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.
Music is the most powerful form of communication in the world. It brings us all together. Even religion separates us, but a hit record unites us across religious beliefs, race, politics.
I never made beats to make beats; I only made them when there was a record to make them for. That's one of the things that has changed in hip-hop that's made me like it less. It feels much more like it's a producer-driven medium, where there are all these tracks that are completely interchangeable.
Why should the devil have all the best tunes?
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.
I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music.
Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing.
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