In practice
During a community event highlighting our local arts, this quote can underscore the importance of music in reflecting our collective identity.
What really counts isn't whether your instrument is Baroque or modern: it's your mindset.
I've always had a profound conviction that great music is about joy, even in the face of tragedy.
We need to bring music to the people, even to those who normally do not listen to classical music.
I believe if you're not completely in love with what you're doing, you'd better find another profession.
Some of my favorite music in the world is Haydn. I had a sabbatical one year and made myself one promise: to play a different Haydn piano sonata each day - they are inexhaustible treasures.
We have to be evangelists for music. We couldn't just be high priests of music.
I spent 15 minutes writing Stand By Your Man, and a lifetime defending it.
I cannot give a single concert at which I do not play one piece after the other in an agony of terror because my memory threatens to fail me. This fear torments me for days beforehand.
At night in the country, you'd be surprised how that music carries. You could hear my guitar way before you get to the house, and you could hear the peoples hollerin' and screamin'.
You can go to Europe, and there's no turnin' back - any parts of Europe. Wherever you are, there is no stop and go for the blues. The blues go but it don't stop.
Some kids went to the movies for escape. We found it with jazz. This is where we got religion. It was a kind of raw spiritual anarchy.
I owe very, very much to Mozart; and if one studies, for instance, the way in which I write for string quartet, then one cannot deny that I have learned this directly from Mozart. And I am proud of it!
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