“I think that female musicians are constantly fighting an uphill battle in general. Even when I'm not writing heartbreak songs... the fact that songwriting is so difficult and music criticism has become so content driven means that sometimes critics can go for the easy descriptors rather than an in-depth analysis.” ThinkingWritingMeanSometimesSongFightingEasyDifficultBattleMusicianFemaleCriticismCriticsDrivenSongwriting Author:Marissa Nadler
“I identify first and foremost as a fine artist. Even the way that I put words together; this could be called painterly and the combinations don't always make sense. I think there are a lot of people who are fine artists and musicians also. I think it's a common thread, the way the brain words.” PeopleThinkingTogetherArtistCommonBrainMusicianMake SenseFine Arts Author:Marissa Nadler
“I was always an emotional, tearful kid. As a child I was really focussed on my fine art - I took it very seriously. I really wanted to be a master painter. I didn't think I'd ever become a musician because I was so shy.” ThinkingChildrenArtKidsEmotionalMusicianPainterShyFine Arts Author:Marissa Nadler
“Email is a mind-killer. Like, I really think getting a smartphone is the worst move I ever did in being a musician because while we've just been talking my phone's vibrated like 15 times and I only get push notifications for like two apps, so either like a bunch of houses are going up for sale right now or someone's like, "Why aren't you emailing me back?" It's just hard to stay in the moment. I can understand why people go to retreats to write and stuff like that but I don't have the time.” PeopleThinkingWritingMomentsMovingHouseWorstMusician Author:Dan Deacon
“I think a lot of electronic musicians are drawn to starting with texture because the whole reason we're working with electronics is to try to create new sounds or sounds that cannot be created acoustically. When you're doing that, it's nice to be able to just create a different palette for every single song. I feel like a lot of electronic music sounds like...Each album sounds like a compilation more than it does a band.” ThinkingTryingDifferentReasonSongNiceMusicianElectronic Music Author:Dan Deacon
“I often envy a filmmaker or a playwright or an author where people are like, "Yeah, I sat down every night and read your book and it was beautiful." Or, "Yeah, I went to the movies and all I did was watch the movie because that's all you could do at the movies." Where with music, it's like, "Ugh, I love your music. I listen to it while I'm jogging thinking about how I hate my body." But it is also the privilege of being a musician is you can have your music in this documented form and play it live and that's, I think, what draws me to it the most.” PeopleThinkingBookBeautifulNightHateLove YouMusicianI HateEnvyFilmmakerSatPlaywright Author:Dan Deacon
“I don't consider myself very principled. As a travelling musician, you have to adapt and adjust to different contexts every day. It is always difficult to connect preach and practice. For instance, I fly more in a year than I had hoped to do in my whole life. I eat what people serve me, not what I think is right. I tried writing songs that were principled, but always ended up contradicting myself when trying to convert the principles into practice. In fact, these days I try not to be too principled, but rather be pragmatic.” PeopleThinkingWritingTryingDifferentSongDifficultMusicianWhole LifePragmaticContradicting Author:Moddi
“I started doing community theater when I was seven and I think the intent was just expression. When you're a musician, you can make music in your room, and when you're a writer, you can write. Acting is one of the tricky art forms where you need a certain amount of permission to be able to do it. You can talk to yourself in the mirror, but it's different than actually acting or doing a scene. You need an audience and you need someone else to do it with.” ThinkingWritingArtDifferentCommunityActingAudienceSceneMusicianSevenTricky Author:Ari Graynor
“I think for a classical musician the goal is the same as an electronic musician. A very good professional classical musician must not think about technique.” ThinkingGoalMusicianVery GoodClassical MusicElectronic Music Author:Gregor Schwellenbach
“I just like so many different kinds of music that I like experimenting. I don't want to keep making the same record over and over and over. I'm an 'evolve or die' kind of a musician. I think it's cool to try new things.” ThinkingTryingKindDifferentMusicianDifferent Kinds Author:Alan Cooper
