Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
If I wanted to play the violin, I had to work. Because anything that one wants to do really, and one loves doing, one must do everyday. It should be as easy to the artist and as natural as flying is to a bird. And you can’t imagine a bird saying well, I’m tired today, I’m not going to fly!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success in pursuing a passion requires dedication and daily effort.
This quote by Yehudi Menuhin emphasizes that achieving excellence in any art, such as playing the violin, necessitates consistent practice and hard work. It suggests that true passion cannot afford to be treated as optional, and like a bird's instinctual ability to fly, it should feel natural and effortless to engage in one's art. The comparison highlights the importance of commitment in artistic endeavors.
Themes
ArtPracticeDedicationPassionCommitment
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a music academy about the importance of practice.
More from Yehudi Menuhin
All quotes →Music lives and breathes to tell us who we are and what we face. It is a path between ourselves and the infinite.
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The practice of yoga induces a primary sense of measure and proportion. Reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance and harmony.
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Improvisation is not the expression of accident but rather of the accumulated yearnings, dreams and wisdom of our very soul.
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We are living in a world where the individual must learn to command the raw materials of expression. He must not be dependent all the time on the ready-made, the finished product. It's the transferring, the changing of the raw into what is the expression of your own self – the whole joy and satisfaction and frustration of life is built into this.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
It is music that welds spiritual and sensual, that can convey ecstasy free of guilt, faith without dogma, love as homage, and a person at home with nature and the infinite.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
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