As a personal development and business coach, I've had the pleasure of working with several musicians, some of whom are cleverly disguised as corporate employees. In our discussions, music, and jazz in particular, has often been used as an analogy for life, organizations, business dynamics and so on. I was given this wonderful collection of quotes by a music teacher. There are some gems in here that I thought you might appreciate. Enjoy!
In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I'm changing all the time.
- Charles Mingus
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges.
~ Benny Green ~
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
“Life is what we play” Louis Armstrong
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
~ Charlie Parker ~
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"Music then is simply the result of the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony."
-Plato
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"Rhythm is the soul of life.
The whole universe revolves in rhythm.
Everything and every human action revolves in rhythm. When we get out
of rhythm, that's when we get into trouble."
-- Babatunde Olatunji
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"Dancing with your feet is one thing, Dancing with your heart is another."--unknown
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb, my heart.
A voice inside the beat says,
"I know you're tired,
but come. This is the way."
-- Rumi
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"All the arts we practice are apprenticeship.
The big art is our life."
- M. C. Richards quoted in The Artist's Way by Julie Cameron
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs.
Ask yourself what makes you come alive,
and go do that,
because what the world needs
is people who have come alive."
- Howard Thurman
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"Think NOTHING
Wait until it is absolutely still within you
When you have attained this
Begin to play
As soon as you start to think STOP.
And try to retain The state of NON-THINKING
Then continue playing."
-- Karlheinz Stockhausen
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
"The purpose of a musician is not to make good music but to make society good."
unknown
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Music is moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness and a gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order and leads to all that is good, true and beautiful.
Plato 427-347 B.C.
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
I always liked that Louis Armstrong quote.
2 - Bob A. Booey
"the forces of life--autonomous intelligence, a childlike openness, sexual energy, and humor--defeat those of death: by seduction if possible, by force if necessary"
-- Robert Christgau, Village Voice music critic in a review of George Clinton
I'm all about those forces of life.
That is all.