“I would be happy if I could meet some musicians interested in different acoustics and traditional music. Maybe I will find some Native American or Latin tunes. Anything. Even maybe a great heavy metal guitar player or drummer, and we can do something wild together. My next step is making more music without formats or borders. Not just simple songs or doing covers, but music with more ideas. I think it will again be a synthesis with something else.” ThinkingDifferentTogetherSongSimplePlayerMusicianNativeLatinMetalsNative AmericanDrummerGuitar PlayerHeavy Metal Author:Albert Kuvezin
“All music now, I think, is fair game for jazz musicians to interpret, and they have been. I would consider those songs standards now. "Norwegian Wood" is a standard; "Call Me" is a standard.” ThinkingSongMusicianJazzCall MeJazz MusicNorwegian WoodJazz MusicianFair Game Author:Patricia Barber
“If you think of the way a composer or say a pop arranger works - he has an idea and he writes it down, so there's one transmission loss. Then he gives the score to a group of musicians who interpret that, so there's another transmission loss. So he's involved with three information losses. Whereas what I nearly always do is work directly to the sound if it doesn't sound right. So there's a continuous loop going on.” ThinkingGivingWritingLossMusicianComposerTransmission Author:Brian Eno
“Being from a classical environment, I've always been provoked by classical musicians thinking that classical music is so much greater art than pop. I've always been annoyed by that.” ThinkingArtEnvironmentMusicianMusic IsClassical MusicAnnoyed Author:Matias Tellez
“Your parents tell you that you can do anything that you want, but then you turn 20, and they're like "I think you should be a doctor, instead of a musician."” ThinkingParentMusician Author:Matias Tellez
“My dream right now is - and I don't know how to do it, and I don't know if it will work exactly - but just this sort of vague aspiration to start some kind of website where people send in their stories or poems, and me or perhaps some other people turn that into music. And then by the end of the year we make a record and actually put it out. Like a band, but the band is actually a combination of the musician and the fan. I think that's a very 21st-century way of doing it.” PeopleThinkingKindDreamMusicianAspirationWebsite Author:Eef Barzelay
“I can't get very excited about a musician who can do Art Tatum because I've got the Art Tatum records. I want to hear him take that and do something that hasn't been done. And there's enough of that going around that keeps the music very exciting. There's so many great young players coming out. I think we're in some kind of renaissance, especially in the rhythm section. I mean the musicians on drums and bass and guitar are really trying to figure out different ways to bring a rhythm section together.” ThinkingTryingKindMeanArtDifferentDoneEnoughTogetherPlayerMusicianExcitingExcitedRhythm Author:Gary Giddins
“What we're doing now, is to try to eradicate the limited notion of how people are interacting with each other through hyper-racialized ideas. A lot of it deal with, as an example, genre. If I ask you to visualize a trap musician or a hip-hop musician, you'll see one thing. If I say visualize a western classical musician, you'll see a very different thing. A lot of how music is disseminated to us is hyper-racialized. It's not something that we think about all the time, but if you take a minute to look back, it's why you get this argument when there's a white rapper.” PeopleThinkingTryingDifferentMusicianMusic IsArgumentWesternRapperClassical MusicRap Music Author:Christian Scott
“Why the connection with musicians? I think it's because in the end we're doing very similar things - we're telling stories, we're using poetic, lyrical language, and we're distilling stories down into their simplest form. We're both telling a story in two languages - word and music for them; and word and image for me.” ThinkingLanguageMusicianPoeticLyrical Author:Sally Lloyd-Jones
“Musicians know all about unemployment. You're unemployed a lot, and I think there's a great deal of empathy between musicians and people who are out of work.” PeopleThinkingMusicianEmpathy Author:Billy Joel
