Eric Whitacre Quotes

You know, as you compose music, you're just off in your own world. You have no idea where reality is, so to have an idea of what people think is pretty hard.

When I write a song, I always start on acoustic guitar, because that's a good test of a song, when it's really open and bare. You can often mislead yourself if you start with computers and samples and programming because you can disguise a bad song.

I never presumed that a technique of composition or an idea was so special that just using it would guarantee the quality of the music.

I don't write poetry and then strum some chords and then fit the words on top of the chords.

I think people hire me for the slightly weird angle that I bring. Part of the trick is keeping it sort of simple; you have to give the impression of not that much music playing when there's really a lot.

I've always been a writer who does simplistic, simple melodies. But I think it works.

I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.

I love making music. I love being involved in arranging music. It's very natural to know what I want to hear next and come up with ideas that are variations of what might be good.

But Contra la Puerta was done mostly in the opposite way, starting with sounds and melodies.

When I don't know what the music is going to be for a scene, I imagine some sort of orchestration going on and damned if they don't usually come up with a similar kind of thing.

I had a big background in listening to classical music and I started trying to compose, like I was playing the guitar but I heard an orchestra in my head.

For me it's always contingent on getting a sound-the sound always suggests what kind of melody it should be. So it's always sound first and then the line afterwards.

It's hard to decide how to match words to music. It's not like it's twice the work. It's always difficult for me to explain to the composer what I'm looking for. I'm not a professional; I lack even basic knowledge about writing music.

Composers shouldn't think too much - it interferes with their plagiarism.

The drive to create music that is pure is my highest priority. Sometimes I'll get extremely technical, and other times I'll just kind of go with the gods of music.

I feel that recording a song already compromises the magical music one can create in the mind, so the fewer people watering down this process the better.

I always begin to compose the melody first.

Usually when I write a song, I'll write the music and then kind of fit some words to it.

It's what the Pixies always said about music - they were writing songs and just trying not to be boring. That was their main motivation and it worked for them. I remember reading that and thinking that was the way to do it.

The goal is always just to write the best song that you can write. I mean, the process for writing a song is the process for writing a song. It's not something I look at it as something I need to do something different.

When I think of Morricone, more than his using a specific instrument or a specific sound, it's his way of approaching music that sticks out.

Music has to be written while people are still excited about a particular melodic or rhythmic sequence. The idea doesn't come out the same if we're not really excited about it.

We just wanted to write a bunch of songs that we thought were good songs.

I always try not to overload my music with orchestration and to use only those instruments that are absolutely necessary.

Everything I do is very visual and very aural, so I don't read music, and I draw as much as I write out lyrics.