“Sometimes listening to music can motivate you. It can. But if you're a musician, that isn't always the way to get new ideas because you don't want to take somebody else's ideas. You need to find your own. So if you go to different artistic mediums, whether it's dance or it's visual arts or films or books, stories, sometimes it gets you hearing things, hearing progressions that you wouldn't come up with if you were just listening to other music because you don't want to copy progressions you've just heard.” IfsWayWantNeedsArtBookIdeasDifferentSometimesStoriesFilmHeardListeningMusicianMusic IsCome UpHearingMediumsArtisticVisualsCopiesNew IdeasListening To MusicProgressionJust ListenVisual ArtListening To OthersHearing Things Author:Tori Amos
“At the [teenage] time, I did have an inkling of my sexuality. And I had an inkling that I was different from other people in ways beyond my sexuality. But I didn't get into music because I thought, Oh, these people will understand me.” PeopleWayDifferentMusic IsSexualityTeenageUnderstand Me Author:Michael Stipe
“I don't know if I could write ten easy ways to connect with an audience. I know you have to believe in what you're doing, you have to believe in your music, believe in your ability, believe that what you're doing is honest and true and real.” IfsKnowsWayWritingBelieveRealEasyAbilityAudienceHonestTenMusic IsIf I CouldBelieve In YouDoing YouEasy Way Author:Ramsey Lewis
“You're creating music to pull people into a world, whether it be a visual medium where music is just one element, or a purely musical medium. Either way, you're trying to transport people and to create a connection. I've always felt that the best films and the best albums can be the best company. If people feel a little bit less alone because of something I had a hand in creating than I feel like I'm contributing to the world in a positive way.” PeopleIfsWorldWayFeelsTryingLittlesHandsFilmFeltBitsCompanyElementsCreatingLittle BitMusic IsConnectionsMusicalAlbumsMediumsVisualsJust OneBeing The BestTransportContributingBest FilmCreating MusicBest Company Author:Andrew Hollander
“I love anything that gets me outside of my own head. I love music because it's really just - I tried to play piano as a kid. I was awful. It didn't help, and this is absolutely true, that my piano teacher had arthritis. And that's not a good way to learn.” WayPlayHelpingKidsMy OwnTeacherMusic IsAwfulPianoGood WayMusic LoveI Love MusicArthritisPiano Teachers Author:Lewis Black
“Pop music, which I deeply admire and wish I could play better than I can, is based on expressing one mood, one feeling at a time. Classical music is by its very nature involved with different kinds of music, constantly transforming one another, which is more akin to the way our experience of life really is.” WayKindI CanDifferentPlayFeelingsWishInvolvedMusic IsPopsMoodAdmireDifferent KindsTransformingClassical MusicPop MusicDifferent Kinds Of Music Author:Michael Tilson Thomas
“The only good thing about religion is the music. Because nature is filled with balances and opposites, there are always exceptions to the overall rules, whether the overall rules are bleak or otherwise. If you propound a joyous theory of existence, I will find an exception to that. If I propound a bleak theory, someone will find a joyous exception. That's just nature being nature, I think, and I don't think it offers a lot of hope. It's sort of a respite along the way.” IfsThinkingWayExistenceTheoryBalanceOffersMusic IsOppositesFilledGood ThingsExceptionJoyousBleakRespite Author:George Carlin
“Music is very, very important in my movies. In some ways the most important stage, whether it ends up being in the movie or not, is just when I come up with the idea itself before I have actually sat down and started writing. I go into my record room... I have a big vinyl collection and I have a room kind of set up like a used record store and I just dive into my music, whether it be rock music, or lyric music, or my soundtrack collection. What I'm looking for is the spirit of the movie, the beat that the movie will play with.” WayWritingKindImportantIdeasEndsPlayBigsUsedSpiritRoomsRecordsRocksStageMusic IsBeatsDown AndCome UpStoresSatCollectionsRock MusicSoundtracksVinylRecord Stores Author:Quentin Tarantino
“Making music is a wonderful way to spend your life, but do it for the love before a career. Enjoy it.” WayEnjoyLove IsCareersWonderfulMusic Is Author:Nigel Godrich
“Music is my way to shine back and express positive vibrations for a common healing. It's similar to farming, or surfing, or yoga. Before world peace, we have to have inner peace and music helps us get there.” WorldWayHelpingCommonHealingMusic IsYogaShiningInner PeaceMy WaySurfingFarmingVibrationsPositive Vibrations Author:Jason Mraz
“I simply remix an artist accommodating the way I wish to see this track. Remixing is entirely personal for me, music is entirely personal for me, and it has to be a natural process.” WayArtistWishProcessNaturalMusic IsTrackRemix Author:Justin Broadrick
