“I think people want to put you in a box and close it away so that it makes them feel better. A lot of musicians get that.” PeopleThinkingWantFeelsMusicianBoxesFeel Better Author:Daniel Powter
“I started thinking, my gosh, all this sophisticated software for measuring how Yo-Yo plays, and how he moves and this technique of the bow, I should be able to use similar techniques for measuring the way anybody moves, and so somebody who is not a professional or a trained musician, I should be able to make a musical environment for them.” ThinkingWayShouldPlayUseAbleMovingEnvironmentMusicianMusicalTechniqueSoftwareBowsSophisticatedMeasuring Author:Tod Machover
“A lot of young artists and musicians that we work with, you think they're gonna want to come in and buy the rock star-looking leather jacket - whatever it is that you think they're gonna want. They all want a suit. They want a tuxedo jacket, they want a suit. They don't want to look like their dad in it, but they want a suit.” ThinkingWantLooksYoungArtistStarsRocksDadMusicianSuitsRock StarJacketsLeatherYoung ArtistsLeather JacketsTuxedos Author:Paul Weller
“I think a lot of actors, comedians, musicians, artists are drawn to this world, because you're allowed to excavate whatever it is that you're struggling with, and hopefully turn it into art.” ThinkingWorldArtArtistTurnsActorsStruggleThis WorldMusicianHopefullyComedian Author:Sandra Bullock
“I think musicians like me are drawn to those older desks, not just because they're legend and lore but also because they do something really specific that is hard to emulate or re-create digitally.” ThinkingHardMusicianLike MeLegendsDesksEmulate Author:Dave Grohl
“When you say what is the difference between me and my stage name the idea is that as a musician you always think of yourself as inhabiting a certain cultural space in the kind of a cultural landscape, so when I say cultural space what I mean to imply there is that you exist within certain parameters of how people think of culture.” PeopleThinkingKindMeanIdeasCertainCultureNamesDifferencesSpaceStageMusicianLandscapeThink Of YouParameters Author:DJ Spooky
“I think that it's fear. The musicians themselves don't seem to know enough about why they're in the positions they're in, so they're afraid to lose those positions. If you're 22 years old and you can't believe you're even in the position to have a career making music, the first thing you're going to think is: Maintain. Don't lose it. And that's precisely what causes you to lose everything.” IfsThinkingKnowsYearsFirstsBelieveEnoughSeemsCausesLosesCareersPositionMusician Author:Steven Soderbergh
“When I lived in New York, there wasn't as much TV or film around. I got asked to do a couple of indie films, just based on me being from The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle. I did a couple of indie movies from Japan and one from Canada, and I thought it was an exciting, fun thing to do. I had a great time doing it, it was just that, in New York, there really wasn't as much. My studio in New York closed, so I moved out to L.A. and just started looking into composing as another thing to do, as a musician. I like it a lot. It's fun and it's a different way of thinking about music.” ThinkingWayDifferentFilmFunPerfectNew YorkTvsCoupleMusicianExcitingMovedStudiosCirclesDifferent WaysThings To DoCanadaJapanWay Of ThinkingGreat TimesComposingPumpkinFun ThingsSmashingHad A Great TimeIndie FilmsSmashing PumpkinsIndie Movie Author:James Iha
“I know this might sound a little cliche but, I feel like everybody is searching for the same thing, and that is truth. I think that's sort of the journey to define that which is most inspirational. Even in acting, when I watch an actor who I find to be so truthful in their craft, or a musician who gets up there and sings so truthfully - I like that.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsLittlesMightActorsSoundActingWatchesJourneyMusicianGet UpCraftsTruthfulCliche Author:Tyler Blackburn
“I think that artists and musicians can do as much harm as good for causes if they tie their names to lots of things, especially if they aren't really doing much to meaningfully push their causes forward.” IfsThinkingArtistNamesCausesCan DoMusicianHarmTies Author:Damian Kulash
“I once had a young musician come to me and say that he wanted to be a professional musician. I asked him to write his list. When he came back to me, the three things in his life he most wanted were: to be paid for his music; to travel around the world; to meet new people. We came to the decision, after thinking really creatively, that if he got a job on a cruise ship, he would fulfill those goals.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldWritingWantedJobsYoungThreeGoalDecisionMusicianPaidListsShipsAround The WorldThree ThingsCruiseMeeting New PeopleCruise ShipsMost Wanted Author:Phil Keoghan
“My guys studied music from a young age and I did not so I think, like, adding the idiot to the table of very talented musicians gave us a unique rub.” ThinkingAgeYoungGuyMusicianUniqueTablesIdiotYoung AgeTalented Musicians Author:Anthony Kiedis