“I'm especially interested in what I call practitioner criticism, which is when people who practice an art form start writing about it on blogs. I think that's an immensely important development. I want to see much, much more of that. People who make music who are verbally articulate. And not all musicians are verbally articulate. But those who are should be encouraged to write about what they do and their perception of what other people do. It makes the discourse smarter.” PeopleThinkingWritingArtImportantPerceptionMusicianCriticismBe Encouraged Author:Terry Teachout
“I think there are basically two kinds of musicians: some are extroverted and some are introverted. I think extroverted musicians are more in the entertainer kind of camp, which is just as valid, but you're going to be more apt to make music that is of the moment - whereas if you're coming from a more introverted place, the music is going to end up being more about the past or more personal. It's not going to be about the people in the room, per se.” PeopleThinkingKindMomentsPastMusicianMusic IsIntroverted Author:Memory Tapes
“I don't know if it's possible to affect my ego any more. There's no room left. For me, I think I make music like the way I think it should be made, like what rock should sound like. It has nothing to do with the current marketplace. And so from that state of mind, it's gonna sound different from anything else out there. And when something sounds different, I think that can be inspiring to other musicians.” ThinkingMindDifferentEgoMusicianState Of Mind Author:David Johansen
“I didn't really think I would be a musician. I always thought I'd be a writer. I wanted to be a writer in college, but I thought I could be a better musician. I loved the process of writing music and lyrics more than I loved the process of sitting at my computer and writing. Because of that, I thought I would be a better musician than a writer.” ThinkingWritingCollegeComputerMusician Author:Leah Siegel
“When I went, I hadn't had very much time to have hopes or expectations. I knew very little about Nashville, and I think that was probably good. When I was there, I got really lucky - I ended up with people that just were amazing musicians, and that's the Nashville that I experienced. That is a big part of Nashville - there's a lot of musicians, and that makes it a very special place and shapes the city.” PeopleThinkingSpecialLuckyMusicianExpectationsHaving Hope Author:Anna Ternheim
“I think as this generation of electronic musicians goes on, popular electronic music will be more and more accepted. It's gonna get less confusing. You know, most people called rap stupid when it started, and it was one of the most innovative music forms of its time.” PeopleThinkingStupidMusicianRapAcceptedConfusingInnovativeElectronic Music Author:Dan Deacon
“I think people don't realize how many hours of practice goes into becoming a musician and getting better.” PeopleThinkingRealizingHoursMusicianGet Better Author:Emeli Sande
“When I start to write and record a track, I always think about where it is supposed to take place, what kind of room that is, and what kind of atmosphere it should have. Also how it should be performed, and by what kind of musicians or vocalists. I work in a very theatrically minded sort of way.” ThinkingWritingKindMusicianTrackAtmosphere Author:Karin Dreijer Andersson
“I'm a musician - music will never go away - but my focus is acting, and I started late so I have to play catch-up. So that means I have to work twice as hard in this game. But it will never stop, I think I always feel I have to work twice as hard.” ThinkingMeanActingFocusMusicianGoing Away Author:Janina Gavankar
“I think if you think of our lives as musicians, it's craftsmanship. We're not artists, we're more artisans. You know, I don't think we view ourselves as musical geniuses who can just make some sort of wonderfully beautiful record out of nothing. It's something that we work at. And if we keep working, hopefully we'll keep improving.” ThinkingBeautifulArtistGeniusMusicianMusicalHopefullyCraftsmanship Author:David Prowse
“Being on the road, because you do so much waiting and so much traveling. It's not the same thing as being in the same city for a week or two weeks and then another city. It's really hard. I don't think people understand this about being a touring musician, or a touring actor, or somebody who flies everywhere for business. It's incredibly disorienting.” PeopleThinkingWaitingWeekMusician Author:How to Dress Well
“I find myself being quite cynical - and I think we all kind of are - towards the idea that it's associated with being a musician; you know... the kind of rock-star attitude. So, I hope that people know it's a joke.” PeopleThinkingKindAttitudeMusicianJokesAll KindsCynical Author:Thomas Powers
