R. Murray Schafer Quotes

Canada, Composer
July 18, 1933 – August, 14, 2021.

Raymond Murray Schafer, CC was a Canadian composer, writer, music educator and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book The Tuning of the World (1977). He was notably the first recipient of the Jules Léger Prize in 1978.

Also known as Writer, Educator

Still the noise in the mind: that is the first task - then everything else will follow in time.

R. Murray Schafer
- Time
- Mind
- Noise
We cannot close our ears; we have no ear lids!

R. Murray Schafer
- Ears

Today all sounds belong to a continuous field of possibilities lying within the comprehensive dominion of music. Behold the new orchestra: the sonic universe! And the musicians: anyone and anything that sounds!

R. Murray Schafer
- Music
- Today
- Universe
When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous.

R. Murray Schafer
- Miraculous
The earth forms the body of an instrument, across which strings are stretched and are tuned by a divine hand. We must try once again to find the secret of that tuning.

R. Murray Schafer
- Trying
- Earth
- Hand
Dawn itself is the most neglected masterpiece of the modern world.

R. Murray Schafer
- World
- Modern
- Dawn
Someone once said that the two most important things in developing taste were sensitivity and intelligence. I don't think this is so; I'd rather call them curiosity and courage. Curiosity to look for the new and the hidden; courage to develop your own tastes regardless of what others might say or think.

R. Murray Schafer