I've had experiences where people say, 'I hated jazz before I heard you guys!' I'm like, 'You didn't hate jazz before you heard us; you hated the idea of jazz.'
Kamasi WashingtonRead
My third day playing saxophone, I was in front of a congregation. I still didn't know the names of all the notes. I was playing by ear, following along, but it was such an encouraging environment, I couldn't fail. It was all, 'Yeah baby, you sound real good' no matter what you play. It was a great way to learn.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Learning music can thrive in supportive environments where encouragement outweighs perfection.
This quote by Kamasi Washington highlights the importance of a nurturing and encouraging environment in the learning process, particularly in music. He emphasizes that even as a novice, the positive reinforcement from an accepting congregation allowed him to embrace the experience of playing, fostering growth and confidence despite his lack of technical knowledge about the notes.
Themes
MusicLearningEncouragementSaxophoneConfidence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of supportive learning environments in schools.
More from Kamasi Washington
All quotes →We've now got a whole generation of jazz musicians who have been brought up with hip-hop. We've grown up alongside rappers and DJs; we've heard this music all our life. We are as fluent in J Dilla and Dr Dre as we are in Mingus and Coltrane.
Kamasi WashingtonRead
I kept thinking about how ironic it is how people who live in places where there is diversity tend to love it - and the people that don't live in particularly diverse places tend to be the ones attacking it. In a way, that's similar to music, which is essentially the art of bringing things together.
Kamasi WashingtonRead
My hope is that witnessing the beautiful harmony created by merging different musical melodies will help people realize the beauty in our own differences.
Kamasi WashingtonRead
In general, in my life, one of the coolest things that I've been able to do is to go to different places and meet different people and see how they view the world and to learn what their music is and what their language is, and the food they eat and everything. That idea of the beauty of the vastness of the world has just been my life.
Kamasi WashingtonRead
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