“A big part of country music is a way of life, at least from my standpoint. That's how I craft my music from my own life experiences.” WayCountryBigsMy OwnMusic IsCraftsLife ExperienceMy Own LifeStandpoint Author:Luke Bryan
“Music is an amazing thing. I don't know if we really think about it the same way we consider a painting an amazing thing. I mean, a painting is, in quotes, imaginary. There is nothing on the canvas when you start; and writing a song, there is nothing there when you start.” IfsThinkingKnowsWayWritingMeanSongPaintingMusic IsImaginaryCanvasAmazing Things Author:Lou Reed
“I think humans in general, make associations and feel the need to group things together to have a better understanding of them. Though I would say my music is more country in a lot of ways, than it is surfy.” ThinkingWayNeedsFeelsHumansCountryTogetherUnderstandingGroupsMusic IsAssociation Author:Tristan Prettyman
“Music is a uniter, so anything that has to do with VIP and ropes and barriers is not my way. Sometimes I have to deal with it, and sometimes I'm put behind those barriers, but I do all I can to bring it down.” WayI CanSometimesDealsBehindsMusic IsMy WayBarriersRopeVip Author:Eugene Hutz
“Music is an emotion and it makes you feel a certain way. Some songs make you want to dance, while some make you think. Some songs are positive, while some people see those songs as negative.” PeopleThinkingWayWantFeelsCertainSongEmotionMusic IsNegativeMake You Think Author:Lil' Flip
“Music is how I get free. It's a way to shut the rest of the world down and create your own world within it. I'm not thinking about what's going on around me. It's definitely an energy thing, and I'm in a zone.” ThinkingWorldWayEnergyMusic IsDown AndZone Author:Gift of Gab
“My personal relationship with music is an imperfect harmony because I never studied music, but here I am not just writing for bands but full orchestral sections and doing all this composition, and I never learned the right way of doing things so I have a lot of dissonant sounds and things that are brought to my attention, and generally I leave them that way because I like those imperfections.” WayWritingSoundAttentionBandMusic IsHarmonyImperfectionImperfectCompositionRight WaySectionsHere I AmPersonal Relationships Author:Serj Tankian
“You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her. Never underestimate the power of love. The way to love anything is to realize it may be lost. The heart has its reasons that reason does not know at all. Music is love in search of a word. There is pleasure in the pathless woods; there is a rapture on the lonely shore; There is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar.” KnowsWayHeartMayDoeReasonBeautifulLife IsLostRealizingPleasureMarriageSeaMusic IsLonelyConvictionWoodsSpiteShoreUnderestimateRaptureLife HappinessPower Of LoveNever UnderestimateDeep SeaShe Is Beautiful Author:Lord Byron
“Music is a spiritual expression of what's in your heart. Music as a way of getting rich is a pretty new thing, and I often wonder if the mega-bucks glitzy atmosphere is making the quality of music suffer. You have to work really hard to get around that and remember why you're in it in the first place: because you have to be. It's like an addiction. You can't go a day without picking up your guitar. To me, the only commercial goals that are really valid are, 'Boy, I wish I didn't have to go to work. I wish I could do this all the time.'” IfsWayFirstsHeartHardRememberSpiritualSufferingWishGoalQualityWonderBoysRichExpressionMusic IsGuitarAddictionAtmosphereNew ThingsBucksGet RichMega Author:Trey Anastasio
“The music becomes more pure and soulful when it's true, and it has to be true these days with the way the internet works, and the way the game works, everyone wants authentic raps.” WayWantGamesInternetPureMusic IsRapBeing TrueThese DaysSoulful Author:J. Cole
“I think blues music is music of the soul. Of course, there are other forms. You could call some classical music blues music in that way.” ThinkingWaySoulFormCoursesMusic IsClassical MusicBlues Music Author:PJ Harvey
“For me, music is sort of the art that I can't incorporate into my person the way I want to.” WayWantPersonsArtI CanMusic Is Author:Jonathan Lethem
“I have my set rigged with the biggest sound system possible and have a mini jack for my iPod attached to my director's chair. I find playing music is a very direct way to communicate with actors and the crew, especially those crew members who are on the periphery of the set. I like dancing on set too, it's a good way to release tension.” WayActorsSoundDirectorsMembersMusic IsDirectDancingCommunicateReleaseTensionChairsCrewGood WayPlaying MusicIpodsRiggedPeripherySound Systems Author:Alfonso Cuaron
