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Quote by Eric Whitacre

“The first breath a choir, orchestra or band takes together, a breath filled with focus, intention and emotion, a breath unified for no other reason than to make something beautiful together...that is the reason we do what we do.”

Quote by Eric Whitacre

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Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre, born on January 2, 1970, is a renowned American composer. His musical works are known for their unique style and innovative arrangements, particularly in the choral music genre. Whitacre's compositions often blend classical and modern elements, enjoying widespread popularity among music enthusiasts worldwide. more

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“Одного разу я чув по радіо розмову, здається, психолога про це. У давнину, розповідав він, люди найчастіше працювали фізично. І тоді було звично співати, для себе чи разом, поки орали поля, випасали худобу чи тесали дерева. Співали в школі, співали у церкві (донині знаю людей, які ходять на служби Божі заради нагоди поспівати з іншими). Співати перед монітором комп’ютера, мабуть, вже не так природно? Однак уміння виражати себе через музику, незалежно від того, музикант ти чи комп’ютерний спеціаліст, позитивно впливає на нас, за словами психолога. Спів та гра на музичних інструментах не лише змушують різні частини мозку краще взаємодіяти одні з одними — вони також у змозі відновити баланс, втішити нас, заспокоїти. Я сам добре пам’ятаю цей ефект, коли мені у важкі періоди життя постійно хотілося наспівувати щось для себе. Чи то радше мугикати, тихо та з повторюваністю, коливатися туди-назад. Це заспокоювало мене, діяло, немов знеболювальне. Не знаю, чи це можна порівнювати, але психолог казав так: люди, які наспівують собі щось чи награють мелодії, просто почуваються краще за інших.”

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Book:Три чоловіки для Вільми
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“In a now-famous experiment, he and his colleagues compared three groups of expert violinists at the elite Music Academy in West Berlin. The researchers asked the professors to divide the students into three groups: the “best violinists,” who had the potential for careers as international soloists; the “good violinists”; and a third group training to be violin teachers rather than performers. Then they interviewed the musicians and asked them to keep detailed diaries of their time. They found a striking difference among the groups. All three groups spent the same amount of time—over fifty hours a week— participating in music-related activities. All three had similar classroom requirements making demands on their time. But the two best groups spent most of their music-related time practicing in solitude: 24.3 hours a week, or 3.5 hours a day, for the best group, compared with only 9.3 hours a week, or 1.3 hours a day, for the worst group. The best violinists rated “practice alone” as the most important of all their music-related activities. Elite musicians—even those who perform in groups—describe practice sessions with their chamber group as “leisure” compared with solo practice, where the real work gets done. Ericsson and his cohorts found similar effects of solitude when they studied other kinds of expert performers. “Serious study alone” is the strongest predictor of skill for tournament-rated chess players, for example; grandmasters typically spend a whopping five thousand hours—almost five times as many hours as intermediatelevel players—studying the game by themselves during their first ten years of learning to play. College students who tend to study alone learn more over time than those who work in groups. Even elite athletes in team sports often spend unusual amounts of time in solitary practice. What’s so magical about solitude? In many fields, Ericsson told me, it’s only when you’re alone that you can engage in Deliberate Practice, which he has identified as the key to exceptional achievement. When you practice deliberately, you identify the tasks or knowledge that are just out of your reach, strive to upgrade your performance, monitor your progress, and revise accordingly. Practice sessions that fall short of this standard are not only less useful—they’re counterproductive. They reinforce existing cognitive mechanisms instead of improving them. Deliberate Practice is best conducted alone for several reasons. It takes intense concentration, and other people can be distracting. It requires deep motivation, often self-generated. But most important, it involves working on the task that’s most challenging to you personally. Only when you’re alone, Ericsson told me, can you “go directly to the part that’s challenging to you. If you want to improve what you’re doing, you have to be the one who generates the move. Imagine a group class—you’re the one generating the move only a small percentage of the time.” To see Deliberate Practice in action, we need look no further than the story of Stephen Wozniak. The Homebrew meeting was the catalyst that inspired him to build that first PC, but the knowledge base and work habits that made it possible came from another place entirely: Woz had deliberately practiced engineering ever since he was a little kid. (Ericsson says that it takes approximately ten thousand hours of Deliberate Practice to gain true expertise, so it helps to start young.)”

MusicPracticeSolitudeQuietIntrovertExpertiseExpertDeliberate Practice
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“Join me on a writing journey that expands through, beyond, and toward powerful creative expressions with rich perspectives centered on inspiring work. I delve into the socio-political dynamics at the intersection of culture, pop culture, news and media, social issues, politics, faith, and everything in between.”

MusicCriticismNative AmericanEducational PhilosophyFeminists
Book:See no Indian, Hear no Indian, Don’t Speak about the Indian.: Writing Beyond the Indian Divide
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