Charlie Haden Quotes

To be a good improviser, you have to study composition as a parallel. Because what improvisation is, on a high level, is spontaneous composition.

Classical stuff takes a lot of rehearsal time and preparation, but with stuff that involves improvisation, you can over-rehearse it and it gets stale. You don't want it to be too comfortable. In fact, a good sound check, a good rehearsal usually means a bad performance.

Improvising is writing, too - there was no music and now there's music. So that's composition. And any time you take any sort of a performance liberty, you're making a compositional choice. I don't know a serious performer who hasn't made compositional decisions, who hasn't engaged in the art of composition.

I'm an interpreter of music.

What I try to impart to a musician is to really try to practice the instrument in a really sincere way. Learn as much about music as you possibly can. Learn composition. Study to try to create compositions of your own and put your own personal touch on your music.

As an improviser I'm now pretty comfortable with trios, so I'm thinking of working up to quartets.

No, improvising is wonderful. But, the thing is that you cannot improvise unless you know exactly what you're doing.

I play by ear - I'm self-taught. And so everything I do is through that technique.

I can take any series of numbers and turn it into music, from Bach to bebop, Herbie Hancock to hip-hop.

There was one thing Beethoven didn't do. When one of his string quartets was played, you can believe the second violin wasn't improvising.

My music is simple stuff. Anybody can sit down, look at a set of symbols and produce sounds the music represents.

I hear entire symphonies, oratorios, in my head, but I can't write a note.

I don't work out a lead section and practice it for a day and then lay it down. I don't do that. The first time I do something I think is expressive or really cool, that's what's actually on the recording.

I played piano, I learned a lot about music.

I have learned a lot from jazz. I compare good acting to jazz music. The more you study and prepare as an actor, the more equipped you are to live in the moment. Just like the gifted musicians in my dad's quartet, it takes a courageous actor to be free.

If you want me to work with you, then come with an idea. Come with music.

Wu-Tang has only done, like, three rehearsals throughout our whole career.

I'm a composer like every maestro on this earth.

I didn't have to apply my mind to the aspects of scales and playing, and instead, I focused on creativity. I wrote music, but I didn't 'practice' it. So yeah, you can always get better and improve your technique, but hopefully, that comes through being a musician and composing and being a creative individual.

I've just had this idea pop in my head of trying to learn a new song every da, and try and play it that night. That's been fun for me because it's a little bit of a scary adventure, playing a song for the first time in front of people and letting it just be what it is.

Composition is selective improvisation.

For me, practice isn't doing scales but doing things like writing, jamming with other people, or playing gigs.

I try to be prepared for the moment, through understanding, and being warmed up, knowing all about chords and scales, so I don't even have to think and I can get right to what it is I want to say.

You have to practice improvisation, let no one kid you about it!

The composer makes plans, music laughs.