“As far as trying to make it terms of social hierarchy or status and all that in art and music - I've always felt that that stuff was bullshit. It's got very little to do with reality, and reality is where things live. You look at a painting and think, "Oh, it's beautiful. It inspires me," whatever. But it's never going to inspire you like reality. A lot of these artists and musicians who prioritize skill over experience, they sit around masturbating themselves over knowledge and intellect rather than just going to a place.” ThinkingTryingArtRealityBeautifulArtistTermInspirePaintingMusicianIntellectBullshitPrioritize Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I haven't figured out how to do anything yet besides recording music - I don't even entirely know how to do that. My favorite phrase is "It takes a lot of imagination to have no talent." So it's a struggle because I struggle between thinking about whether or not I'm actually a musician, am I actually an artist. Does it matter what I'm doing? Should I just go and jump off a bridge? Thinking about the social hierarchy and the fact that I'm American, and how I don't identify with being American, nor do I identify with any nationality or my race.” ThinkingArtistImaginationStruggleTalentMusicianMy Favorite Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I always want to be doing both to travel as a teacher and lecturer, and to be a musician. I think in this generation institutionalizing the art form and spreading it to the younger generation through education is really important for all artists to have some hand in. Right now in popular culture and the mainstream, it's not a big part at all. I think education by young artists talking to young people, not just older people talking to young people, it gives an experience never felt before. I think over the years it will do a lot for the music.” PeopleThinkingGivingArtImportantArtistCultureTeacherMusicianPopular CultureYounger GenerationPeople Talking Author:Jonathan Batiste
“I think the most important thing about what musicians do is the music. You can be as big an arsehole as you want but if you're not making good music, you won't get away with it.” ThinkingImportantMusicianGet Away Author:Peter Hook
“It might be David Adjaye talking about how the structure of jazz music informs his architecture, it might be the musician Terry Riley talking about how he thinks so much about cinema. I'd love to see more of a rupture between mediums and a flow between them.” ThinkingMusicianJazzArchitectureJazz Music Author:Doug Aitken
“My own experience with that brief moment where I had videos on MTV was that nothing was ever good enough. When you hear people say, "I was unhappy the whole time," that sounds ridiculous. I think this is a theme among people who seek fame, not just musicians. There are a lot of bitter, disappointed people.” PeopleThinkingEnoughMomentsFameMusicianRidiculousUnhappyBitterGood EnoughDisappointed Author:Mike Doughty
“You should form your own opinions, and I think that's why social media is good because it's an alternative source of information that can help you form your opinion, that might not be your parents, and might not be what the media is trying to force down your throat. So that's why it's important for artists and musicians to speak up, because for those people who have an inkling that their parents' views aren't right or that their parents don't have any views or whatever, that's an alternative source of information that can help them form their own opinion.” PeopleThinkingTryingImportantHelpingArtistSpeakParentOpinionMusicianSocial Media Author:Ellie Rowsell
“Everybody has their own approach to songwriting. When you're an electronic musician, the whole writing process just depends. Some people have a very live way of writing electronic music, very improvisational. They set up a lot of gear and do live takes. I'm concerned with having a specific kind of sound. There's not one second that I haven't put thought into. I put almost as much time into my live shows as I do into writing music, but they're two completely different processes. Some people think the way I perform live is how I write songs, which isn't true at all.” PeopleThinkingWritingKindDifferentSongMusicianConcernedSongwritingWriting ProcessElectronic Music Author:Travis Stewart
“I think some musicians can almost forget that the stage is something to do something on, even if that thing is standing still.” ThinkingForgetMusicianStanding Still Author:Johnny Marr
