F a m o u s S a y i n g s
"I think staying alive means keeping your learning curve high, and the thing that distinguishes cultural work from other types of work is that it's never over. It keeps evolving, it keeps developing; it's not a business plan, but it's constantly evolving something from the past to the future. And the most important thing about the work is that you don't give up."
- Yo-Yo Ma
“As long as I’ve done this for a living, I never tried to be provocative. Accepting yourself gets musicians to trust you. Audiences too.”
"When you play in a band or you play in an orchestra, regardless of your ethnicity or your underrepresentation, we all get to choose from the same notes, and we all have this common goal. So, I felt this sense of belonging."
(Tuba Player and Author Richard Antoine White on Fresh Air. He's the Principal Tuba in the Santa Fe Symphony and the New Mexico Philharmonic.)
His memoir is titled "I am Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream."
“Editing is creativity.”
“The day you think you’ve arrived – it’s time to get out of the game.”
“Be a mentor; be mentored.”
“If you know what you like, and you like it a lot, then you know everything you need to know about classical music.”
“Who is the audience?
”What would you do, or what would you differently, if at the beginning you asked: who is the audience I want to reach?”
“Simplicity is the essence of beauty. ”
“There is often great beauty in those small moments.”
“You don’t need to compete when you know who you are.”
“The life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end.”
“One of the many focuses of being a teacher is to help empower and remind my clients of their own intuition and their own personal wisdom. No one can know your experience like you do.”
“Cooking to me is like making music making in a way because the same dish (made by) two different person can never make the same taste. By cooking yourself, you can add different spices, flavor, and it’s only in your imagination — it’s like improvising jazz, or even for classical music: every time when we’re on stage, I try to play something different. (It’s) very subtle, but only people close to me, or the real music lover, will figure it out.”
“I am my own Guru.”
“I can do anything. I must do nothing.”
“Being authentic, doing what you want to do, instead of what you’re currently doing, is not as big a risk as you may think it is.”
“You know I think it’s risky not to stick your neck out (laughs). I think it’s a lot riskier for me personally. You know, life is too short (laughs). It’ll just go by way too fast if you don’t if you don’t stick your neck out.”
“When you’re authentic, you get into trouble sometimes.”
“The world is bursting with wonder, and yet it’s the rare productivity Guru who seems to have considered the possibility that the ultimate point of all our frenetic doing might be to experience more of that wonder.”
“One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is time. Time to stop, reflect and connect. Sometimes what you’re seeking is the depth of the pause, not the hustle.”
“I am not in a hurry to reach my destination because I enjoy every step of the way.”
“If it’s not a ‘Hell Yes,’ it’s a Hell No.’”
“Ve despacio que lleves prisa.”
“Go slowly because you’re in a hurry.”
“The purpose of most communication isn’t to completely explain yourself. The purpose is to open the door to interaction, learning and action.
Communication is a process, not an event.”
“I pepper my music with sugar”
“He is, without doubt, the most polite and professional gentleman I work with. He’s the only one who consistently says “please” and “thank you.
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