Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically.
Interpretation
Frank Ocean emphasizes the importance of both sound and narrative in music, suggesting that music creation can be a complex process akin to mathematics.
In this quote, Frank Ocean describes his dual focus on the auditory aspects of music, the 'sonics', and its narrative, or 'story'. He reflects on how the creative process in music can sometimes resemble solving mathematical problems, where achieving a desired aesthetic or emotional impact requires precise, empirical approaches. This perspective highlights the intricate balance between art and science in artistic expression.
In practice
This quote could be used in a music class to inspire students about the balance between technical skill and artistic expression.
Whenever I think about movies, I always look at that art process as having the best of a lot of worlds. Because if you watch a great film, you have a musical element to it, not just on the scoring, but in the way that the shots are edited - that has music and rhythm and time.
It's about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story, and all kinds of sonic goodness - sonic goodies.
I think we all change each other's paths. I don't know which law idea that is in physics, but I don't think any of us can live without affecting one another.
Work hard in silence, let success be your noise.
We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor - got her master's with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.
The work is the work. The work is not me.
Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else.
Art has always had as its test in the long term the ability to speak to our innermost selves.
There is only one true thing: instantly paint what you see. When you've got it, you've got it. When you haven't, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.
After the last line of a poem, nothing follows except literary criticism.
Let now the chimneys blaze And cups o'erflow with wine; Let well-tuned words amaze With harmony divine.
'The Lion' all began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself, 'Let's try to make a story about it.'
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