“Making music clips, I have a responsibility to depict the artist in a way that suits them, and feels comfortable with how they want to present their music. From there I usually try to tell a story visually that complements the music, that lets the music be the hero element of the project. I just try to do something that feels sincere and creative and a little bit home-brewed so it doesn't feel too plastic or phony.” WayWantFeelsTryingLittlesStoriesHomeArtistBitsResponsibilityCreativeHeroElementsComfortableProjectsLittle BitMusic IsSuitsSincerePlasticPhonyComplementClip Author:Adria Petty
“I think the consumption of music is at an all-time high. But I think the ways that record companies are trying to monetize it is just all over the place. At the end of the day, music is in the clouds. Before, you could hold it, look at it, turn it around. Now, it's just in the air.” ThinkingWayTryingLooksEndsTurnsCompanyRecordsAirMusic IsCloudsAll TimeThe End Of The DayConsumptionRecord Companies Author:Jay-Z
“Everyone who makes music is a good collaborator at their foundation because in order to make music, you have to connect to it in a way that other people can't.” PeopleWayOrderMusic IsFoundationCollaborators Author:Jay-Z
“I was very adamant about not being called a jazz singer, but now I've embraced it. The way I approach music is through jazz, so I'm a jazz singer.” WayApproachMusic IsJazzSingersAdamant Author:Dee Dee Bridgewater
“Of all the arts, music is the one communal art. It requires for its existence extensive cooperation and organization...Singing together the greatest choral music of all time is the surest way of developing in a community that sense of quality and reverence for beauty, which is the basis of a musical culture...Entertainment has its place in life just as candies and cocktails have, but health is not built on such a diet alone, nor culture exclusively on amusement.” WayArtTogetherCultureCommunityExistenceQualityMusic IsSingingBuiltOrganizationBasesMusicalEntertainmentAll TimeDevelopingDietsCooperationReverenceCandyAmusementCocktailsArt MusicPlace In LifeSinging TogetherChoral Music Author:Edgard Varese
“Music is...a fundamental way of expressing our humanity - and it is often our best medicine.” WayHumanityMusic IsFundamentalsMedicine Author:Oliver Sacks
“One good thing about a good book or a good film, or maybe even a song, I'm not a musician but I love to listen to music, is the range that each piece is able to give you. Like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen, 1975, that song is so epic. It goes in so many different places, it's and opera and it is heavy metal, and it's so crazy as it goes every which way. I kind of like films like that.” WayGivingKindBookDifferentAbleFilmSongPiecesCrazyMusicianMusic IsGood ThingsHeavyRangeQueensMetalsOperaEpicListening To MusicGood BookDifferent PlaceHeavy MetalGood FilmsBohemianBohemian Rhapsody Author:Kleber Mendonca Filho
“There are many fans of hard rock music that have been wrongly pigeonholed as apathetic. This music is not music for the elitist coffeehouse culture in SoHo. It' s rock 'n' roll music for kids across the land, and I think that makes it much more subversive in a way, in that it has the form and the function of a powerful, populist music, but it can carry very incendiary messages.” ThinkingWayHas BeensHardKidsFormCulturePowerfulFansLandRocksMessagesMusic IsFunctionRock N RollRock MusicSubversivePopulistElitistApatheticHard RockSohoRock N Roll Music Author:Tom Morello
“I think ideas are still the most powerful things on the planet, and music is a great way to transmit them.” ThinkingWayStillsIdeasPowerfulPlanetsMusic IsMost PowerfulTransmit Author:David Crosby
“If my music is political in a way, and it might be, it's in the way of generating a sensitivity in people, a deeper awareness of the world around them. That's my goal, at least.” PeopleIfsWorldWayMightPoliticalGoalAwarenessMusic IsDeeperSensitivity Author:Phil Elvrum
“I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's no paycheck at the end; it's more of a 'whatever is left over' kind of situation.” ThinkingWayKindEndsJobsLeftSituationMusic IsPaidPaychecks Author:Cass McCombs
“It ain't this big I, little You. Music is to be shared. Music is not a hustle. [Hip hop's become] cultural stripmining [by the major labels]. Some people get into this music to make a killing but music is a way to make a living.” PeopleWayLittlesBigsMajorsMusic IsKillingHip HopHipsLabelsHopsHustle Author:Chuck D
“It's people who write music because they are obsessed that I like; because they have something to say and no other way to say it.” PeopleWayWritingMusic IsObsessed Author:Mark Mothersbaugh
“Nowadays, not to say that that doesn't happen, but music is made a lot almost in a laboratory where you get one guy working in one studio, they send the file to another guy in some other part of the world, they send it back and then they send it this way and that way. Musicianship is kind of - there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, some great music is made that way.” WorldWayKindMadeFactsHappensGuyMusic IsStudiosFilesLaboratoryOther GuysGreat MusicMusicianship Author:Dave Koz
