What Famous People Say About Music

Music is so profound, so aesthetically high that it is akin to the human spirit.

Therefore, music is not just a luxury as it used to be considered in the past. It is part and parcel of humanity, and should be indulged in. A person can learn to play a musical instrument at any age. Passion is the requirement. Any able person has some sort of inherent talent in music, actually. It is the passion that makes this talent blossom.

The power of music is so much that world-renowned inviduals, not all of them musicians, throughout history have quoted deeply and heavily about the subject. Here are some of the best ones, compiled for you.

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -Berthold Auerbach

“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” -Johann Sebastian Bach

"Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself." -Henry Ward Beecher

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." -Ludwig van Beethoven

"Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken." -Ludwig van Beethoven

"Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate." -Arnold Bennett

“Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies." -Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

"It is incontestable that music induces in us a sense of the infinite and the contemplation of the invisible." -Victor de LaPrade

"You are the music while the music lasts." -T.S. Eliot

"Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Music expressed that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent." -Victor Hugo

"Music is the medicine of the breaking heart." -Leigh Hunt

"Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words." -Robert G. Ingersoll

"Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us." -Martin Luther

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” -Plato

"The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides!" -Artur Schnabel

"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils." -William Shakespeare

"Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?" -Michael Torke

I hope these profound quotes have made it into your hearts.

by Evelyn Simonian

http://www.EvelynSimonian.com

Evelyn Simonian is a pianist and music teacher who applies “music with movement” to her students. She has been featured in televised interviews as well as several magazine and newspaper articles.

Criticism in Music

A criticism, or "critique" as it is also called, refers to any kind of oral or written opinion, whether negative or positive, communicated to a perfomer by an instructor, judge, mentor, other musician or even non-musician. It is an evaluation of a performance that is shared to the performer by the evaluator. It is sometimes also shared with the public, such as in media, where, in this case, it is more commonly known as a "review". You, as a musician, can become adversely affected in your morale and possibly even discouraged if you do not know how to properly deal with it. Any art, including music, is so close to the person's very essence that any criticism about it can hit home like a ton of bricks, even devastating an individual, believe it or not.

But criticism for the musician is inevitable. It comes with the territory of learning and performing music, from instructors, other musicians, admirers, fans, from all sorts of sectors. It is an inherent aspect of conservatories and music competetitions.

Technically speaking, every person has the right to express his/her opinion on anything. Oftentimes, people feel the need to express their feelings regarding anything in the arts. You hear it a lot with film and music. These can come off as either complimentary or critical.

If one receives a praiseful comment, such as how wonderful or moving their performance was, they should accept it, thank the originator and be genuinely proud that they could capture another's heart with their aesthetic power. It is encouraging to hear such words, and rightfully so.

However, ANY criticism or advice, either negative or even positive, from a non-professional (non-musician) should be entirely and utterly ignored. Regardless of whatever personal impact you created upon the listener, they are not the correct source for technical advice. Example: A pianist is performing a Bach piece and gets carried away with the dynamics (loudness and softness of various notes). After the performance, his friend, a non-musician who's dabbled in studying some music theory, praises him and advises him on how great the intensity on the dynamics was during the performance. The pianist makes the mistake of taking this as technical advice (instead of just differentiating between that and praise). He then enters a music competition where he performs the piece by getting carried away again on the dynamics. He promptly gets flunked and loses the competition because this piece he was performing, of the Baroque era, does not feature any sort of extremity in dynamics.

When a musician receives professional criticism, however, it can oftentimes be contradictory. For instance, one authority may say how excellent one's pedaling is while another comments on how muddy it sounds. This can leave a musician with uncertainty and unnecessary confusion. A thing to realize is that profesional technical critiquing can sometimes be opinion-oriented. But, it can also very well be corrective. There is a way to deal with this.

A musician always truly knows his or her own areas of weakness. These become more prominent and the individual becomes more tuned and aware of them as time and progress goes on. One should always be able to take such criticism without becoming introverted or feeling harmed. When one gets any such critiquing, the first thing to do is take it into consideration and evaluate it for themselves. If one feels that criticism was incorrect, then they have a right to evaluate that accordingly. A musician should always maintain his/her integrity. Though, at the same time, they should be open-minded and willing to learn more and become better and better. There is a fine line between not going the effect of poor criticism and being stubborn and never learning anything.

Lastly, there are always those individuals in society who seek to squash and put down creative minds, whether out of jealousy, insanity or their own failures. This occurs in any of the arts. As a musician, NEVER allow anyone to do this to you, for their "criticism" is merely an effort to overtly and openly put you down, or to slowly and insidiously suppress you by sounding "helpful". Disregard it and continue being creative and making music!

by Evelyn Simonian

http://www.EvelynSimonian.com

Evelyn Simonian is a pianist and music teacher who applies “music with movement” to her students. She has been featured in televised interviews as well as several magazine and newspaper articles.