Daniel Barenboim Quotes

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

Great music is in the ear of the beholder.

Music is not a spectator sport, you have to be involved - fully involved - or you get left behind.

I have no ear for music. When I attend a concert, I endeavor gamely to follow the sequence and relationship of sounds but cannot keep it up for more than a few minutes. Visual impressions, reflections of hands in lacquered wood, a diligent bald spot over a fiddle, take over, and soon I am bored beyond measure by the motions of the musicians.

The human being receives the pleasure from music, not from the argument over what it is.

The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.

I was taken to concerts when I was six, seven years old, and sat in a box throughout the whole evening.

The most important thing is that you like the music.

However, very recently I have come to an understanding that complex music is not necessarily pleasant.

From a very early period of my life I have derived the highest enjoyment from listening to music, especially to melody, which is to me the most pleasing form of composition.

When you get down to it, the way that the music affects you individually is the most important thing, and when you let things like the location of a band get in the way or have an effect on your overview, you're cheating yourself out of a really good time.

The way the music comes to you starts to affect how you listen to music. When you're a kid, it's 'Does it rock? Does it make me feel good? Does it make me tap my feet? Does it make me go to sleep?'

At one time they've been the most important thing to me. So I can't hear our records on the radio, I can't stand it, because they sound so out of what everyone else is doing.

Most experiences are either sensual or intellectual. Chamber music, played by a small group so the listener can follow what each player is doing, is both.

Music is very abstract. When we talk about music, we're not discussing the music itself but rather how we react to it.

Music is only good sometimes.

You can feel the drums, and you can feel the bass. So, being able to feel the music through the floor, it makes me feel like I'm a part of the band and not just the only person in the room who doesn't really understand what's going on.

Perhaps the most important thing that technology does is free the listener to participate in ways that in all previous periods of listening were governed by the performer.

I don't have synesthesia, but I think when music is really intense, it's almost like it's more than just hearing. If you're at a gig, and there's just something amazing going on, it's not really just hearing: it's more of a total body sense, isn't it? You get transported, and all your senses kind of join up.

You don't need to be a performer in order to dive into the sensory experience of music. Simply get as close as you can to the source of the music.

There should be no boundaries in your relationship with sound. Often it's not about the music itself but the context in which you hear the music. For instance, listening to a piece of classical music in a film you love often changes your perception of it entirely.

Being involved with BABYMETAL has allowed me to acquire more chances to really become involved with music. As a result, I find myself noticing each individual instrument the band plays and I feel that I have found a new way of enjoying music on a deeper level.

Beautiful music plays, but not everyone with ears can hear it.

Music is everything that one listens to with the intention of listening to music.

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.