Virgil Thomson Quotes

If we communicated with something like music, we would never be misunderstood, because there is nothing in music to understand.

Musicians are not so concerned with language.

Music is about communication, and the chemistry between an audience and the orchestra is absolutely essential; the performance does not exist in a bubble.

The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.'

I feel that I speak the musical language.

I can play piano, and I write everything on piano, but I don't really feel like a piano player, necessarily.

I've always thought that the act of playing the guitar was the act of trying to make a point of playing the guitar.

I never learned to verbalize an abstract musical concept. No thank you. The whole point of being a serious musician is to avoid verbalization whenever you can.

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

I cannot say what I think is right about music. I only know the rightness of it.

I think it's a very important collaboration between the conductor and the orchestra - especially when the conductor is one more member of the orchestra in the way that you are leading, but also respecting, feeling and building the same way for all the players to understand the music.

I am so happy that I didn't go to school and I didn't have anyone to tell me how to position my fingers on the piano correctly. And what you do with music and what is the correct way to write it and what is not the correct way to write it.

My books are personal: I'm not saying they're the Bible of music.

Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don't understand the language that you're singing in, they still know good music when they hear it.

In some ways I believe music is the more convincing communicator of ideas than words. For instance, we can hear of Kordaly and Bartok and recognise them as Hungarian, but very few of us speak Hungarian, but the music itself speaks to more people.

However, I began composing as soon as I started taking piano lessons.

But when you have to deal with notes, and to be able to make a full definition of what a sound is - if you are not around that environment, then you'll find you lose that feel, that momentum, you lose all that.

People often complain that music is too ambiguous, that what they should think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas everyone understands words. With me, it is exactly the opposite, and not only with regard to an entire speech but also with individual words.

My earliest attempts at writing were when I was seven. I would sit at the piano and transcribe the songs I heard on the radio. I'd change little things in the music and write different lyrics.

I can't play any instrument for the life of me, but I know what I want to hear.

I think the whole question of meaning in music is difficult enough even if you hear me playing live right now in the same room! What I mean and what you take from it may be two quite different things anyway.

I think musically.

You know, I'm really not that competent at describing things musically.

I don't know what really makes a great musical or not. In the end, you write it, and you write it because you want to write it.

I think a guitar solo is how my emotion is most freely released, because verbal articulation isn't my strongest communication strength. My wife thinks that I should do interviews by listening to the questions and playing the answer on guitar.