Uninhibited Performance Quotes

Children are often better actors than adults because they have a greater capacity for believing in a situation.

It's weird because when you initially write a song, you write it with no understanding that the world is maybe going to hear it one day. So when you go into the studio, you don't see the hundreds of people at a gig or the viewers on TV, you just write a song without any inhibitions or boundaries.

The concept of clearing one's mind before performing a task so that it is consumed by nothing but that task, yet is open at the same time to anything that might happen - that concept can be applied to playing guitar, and it's enormously helpful for improvising.

When I play guitar, it's automatic. I don't try to do something; I just do it. And it's already so ingrained in what I do, I don't think about it. I don't try to do something - I just do it. And the more I do it that way, the more I surprise myself. And if I surprise myself, that's the best thing.

When I'm on stage by myself, I don't have to think about anything. I don't have to worry about anything because I'm not responsible for anything except just opening my mouth and making sure music comes out.

You can't force music; It just has to come to you.

I'm not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I'm not thinking about anything other than - I'm just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I'm just going to do it.

If you come on a band tense, you're going to play tense. If you come a little bit foolish, act just a little bit foolish, and let yourself go, better ideas will come.

With 'Friday Night Lights,' we were encouraged to make it our own and improvise as much as we wanted.

The way I play, I like to be free.

Voice work is the best - no need to dress up, no audience, no pressure, nobody's judging you.

The secret sauce of the business that I can offer is my creativity, and in order to keep my creativity alive and fresh, I have to pretend that no one is watching the show, that there are no audiences, there are no ratings; I'm just telling a story.

If you think of the way Howlin' Wolf made records, you get the feeling there wasn't a production manager onsite, or a publicist having his say on how he should sing the songs. When you listen to his records, you feel like you're tapping into his voice.

I could release myself into acting in a way that I was not released socially.

I'm not that flashy in private; I'm usually pretty reserved. But on stage, it's about not being afraid of anything - of anyone judging you. It's one place you can be free. So why not sing as loud as you can, hoop and holler and jump around? A show is a moment. When it's done, it's over. I find that extremely liberating.

I think what people respond to, and what they're responding to so strongly, is I'm very myself on stage. What you see in person is very much who I am on stage.

Working with newbies has its own advantages as they're open to ideas and the audience can see the actresses as themselves, devoid of any pre-conceived image from their previous films.

[At Boston College] I started working on the kinds of skills that you need for comedy. It's about being creative and learning to use your gift for being able to let loose and be very unself-conscious. It took me time though before I was really able to get comfortable doing that.

When we walk onto that stage I'm not feeling like I'm ruled by any other band.

I played without fear. I've done that since I first kicked a ball in my back garden as a five-year-old, whether it's been my first game, my 100th game, or my 500th game.

Acting is a childlike thing. To act well, you have to be childlike in order to free yourself.

When I get into the studio, it's not about trying to get a good song, it's about whatever comes naturally.

Pristine vulnerability is just so boring to me. The performances that I love are ones like Gena Rowland's in 'A Woman Under the Influence,' where women are allowed to be messy and imperfect. It's that kind of woman that has always inspired me to seek roles that are a little out of the box. I just haven't always had the opportunity to do them.

And that's what the audience was feeling too, as they watched the show and as they watch it now. And overriding all of that is the way it was written. It was written honestly. There was never any manufactured laugh. There was never compromising of character.

When it comes down to the music, it's just you and the microphone. It's not you and the record execs.