“My favorite way of working is if somebody gives me a piece of music, because I'm quite limited as a player, so it's my favorite thing if somebody gives me a piece of music, and then I can write lyrics and melodies.” IfsWayGivingWritingI CanPiecesPlayerMusic IsGive MeMy FavoriteMelodyFavorites Things Author:Sinead O'Connor
“Reading and writing music is a wonderful way of getting ideas in your head down to someone else who reads and writes, but if you don't read and write, and the other musician you're playing with are trying to express something who doesn't read and write, than it's a question of "I wrote" so that you must learn from listening and from understanding where that's coming from.” IfsWayWritingTryingIdeasReadingUnderstandingWonderfulListeningMusicianMusic IsReading And WritingWriting Music Author:Ronnie Montrose
“I didn't know if it would be a successful one, or what the stages would be, but I always saw myself as a lifetime musician and songwriter...I was always concerned with writing to my age at a particular moment. That was the way I would keep faith with the audience that supported me as I went along...I'm a synthesist. I'm always making music. And I make a lot of different kinds of music all the time. Some of it gets finished and some of it doesn't...The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.” IfsKnowsWorldWayWritingKindDifferentMomentsWould BeAgeFacesAudienceSuccessfulSawsStageParticularMusicianMusic IsConcernedLifetimeFinishedDifferent KindsSongwritersKeep The FaithDifferent Kinds Of Music Author:Bruce Springsteen
“Shakira's music isn't my cup of tea, but the way she moves her hips reminds me of the feeling you get when you climb the gym pole.” WayFeelingsMovingMusic IsCupsHipsTeaClimbsGymCups Of Tea Author:Brandon Boyd
“I've been making films with almost no dialogue (laughs), so sound and music become a very powerful character to tell the story. It's almost like with sound and music and images, it's your tool to tell the story, especially when I decide to structure the film in a way that usually goes against the conventions of the three-act structure which most films are made out of.” WayMadeCharacterStoriesFilmThreeSoundPowerfulLaughingMusic IsToolsStructureDialogueConventionsVery PowerfulSound And Music Author:Nicolas Winding Refn
“You're always learning so much from people and how they work and what their processes are. Some people like to listen to music before they get into it, and some people can talk all the way up to, "Action!" Everybody is different.” PeopleWayDifferentActionProcessMusic IsListening To MusicAlways Learning Author:Evan Peters
“No one's being precious about their music. They want the film to be great. And that was the huge lesson for me along the way to be a filmmaker. And yes, I'm leading the music department kind of thing and that responsibility with the music is with me, but really that job is one of many.” WayWantKindJobsFilmResponsibilityHugeLessonsMusic IsFilmmakerDepartment Author:Steven Price
“Um, well my main profession is acting and music is what I love doing. It's kind of nice like that in a way because it means I'm under no real pressure with the music. I have got complete creative control and I can make whatever I want. So, that takes a lot of the pressures off because there's no financial pressure. And it's something I've always loved doing.” WayWantWellsKindMeanI CanRealActingCreativeNiceMusic IsPressureFinancialProfessionFinancial Pressure Author:Iwan Rheon
“I don't know where I would be without music. Even if I wasn't a musician, I think music is God. In a lot of ways, it's my saving grave. It's been my religion since I was a little kid.” IfsThinkingKnowsWayLittlesWould BeKidsMusicianMusic IsGravesSavingLittle KidWithout Music Author:Allie Gonino
“What makes games so exciting is that's a whole other- there's all sorts of other considerations on what music is supposed to achieve and what you're attempting to support, it's not uncommon to think of your music and to think of the way your orchestra plays for something like Jack and Daxter where you start with- you know because it has to change tempo and intensity as the action gets more intense.” ThinkingKnowsWayPlayWholeActionGamesSupportAchieveMusic IsExcitingIntenseConsiderationIntensityOrchestraAttemptingThink Of YouTempoUncommon Author:Mark Mothersbaugh
“Part of my big message with all this is that if you are alive, you know all you need to know about the message of classical music, because more than any other music, it is about the way life really is.” IfsKnowsWayNeedsBigsAliveMessagesMusic IsClassical Music Author:Michael Tilson Thomas
“I'm a little tired. I haven't been out for more than five or six weeks in the States, and that's really a lot for me. You know, to me, music is important, it's the way I make my living and I like it and I enjoy playing. But it's not the most important thing in my life - that's my family.” KnowsWayLittlesImportantStatesEnjoyFamilyFiveWeekHavensSixMusic IsMy FamilyImportant ThingsTired Author:Joe Pass