Stephen Hough Quotes

I've paid my dues in the classical trenches.

Until you learn to play what you want to hear, you're barking up the wrong tree.

We should read music in the same way that an educated adult will read a book: in silence, but imagining the sound.

I love when people are coming up and they're working hard and you can see that they're really focused on the process to their music. I really dig that. As a musician, it's nice to see people who really care about the process.

I have to work at tunes to get them to come out. Sometimes I'll sit there for four or five hours and get absolutely nothing.

When I was younger, studying classical music, I really had to put in the time. Three hours a day is not even nice - you have to put in six.

Music is not a game to me. I take it very seriously.

Either your understanding of the meaning of music is there from the beginning or it is not.

One ends up relying on pure musical inspiration, and failing that, the music won't lead to anything good, or it will alienate all but the most die-hard fans.

Music is not a profession. Music is a way of life - one that requires much professionalism.

You don't go out and play Beethoven's 'Opus 111' without having rethought about it every time you play.

The thing with music education is that it is good at teaching technique, but not texture. You only learn about that from listening to music and experimenting on your own.

I love Mozart, but I often make a terrible hash of it.

You know, I don't like talking about music very much. I have quite the hard time explaining myself.

If you watch me for a long time, you'll really understand and appreciate the way I play.

To me, music is not a stunt. Music is not a joke. I take every lick of music that I've ever played very serious.

First of all, I swore it was two people playing. When I finally admitted to myself that was one man, I gave up the piano for a month. I figured it was hopeless to practice.

I'm honored people think enough of my playing to chase my sound. Hell, I chase other players' tones all the time.

I've always respected and taken care of my instrument.

I wound up sticking with violin because it was the strongest current in my life.

As soon as I figured out I didn't know anything about music, I was OK. It's when I thought I could learn something that I was in trouble.

With these big Wagner pieces, if I haven't started three years before, I'm screwed. You need time to look at the piece again and again and again, and then, like some fantastic casserole or spaghetti sauce, put it back in the fridge and let the flavours get together.

When we started, it was so intense: it was like a religion. And when you played with Duane Allman, you either gave it your all or you got out.

Everyone hears a song a different way and hears timing a different way.

There's no musician who just wakes up one day and decides, 'This is what I want to do.' It takes some development.