“Scientists contribute in a variety of ways and I don't think I can singular one even including [Albert] Einstein, that I can say that he's the best. We don't work like the best basketball player and the best musician and so on. Science is a collective effort.” ThinkingWayI CanEffortPlayerBasketballMusicianScientistIncludingVarietyCollectivesBasketball PlayerBest BasketballCollective Effort Author:Ahmed H. Zewail
“I think I've always felt as a band and as a musician and a music business person, I've always felt like an outsider, period.” ThinkingPersonsFeltPeriodsBandMusicianOutsidersMusic BusinessBusiness Person Author:Amanda Palmer
“I dream of a collaboration that will become so complete that, often, the poet will think as musician and the musician as poet, so that the work resulting from this union will not be the random conclusion of a series of approximations and concessions, but the harmonious synthesis of two aspects of the same thought.” ThinkingTwoDreamPoetMusicianAspectUnionsSeriesConclusionCollaborationHarmoniousConcessionsSynthesisApproximation Author:Arthur Honegger
“When you write a song you're more or less saying, "This is everyone. I think this is everyone." It doesn't necessarily have to be this thing where I go out and I'm like candy-striping, or becoming a therapist or something. I think that maybe, maybe I'm supposed to [be a musician], because of that fact.” ThinkingWritingFactsSongBecomingMusicianSupposed To BeCandyTherapists Author:Anthony Green
“I don't think I'm even a musician. I don't play a lot of instruments, not really a soloist or anything.” ThinkingPlayMusicianInstruments Author:Cass McCombs
“I think all musicians and producers, they know the real goal is to come up with a record that is entertaining and not boring, that's the goal. I think if everyone agrees that that's the goal then it doesn't matter who's the band and it doesn't matter who's the producer. It just means that that you try to realise the ambition no matter what the situation is or who the people are.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsTryingMeanRealMatterGoalSituationRecordsBandAmbitionMusicianNo Matter WhatAgreeCome UpBoringProducersRealisingEntertaining Author:Black Francis
“Nowadays, [young musicians] are so quick to be like, "OK, fine, I'll take the cheque, or I'll get the stamp from XYZ, and I'm expanding my brand," rather than thinking, "I'm part of this space over here, and in order for it to grow, you can't have it assimilated by this bigger bubble or corporate brand."” ThinkingYoungOrderGrowsSpaceFineMusicianBiggerBrandsCorporateBubblesStampsExpandingCheques Author:M.I.A.
“The cliché of that sort of wasted, renegade, drugged-out musician of the '70s is kind of dead and gone now. And I suppose that a lot of people still keep relying on that, or some kind of image to perpetuate something that they think they're supposed to sound like. But that kind of takes you away from real inspiration and, you know, real artistic discovery of the individual.” PeopleThinkingKnowsKindStillsRealInspirationIndividualSoundGoneMusicianDiscoveryArtisticRenegades Author:Chrissie Hynde
“I think it's time to travel, start gathering some real right-in-there experiences with street musicians around the world.” ThinkingWorldRealStreetsMusicianAround The WorldGathering Author:Jimmy Page
“We think about sitting in a space and hearing some music by having our ears pointed forward towards the musicians sitting opposite us. I'm really not following that paradigm at all.” ThinkingSpaceMusicianSittingOppositesEarsFollowingHearingParadigm Author:Pauline Oliveros
“You have to be ready, and also you have to discard notions that are fondly held by a lot of musicians, about sequences and notes and about scales and musical systems as a whole. If you think of music as a language, the space part is where you throw out all the syntax.” IfsThinkingWholeLanguageSpaceReadyMusicianNotesNotionMusicalScalesSequenceSyntax Author:Jerry Garcia
“I just hope that I'll stay around musically for as long as I can. I love to think that I will still be satisfying myself and other people as a musician until the day I die.” PeopleThinkingLongStillsI CanDiesMusicianSatisfying Author:George Michael
“For better or for worse, I think my approach to jazz is very traditional, in one sense, but is [also] very out of fashion today. It's about the musicians, and it's about that magic that happens in the moment.” ThinkingMomentsHappensTodayMagicFashionApproachMusicianJazzTraditionalFashion Today Author:Jose James
“For artists like me, I think the times that just say the 80's alone, you didn't have to worry about getting twenty-five thousand Facebook followers. You didn't have to worry about every club, every venue you play, where the venues say well you know can you put up this video, put up that Facebook, put up... Nowadays it's really like you just can't be a musician alone.” ThinkingKnowsWellsPlayArtistWorryFiveLike YouThousandMusicianTwentiesClubsVideoLike MeFollowersTwenty FiveVenuesReally Like You Author:Joe Louis Walker
