When you start reading a piece together, you get a sense of someone's basic philosophy of music without saying a word. You realize the other person's approach, how they express themselves, the kind of restraint they show, all those things.
I actually hate lyrics, and I hate it when they're quoted in reviews. I don't think they matter that much; it's the sounds of words - not the words - that I look for.
To me, the lyrics of the song define the kind of style it is.
It's very strange when people get so focused on what a song means, what actual events inspired a song. That gets people really excited for some reason... But that's what's great about music - however people interpret it, whatever they see, is what I want to be there for them.
I think it's always interesting how music means different things to different people, and people who overthink it are looking to in some ways show off with music, versus people who just respond to a song and decide to sing it.
When you do a lyric for 'April in Paris,' those who have heard it before can hear it in a different way now. It can add perspective to a great piece of music that does not have a lyric and may be inaccessible to lot of ears because people don't deal with complex music very well.
Beyond a certain point, the music isn't mine anymore. It's yours.
Performing written music, even when I've written it, is not very interesting to me.
So if somebody writes a song that appears to have some meaning then everybody thinks that it's a really heavy song.
You know, there's still a lot of great songwriters out there who hand in songs. And there's a lot of brilliant singers and performers out there who sing other people's words. I enjoy doing both.
I studied piano for seven years and play for my own enjoyment.
It's what I do. I don't deserve any awards for this, it's just music. It's just writing songs. You sit down, you write a song, you record it. You tour and play the songs live, dress them up a bit differently, or dress them down.
I do think that music videos have a huge impact on the way you listen to music.
Edgar Meyer's violin concerto was the first piece of contemporary music I worked on in any depth. I was 18 or 19.
I am a big Beatles fan. And, you know, unbeknownst to anyone, I used to be one. But I have no problems of putting titles and lines from other songs in my songs, because they're great lines and great titles.
That's my favorite part about songwriting, the way you write a song, and someone else might hear it a different way.
Even when I have someone playing the song I give them the idea. I'm learning. I'm getting better over the years.
Lyrics are always misleading because they make people think that that's what the music is about.
I can't help what people write or think. If somebody thinks I'm a serious archivist, they're wrong. That's been a problem. It's a shame people take that attitude, because it affects how they listen to the music. It's a big mistake to treat any pop music that way.
Most of the songs that I appreciate are lyrically vague.
The first time I heard 'Jolene,' I was 12 years old, and it was performed by Jack White. I remember watching that video and forgetting it was from a woman's point of view, and forgetting it was a country song, and forgetting it was originally by Dolly Parton.
A conductor has to know how to translate music into a communicative force that makes the listener want to hear what he has to say.
There are many songs that have become popular and people sing along with it without knowing the meaning of its lyrics.
People tend to put too much focus on the lyrics. It's not the be-all and end-all of our songs.
It is never right to play ragtime fast.
