For me, inspiration comes from a bunch of places: desperation, deadlines… A lot of times ideas will turn up when you’re doing something else. And, most of all, ideas come from confluence — they come from two things flowing together. They come, essentially, from daydreaming. . . . And I suspect that’s something every human being does. Writers tend to train themselves to notice when they’ve had an idea — it’s not that they have any more ideas or get inspired more than anything else; we just notice when it happens a little bit more.
Neil Gaiman, writer, in an interview with Clem Bastow. Cited in: Maria Popova, “How Creativity Works: Neil Gaiman on Where Ideas Come From”, Brain Pickings, https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/02/18/neil-gaiman-creativity/, accessed 13 December 2020.
The source of inspiration
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Who needs four strings anyway?
In his work Le Streghe (The Witches), the virtuoso violinist Paganini would use scissors to reduce the number of strings on his violin throughout the piece, until he would be left playing the work on just the G string. Source: Haylock, Julian, “Nicolo Paganini”, Classic FM, December 2009, p. 41.
Rachmaninoff and phrasingA student of Rachmaninoff, Ruth Slenczynska, recalled: I remember how Rachmaninoff explained to me the problem of phrasing: he showed me an elastic band and stretched it slightly, then allowed it to bounce back; next, he stretched it beyond a certain point, and it snapped. He meant to say that no part of a musical […]
Debussy on pedalling in ChopinDespite my respect for Saint-Saëns’ age, what he says about Chopin’s pedalling isn’t entirely true. I have very clear memories of what Mme Mauté de Fleurville told me. He (Chopin) recommended practising without pedal and, in performance, not holding it on except in very rare instances. It was the same way of turning the pedal […]
What is an artist?“What is an artist? An artist is a tortured being who, when he opens his mouth to scream, only beautiful sounds emerge.” (Or something like that.)… Do I believe this at all? It was John Cage who first exposed us to this gorgeous phrase. In 1945? Cage the Romantic? Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary […]
Brian Wilson to complete Gershwin songsIn a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras, one the 1960s mastermind of “Good Vibrations,” the other the Jazz Age creator of “Rhapsody in Blue,” former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937. […]
Teaching in KabulEmma Ayres, a violist and former ABC Classic FM radio presenter, discusses her experience in teaching in Kabul at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. CP: You teach viola, cello, and violin as well? EA: A little bit of violin and a little bit of double bass, although I’m not a very good double bass […]
Figaro and an egg“I always have a hard-boiled egg. A three-minute egg. Do you know how I time it? I bring it to the boil and then conduct the overture to The Marriage of Figaro. Three minutes exactly.” Sir John Barrirolli Cited in: The Music Lover’s Quotation Book. Ed. Kathleen Kimball, Robin Peterson & Kathleen Johnston. Toronto (Canada): […]
Murray Perahia“It’s a very reactionary viewpoint and I’m slightly ashamed, but I find it very difficult to access contemporary music. I am not prejudiced, but my work in tonal music leads me to believe nothing can be organic if it doesn’t have a [sense of] “home.” This idea of belonging, or home, can’t be an intellectual […]
Pablo Casals’ obligation“I am a very simple man. I am a man first, an artist second. My first obligation is to the welfare of my fellow man. I will endeavour to meet this obligation through music, since it transcends language, politics and national boundaries.” – Pablo Casals, Spanish cellist. Source: pablocasals.com. Accessed 22 Jan 2013.
The English and music“The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.” – Sir Thomas Beecham Cited in: Jarski, Rosemarie (2005) Great British Wit. London: Ebury Press, p. 198.