“I wish I could say differently, but I really don't think so. There are too many musicians already for probably anyone to be noticed without some sort of commercial support. Even the most talented ones drown in a sea of mediocrity, and only the politically correct ones will ever be promoted (willingly...) by the press anyhow.” ThinkingWishSupportSeaMusicianPressesMediocrityPolitically Correct Author:Varg Vikernes
“I think a lot of actors, especially actors with a theater background, have a musical ear. A lot of actors just want to be musicians anyway, and a lot of musicians want to be actors.” ThinkingWantActorsMusicianEarsTheaterMusicalBackgrounds Author:Cedric Yarbrough
“Indeed we have souls. And if a person is religious, I think it's good, it helps you a bit. But if you're not, at least you can have the sense that there is a condition inside you which looks at the stars with amazement and awe. That listens to water with a river flowing, or water falling in rain and is lifted up by that and listens to a wonderful singer, wonderful musicians, listens to maybe Duke Ellington or Frank Sinatra or listens to Odetta and Mary J. Blige. Yes, and thinks whoo! And thinks, yes, hmm, all right now. My soul has been washed. I feel better, I feel stronger.” IfsThinkingFeelsLooksPersonsHas BeensSoulHelpingFallStarsBitsWaterReligiousWonderfulConditionsRight NowMusicianRainRiversStrongerSingersMy SoulAweFrankMaryFeel BetterDukesAmazementHmmMary J Blige Author:Maya Angelou
“As for uniqueness, this is virtually nonexistent! And it's a shame that people think they're unique because they have a face ring, retro clothing, colorful hair, drive a certain kind of automobile or listen to some obscure musician.” PeopleThinkingKindFacesCertainHairMusicianUniqueShameRingsClothingsUniquenessObscureAutomobileColorfulRetro Author:Gary Yourofsky
“I think the idea now of being a performer in this era of social media saturation means that you have to be an actor, a musician, a stand-up comic, writer, or a director. Focusing in on one thing doesn't take up all of your time.” ThinkingMeanIdeasActorsSocialOne ThingMediaDirectorsMusicianSocial MediaComicErasPerformersSaturation Author:Robbie Rist
“In America, the poor have been invisibilised, because obviously this model of success that has been held out to the world must not show the poor, it must not show the condition of black people. It can only the successful ones, basketball players, musicians, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell. But I think the time will come when the Occupy movement will have to somehow formulate something more than just anger.” PeopleThinkingWorldHas BeensShowsAmericaBlackPoorSuccessfulPlayerConditionsMovementBasketballMusicianModelsBlack PeopleRiceBasketball PlayerOccupy Movement Author:Arundhati Roy
“My boyfriend's a musician, and I think when he's on stage is the only time he's not worrying. And so that's the reason he keeps doing it is because it gives him that sort of experience of weightlessness that I only get out of being sort of, deep into writing something or really lost in a moment on set, like it's available to me in these select moments through my work.” ThinkingGivingWritingReasonMomentsLostWorryStageMusicianAvailableOnly TimeSelectMy BoyfriendNot WorryingWeightlessness Author:Lena Dunham
“I saw a nice interview with Dave Binney recently. He was saying, "Man it was never easy. It's not like 'Oh wow, the good old days.' What, when certain people couldn't vote?" There was more work for musicians in the '40s, '50s, '60s. But I don't think it was ever easy.” PeopleThinkingMenCertainEasySawsNiceMusicianVoteInterviewsWowOld DaysDaveGood Old Days Author:Jon Gordon
“I did, I was in Europe a lot. I would say, mid 20s to late 30s. Less so in the last ten or twelve years. Based on some political stuff and other things, I think I'm not the only musician, the only American jazz musician that's not going to Europe quite as much. I think we're seen a little differently in the world, unfortunately, than we were pre-Iraq invasion and things like that.” ThinkingWorldYearsLittlesLastsPoliticalStuffTenLateMusicianEuropeJazzIraqTwelveInvasionJazz MusicJazz Musician Author:Jon Gordon
“My aspirations and dreams keep evolving. I think dreams evolve and I want to become a better songwriter. I want to do more collaboration within my genre and I want to continue to make records. I want to just keep getting stronger as a musician and make movies.” ThinkingWantDreamRecordsMusicianStrongerEvolveGenreAspirationCollaborationSongwritersGetting Stronger Author:Morgan James
“Whether it's a designer or a musician, I think the most important thing for people who express things are to be unique. There should be something unique only to them.” PeopleThinkingShouldImportantMusicianUniqueImportant ThingsDesigner Author:Taeyang
“My attitude towards my time as a musician, is that I really wanted to completely reinvent myself and not be one of these people who, twenty, thirty years later, is trying to recreate something that happened. I'm glad that Neil Young still makes records, but I don't know that everybody needs to be frozen in time forever. I think it's good that pop music is ephemeral.” PeopleThinkingKnowsNeedsTryingYearsStillsWantedYoungAttitudeForeverRecordsHappenedMusicianMusic IsTwentiesPopsGladThirtyMy TimeFrozenPop MusicThirty YearsMy AttitudeEphemeralFrozen In Time Author:Kurt Ralske
