Norman McLaren Quotes

A superb tenor voice, like a silver trumpet muffled in silk.

One of the basic things about a string is that it can vibrate in many different shapes or forms, which gives music its beauty.

The most effective instruments do have a vocal quality.

The number of strokes to the inch controls the pitch of the note: the more, the higher the pitch; the fewer, the lower the pitch, the size of the stroke controls the loudness... the tone quality is the most difficult element to control, it is made by the shape of the strokes.

At first acoustics attributed to the different sounds only a limited number of characteristic features.

The human voice is the first and most natural musical instrument, also the most emotional.

A cello can sound like so many instruments, but it's only one, you know, like a guitar; it has percussive qualities. It can sing like the violin, you know, like a voice.

Music is just air moving around.

A tune has to resonate with whatever is happening around it.

The human voice: mysterious, spontaneous, primal. For me, the human voice is the vessel on which all emotions travel - except perhaps jealousy. And the breath, the breath is the captain of that vessel.

Harmonics are vibrations a fraction of the length of the vibrating string, which add higher-pitched and more complex content to the notes. With a dull instrument, the harmonics die out, but with a sustaining instrument, the harmonics continue to sound along with the fundamental note.

Playing the violin and singing and whistling are just three different ways of making sound.

Sound is the vocabulary of nature.

It's all about sound. It's that simple.

My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice.

I think I put a lot of special attention towards creating interesting textures and unique sounds. Music essentially boils down to two main elements: rhythm and melody. I feel tones and textures often get overlooked, so I like to take my time finding the right sounds.

Music is about depth. Music is about harmony. Music is about notes and tones.

It's not like I actually understand the properties of sound.

I have a real love of sound and the shape of the sound. I'm a musician, and I'm fascinated with the effects of sound, and tone, and pitch and melody and all that sort of stuff.

I started singing in the bathroom. Nothing was coming out. It was ghastly.

I count all the time on resonance. I call on this, you see.

When I open my mouth, the room rings.

Music is the arithmetic of sounds as optics is the geometry of light.

If you listen to the way I speak, I have a lot of rhythm, use a lot of accents. When I'm playing my instrument, that concept comes through very clearly.

If you ask me about vocal technique, I don't know anything. I could never be a teacher. I just know what my teacher told me: 'Always sing with a full voice. When they tell you, less sound, more piano - no.'