“I think I'm better at producing than I am at being a songwriter, but it doesn't change the fact that I still have a desire to play and write songs. I've never wanted to be a career musician. But I still love to play and write. It's a big part of who I am. Songwriting is not particularly easy for me. I think it would be easy for me if I didn't have such high restrictions and feelings about what I want my music to be. I'm not precious at all when it comes to producing music and I can bring that to an artist and let them expand their horizons.” ThinkingWritingFeelingsDesireArtistSongEasyMusicianSongwriting Author:John Congleton
“If I'm not like my characters, I think just it's like a musician liking to play certain pieces of music rather than others. I just have more satisfaction when playing complicated things rather than some of your more straightforward, simple moments. . . . I like to be challenged.” ThinkingMomentsCharacterSimpleMusicianComplicatedStraightforward Author:Elisabeth Moss
“I think I was meant to be a musician who speaks his mind about social justice issues. And I grew up in a lower middle class family, but a family that had enough money to buy a $50 guitar and a $50 amplifier, and had a basement to rehearse in. What I think the global human cost of this horrific poverty is how many Mozarts or curers of cancer are slaving away in the Maquiladoras along the Tijuana border, or in the Indonesian sweat shops? There are billions of people who will never become the people they could be, or the people they were meant to be, due to crushing poverty.” PeopleThinkingMindEnoughSpeakJusticePovertyMusicianSocial JusticeCancerCrushMiddle ClassMeant To BeHorrific Author:Tom Morello
“I did not go to art school thinking that I was an artist; I went there mainly doing stage sets for bands. I considered my work more as an applied art for musicians, not as art in and for itself.” ThinkingArtSchoolArtistMusician Author:Pipilotti Rist
“The first time you have a little success, some good feedback, you start imagining having a career, or being a professional musician. But while being creative, or doing creative work, is very natural for humans, to think of that as your main occupation, that's a really important transition.” ThinkingImportantNaturalCreativeMusicianFirst TimeBe CreativeFeedbackCreative Work Author:Erik Wiegand
“I'm a better musician now, and I rarely practice because age has taught me the value of economy. And I think I'm a better writer now because I don't waste as much time, dilly-dallying and sassafrassin' and sloop and sloppin' and frying eggs. When you start writing, half the time you're just saying howdy to the page. My process now is a little more lean and muscular. I don't waste a lot of time. When I had kids, I learned how much time I had before, and how much time you actually need to do something. If you don't have time, you'll just do it and get it done.” ThinkingWritingDoneKidsAgeValuesEconomyMusicianJust Do ItJust Saying Author:James McBride
“I'm definitely a frustrated musician, though it's more in terms of wishing I was a better guitar player and songwriter. But I've never regretted becoming an actor instead. I think it's been a more pure form of self-expression for me. I luckily found something that I could aspire to be good at, whereas I never... I think I'd never quite reach that level of artist that I enjoy in the music world.” ThinkingWorldArtistWishEnjoyTermPlayerMusicianBe GoodFrustratedNever QuitGuitar PlayerNever Regret Author:Cillian Murphy
“I have a musician friend who, after reading Mountains, told me, "When I read the book, I wanted to quit music altogether and become a doctor." I told him, "Do you really think you can be a better doctor than you are a musician? Nobody needs you as a lousy doctor. Just be the one-of-a-kind, brilliant musician you are, and divert your success somehow to benefit the poor." You can achieve so much more this way.” ThinkingBookReadingPoorAchieveMountainMusicianBrilliantQuitting Author:Regine Chassagne
“I think most people who decide to become a musician have to be prepared for some degree of struggle. It makes the art better if you go through some struggles. To be an artist, in any form, you have to develop some sense of compassion and empathy - it's an important quality for everyone to have, on a human level. But I think, as part of our job, you have to be able to do that, so suffering, tends - if you allow it - to let you look on the bright side. It will help with those senses.” PeopleThinkingArtImportantHelpingArtistSufferingQualityCompassionStruggleMusicianEmpathyArt IsBe PreparedBright Side Author:Reeve Carney