“I don't think my skill level is up there as a musician. I think I'm best at writing in general. The musicians that I know are really good, and I feel like I have a lot to do until I become a musician.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsWritingLevelsSkillsMusician Author:Ian Simpson
“I think most musicians know if they make the same record twice, even if they say they don't.” IfsThinkingKnowsRecordsMusician Author:Stephen Malkmus
“The source of inspiration can be any of the things:deep emotional experiences - say, romantic love or spiritual contemplation.I think such rare moments come only when you have total concentration. You are consumed in and by the music. I guess you could say that it is akin to contemplation. In order to reach this desirable state of mind you have to rise above the environment you're in at that particular time - a bad piano, glaring stage lights, or the attitude of the audience. Sometimes the inspiration of the other musicians you're playing with helps you reach this stage.” ThinkingMindSometimesMomentsHelpingInspirationSpiritualAttitudeAudienceEnvironmentEmotionalMusicianContemplationConcentrationState Of MindRomantic LoveRise Above Author:Dave Brubeck
“Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and many other great jazz musicians objected to their music being called jazz. While the outside world may want to put a label on it, those who create it think of it just as music, and tend not to classify it.” ThinkingWorldArtMusicianMusic IsJazzJazz MusicJazz Musician Author:Dave Brubeck
“In the hierarchy of instruments, if you're a harpist, you're considered someone with a brain much more than if you're a singer. Even though singers, particularly singers who can play piano... If you go to the office of career development, you can get a gig much easier. Still, musicians tend to look down on you. I think they've got some nerve, because if they could sing, they would do it, but most of them can't.” ThinkingBrainOfficeMusician Author:Nellie McKay
“I think a lot about writing and I try to read a lot. Being a musician, I don't take the words lightly; they are very, very important to me. At the same time, the words have to be musical and have to fit.” ThinkingWritingTryingImportantFitMusicianMusical Author:Steve Gunn
“I thought for a minute about an actor and a musician simultaneously, but I think that's always very loaded as an actor when you become a "slash," and you do an actor "slash" anything. You better be really, really good at it.” ThinkingMusician Author:Gabriel Mann
“People equate job titles to levels of creativity. We think that musicians are creative while accountants are not. Job title has nothing to do with human creativity. In fact, we all have enormous creative potential. Even those that often state with authority that "I'm not creative." With a systematic approach to building creative capacity, we all have the opportunity to create and leave a mark on the world.” PeopleThinkingWorldOpportunityCreativityCreativeBuildingAuthorityMusician Author:Josh Linkner
“On tour things go wrong all the time, I mean that's live music, that's what it's all about. I think one of the things I'm learning is that when stuff goes wrong, really brilliant musicians have the ability to turn this into something interesting and unique. I think good people in any sphere of anything know how to deal with problems, how to take it in your stride. We are learning this by touring, by being put in these positions when we need to focus and deal with it.” PeopleThinkingMeanProblemAbilityInterestingFocusMusicianUniqueBrilliantGood PeopleSomething Interesting Author:Joey Badass
“The Western music tradition is mostly addressed to a public that has a critical mind, and judges the quality of the writing, of the interpretation. And I think it is a great tradition! It pushes the musicians to always go further, and to never stop pushing the limits and explore what can be done with sounds. And great pieces of art were born from that tradition.” ThinkingWritingMindArtDoneQualityJudgingMusicianTraditionWestern Author:Gaspar Claus
“In my own musical existence I don't feel that being a guitar player is like the best thing on earth to be. I would rather be a balanced musician. Playing in a group, I'm tending to think more about the music and less about the guitar. That's just me getting older. I'm not interested in being a virtuoso guitar player or anything like that.” ThinkingEarthExistencePlayerMusicianMusicalNot InterestedGetting OldGetting OlderGuitar Player Author:Jerry Garcia
“England never felt claustrophobic for me at all. I think it would feel more difficult for me if I lived in mainland Europe. America I think is really easy because Los Angeles has film stars everywhere and musicians and Santa Barbara a lot of people have homes there even if they don't live there. You are kind of inconsequential, no one cares.” PeopleThinkingKindHomeCareFilmEasyDifficultMusicianLos AngelesInconsequentialNo One Cares Author:Martin Gore