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…that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music
Just for fun I compiled some quotes by some famous musicians about what music means to them. They tend to have a common theme that music expresses what is inexpressible in words or other forms of communication. What is your favorite quote?
A similar question was posted on the Ask the MLT subforum, and Lisa provided a wonderful explanation on her thoughts on this deep subject here you don’t want to miss out on.
Here are some quotes by famous musicians:
“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” ― Billy Joel
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” ― Aldous Huxley
“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” ― Victor Hugo
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” ― Bob Marley
“Where words fail, music speaks.” ― Hans Christian Andersen
“Music is … A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy” ― Ludwig van Beethoven
“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Music touches us emotionally, where words alone can’t.” ― Johnny Depp
“Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician.” ― Kurt Vonnegut
“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” ― Leopold Stokowski
“If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.” ― John Lennon
“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.” ― Maria Augusta von Trapp
“Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.” ― Sarah Dessen
“Music can change the world because it can change people.” ― Bono
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” ― Leonard Bernstein
I also found this scene from the movie “Begin Again” that really gets to the heart of what music is that I really liked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBbmdY6nXfw
Effervescent Pearls
“Begin Again” is one of my favorite movies about music I’ve come across recently, and also really liked this scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sduYNx92_go
Sometimes good music can lift you out of the darkness you find yourself in. It takes a great mind and special soul to see the possibilities in a great song too.
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6 Replies
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Just watched “Across the Universe” (finally available at the Canadian Netflix), and very nice. Really enjoyed it! Lot’s of great Beatles songs throughout the movie, making it very special. When “If I Fell” came on, it was all MLT I could think of; just beautiful.
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Hi Jung… Well that was an interesting concept of a topic to post… Quite diverse and interesting with all the different quotes but yet they all intertwine and connect similarly…. In all their own ways but yet unite… For me it’s ongoing poetry… It’s all of its own tunes that are conjured from within along with the rhythms and lyrics and Harmonies and Melodies and so forth but all intertwined to produce something that touches all no matter where or when… It speaks… Comforts… Listens…
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To me music is a memory recalled. Some songs take me back to where I was and what I was doing at the time the song was popular. Also, I have read that music causes both halves of the brain to work and interact with each other…….Some believe that when you get older that can avoid, at best, or postpone dementia. Music also allows us to be creative…..either in composing our own music or re-arranging known music and I believe we were born to be creative in some aspect of life. Music can also change our moods when listening to certain songs…….most of the time it elevates are moods. I could go on and on. Mike
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Mike, I know what you mean. Sometimes when I hear a song it just brings back volumes of memories, feelings from a certain time in my life. Music is such a fascinating thing that is just so many different things for people. I liked the way Lisa put it, it is a form of communication but in a very profound way. For me music has at times in my life evoked the deepest feelings I’ve ever had. It is incredibly powerful. Some how expresses the inexpressible.
Last Christmas I made up a slide show for a our family Christmas get togethers over the years that I shared with all the family, and I used MLT’s version of “Little Drummer Boy” as the background song, and the slide show came alive. It said all that needed to be said and expressed all the emotions of those moments. A million words could not express what a 3 minute song could.
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Jacki, I read somewhere music described as the mediator to the soul. Music as you said speaks, comforts and listens in a profound way. The melodies, lyrics, harmonies all come together to reach a kind of equilibrium or flash point, and when a song is good, explodes into amazing burst of feelings and emotions.
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Another quote I really like is:
“Without Art (music), the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable” – George Bernard Shaw
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