Tod Machover Quotes

You can't go to the store and buy a good ear and rhythm.

Confidence is a trait that has to be earned honestly and refreshed constantly; you have to work as hard to protect your skills as you did to develop them. . . The one thing that creative souls around the world have in common is that they all have to practice to maintain their skills. Art is a vast democracy of habit.

The mind must be trained, rather than the memory.

Logic is the art of thinking well: the mind, like the body, requires to be trained before it can use its powers in the most advantageous way.

The training of the mind is an art. If this can be considered art, one's life is art.

The mind that has not been developed or trained is very scattered. That's the normal state of affairs, but it leaves us out of touch with a great deal in life, including our bodies.

My parents encouraged us to commit to things, so if we wanted to learn an instrument, it was all the grades and all the theory.

I could never overstate the importance of a musician's need to develop his or her ear. Actually, I believe that developing a good 'inner ear' - the art of being able to decipher musical components solely through listening - is the most important element in becoming a good musician.

The question I wanted to answer was, could I train my mind to be happy the same way one trains one's body?

I basically taught myself how to sing and play by copying records, and that's just how it was for me. I know that's true for a lot of budding musicians out there - that's the thing that gets them inspired, is trying to learn their favorite songs. I think it's a great way to teach yourself.

Nothing prepares you for making art except making art. You have to do it to get better.

These will vary in every human being; but knowledge is the same for every mind, and every mind may and ought to be trained to receive it.

The earliest instruction was imparted orally, a system still extant in Africa and the Orient. lt trains the mind to listen.

You have to train your mind just as much as you train your body.

You always want to be working, doing reps, but there is also a time you need the mental reps.

Your mind is just like your body. It's a muscle you can train and get better at.

For years, my actual listening activity has been governed by what I perceived to be good for me as a musician, almost like the way an athlete trains for a given sporting task. I'd listen to something if I felt it would improve my sense of harmony or counterpoint, or whatever I was working on.

Your understanding of music depends on your capacity to perceive it.

I spent a lot of time developing my chops when I was younger. In doing so, I found that one of the hardest things was dealing with what to practice.

The same way you train yourself to be physically gifted player - whether you do weights, or running to get in shape or swimming - the mental side is the same way. You've got to train yourself to be ready for whatever.

To make physical gains, you would go to the gym and lift weights. It's the same for the mental side. The work you put in on the mental side needs the same dedication as the physical side.

We've learned that musical ability is actually not one ability but a set of abilities, a dozen or more. Through brain damage, you can lose one component and not necessarily lose the others. You can lose rhythm and retain pitch, for example, that kind of thing.

I have a good ear for music.

In art, practice always comes before theory.

Art is action. The way I live my life to its highest degree is by writing, the practice of art.