Nayvadius Wilburn Quotes

Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a staircase, can somehow capture an emotion much better.

I love the sound of the saxophone. It became my singing voice, and it sounds so human. The saxophone could carry the words past the border of words. It can carry it a little bit farther.

Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.

Where words fail, music speaks.

What is certain is that singing is not merely modulating a song by means of the voice: we sing and we celebrate the beauty that we can grow and live every day. If you want to sing and give emotions to those who are listening, you must have something to tell through your singing; you have to use singing like an instrument to tell something.

My proposition is that music is at the heart of what 'The Magic Flute' means: that it's Mozart's music, not the words, we should be attending to. Music expresses what can't be expressed otherwise.

The Blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.

Love cannot express the idea of music, while music may give an idea of love.

Yet, it ought to be obvious that good music generally occupies a higher plane that mere politics. Great writers can express moods through melody and capture experiences we share most powerfully - love, lust, longing; joy, rage, fear; triumph, yearning and confusion.

A song is the most intangible thing in the world.

Sound comes out of a life experience.

In nearly all ballads, the words set the mood and meaning, while the music intensifies or enhances them.

Ultimately, words are only words, and its only the music that stands by itself.

There's just a natural human element to a great song that feels immediately satisfying. I like the song to create a mood.

Music is the way I understand how to communicate now, the way that I've learned how to communicate... but it will eventually have to go beyond that. You see, I've realised that music is not what keeps people involved - it's the attitude behind the music.

I hear music as narrative.

If I had my choice, I'd pick a song that tells a story every time. There is a great deal of pleasure in doing the vocal on a number that you can put feeling into.

It's impossible to play a run with as much feeling as a single note. I've never been so much into runs as making single notes cry.

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.

When words leave off, music begins.

You have to feel that music. You just can't play it sterilely.

I can see the music. I know what it looks like. I know what color it is. The words come easy, the tears come easy, and the joy comes easy. The music tells you what to do.

What passions cannot music raise or quell?

'Nashville' songs and country music have always been about storytelling and about the heart and confessionals. They're monologues.

Songs, for me, are notes from the heart.