James Turrell Quotes

I just sit down at the piano and rattle it off.

I've always thought that the act of playing the guitar was the act of trying to make a point of playing the guitar.

I play the piano.

The Steinway piano - with its beauty and power - is the perfect medium for expressing the performer's art, drama and poetry.

When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.

Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

There are some people, by the way, that associate a certain amount of visualization with the performance of music. Those are people that really are not centrally concerned only with music, the traditional things.

I wanted to be a pianist but it just wasn't my thing. I guess I wanted to stand up rather than sit down.

Piano playing is a dying art. I love the fact that I can be one guy with one instrument evoking an emotional and musical experience.

I do love to sing. Had I a longer set of thigh bones and a sweeter voice, I should have loved to be a performer.

I'm an intuitive musician. I have no real technical skills. I can only play six chords on the guitar.

I've been performing since I was in high school, so I've seen people react to my music and my playing. I'm always appreciative when people like the music, but I'm not shocked.

A good interpreter can take a piece of bad music and make it sound pretty decent, while a bad interpreter can take good music and make it sound cheap. I can tell that some people have a bad taste, and unlike on the piano, they smear around a lot, that is bad taste.

I'm a natural piano player. So all the practicing I do at this point is in my head. If I don't play for a year, my chops aren't going to get any worse. I've spent my time playing scales, and I don't necessarily want to play any faster than I play. So everything I do at this point is more philosophical.

So yeah, I play the piano for most of the show, but I like rock and roll.

I am so happy that I didn't go to school and I didn't have anyone to tell me how to position my fingers on the piano correctly. And what you do with music and what is the correct way to write it and what is not the correct way to write it.

Songs suffer at the mercy of the performer.

I know what my job is: I write the songs, I sing them, I play them on the piano.

I really like conducting my music in concerts because I'm convinced it's not just for films; it has its own life. It can live far away from the images of the movie.

The piano is the instrument I can play the most.

Performing live is a part of who I am.

I love performing on my own scores. I do it quite a lot.

One of the features of being a piano player is playing as an accompanist for other people.

To stand out, I just use my talents. I rap, and I sing as well. With that being said, people kind of know me for bringing that emotion in music.