When I attained my seventh year, my father, whose ear was unmusical but who was nevertheless passionately fond of music, gave me my elementary lessons on the violin; in a very few months, I was able to play all manner of compositions at sight.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the early musical training a young Paganini received from his father, highlighting the passion for music despite a lack of musical talent.
In this quote, Niccolo Paganini recounts the significant influence his father had on his musical development during his childhood. The father's deep love for music, despite his inability to perceive it, led him to impart his knowledge to Paganini, who quickly excelled in playing the violin. This illustrates the power of passion and encouragement in fostering talent, suggesting that dedication and support can lead to remarkable achievements, even in the face of limitations.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of arts in education, one might say: 'As Niccolo Paganini's father believed in him despite his own limitations, we too should foster our children's creative passions.'
At Vienna, one of the audience affirmed publicly that my performance was not surprising, for he had distinctly seen, while I was playing my variations, the devil at my elbow, directing my arm and guiding my bow. My resemblance to the devil was a proof of my origin.
What I'm fighting for now in my work... for an expression relevant to all manner of blacks, poems I could take into a tavern, into the street, into the halls of a housing project.
I really - I don't take my work that seriously, and I think that's what keeps me loose. If I try to write, if I catch myself trying to write, I'll fall right on my face. I'll see it. If I see in the prose that I'm - 'Boy, look at me writing,' I rewrite it. I rewrite it because I don't, because I think it's distracting.
We consider the beauty of nature and art with pleasure and satisfaction, without the slightest movement of desire. Instead, it appears to be a particular mark of beauty that it is considered with tranquil satisfaction; that it pleases if we also do not possess it and we are still far removed from demanding to possess it
It helps me to learn things in different languages, even if it's just phonetically, and to make myself vulnerable to other audiences by trying to reflect back to them the genius of their own cultures, and to do that, oftentimes, in new jazz settings, new arrangements. It's a way to show respect.
Writing a new play shouldn't be seen as a mystery belonging to a priesthood, but as a challenge, a technical challenge, just to get into it.
Actors should arouse a sense of wonder because of their ability to exceed what the spectators can envision ever being able to do.
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