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Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.
Yehudi Menuhin
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The violinist must possess the poet's gift of piercing the protective hide which grows on propagandists, stockbrokers and slave traders, to penetrate the deeper truth which lies within.
Yehudi Menuhin
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I can only think of music as something inherent in every human being - a birthright. Music coordinates mind, body and spirit.
Yehudi Menuhin
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The idea that a pupil is a passive recipient, a container waiting to be filled by the teacher's knowledge and instruction - all this is nonsense. Teaching is a living relationship, of give and take, of mutual learning.
Yehudi Menuhin
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This is the best and ultimate purpose of conducting: Not only to lead (the musicians) and keep them together, not only to make their performance easier and simpler, but also to guide them so that they can play as they have always longed to play.
Yehudi Menuhin
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We are full of rhythms . . . our pulse, our gestures, our digestive tracts, the lunar and seasonal cycles.
Yehudi Menuhin
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At age 7 In eight hours of concentrated practice between my twice-weekly lessons, I memorized the A major and played it for Persinger.
Yehudi Menuhin
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It is absolutely vital to hold it as lightly as possible - rather as one might pick up a newborn bird.
Yehudi Menuhin
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Actually, I was gazing in my usual state of being half absent in my own world and half in the present. I have usually been able to 'retire' in this way. I was also thinking that my life was tied up with the instrument and would I do it justice?
Yehudi Menuhin
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The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency - half tiger, half poet.
Yehudi Menuhin
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To play great music, you must keep your eyes on a distant star.
Yehudi Menuhin
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Even at the risk of losing all the golden eggs of the future, I had to find out what made the goose lay those eggs
Yehudi Menuhin
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Peace may sound simple - one beautiful word - but it requires everything we have, every quality, every strength, every dream, every high ideal.
Yehudi Menuhin
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The best teacher is the one who himself has had to struggle to learn.
Yehudi Menuhin
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We embark unhesitatingly on the path, in a direction that is absolutely right and urgent, supported by everyone, in the knowledge that this path is but a learning process
Yehudi Menuhin
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The teacher offers guidance here and there, but the primary factor, the driving force, in your relationship and work together is the student's own commitment and desire to learn. Teaching is like sailing: The wind and the sails give the boat its motion. Your role (as a teacher) is to steer and guide.
Yehudi Menuhin
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Mozart resolved his emotions on a level that transformed them into moods uncontaminated by mortal anguish, enabling him to express the angelic anguish that is so peculiarly his own.
Yehudi Menuhin
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I imagine that whatever contribution I can make to teaching derives from having had to rethink and re-create my technique.
Yehudi Menuhin
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What fascinated my imagination was the tremendous feat, which I felt I should be perfectly able to accomplish.
Yehudi Menuhin
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Learning an imposed method seemed not in my nature
Yehudi Menuhin
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There comes a time when the student turns his back on the teacher. His playing cannot have the necessary security, autonomy, self-faith, or communicative power until he believes his interpretation is his own.
Yehudi Menuhin
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Homeopathy is the safest and more reliable approach to ailments and has withstood the assaults of established medical practice for over 100 years.
Yehudi Menuhin
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I would hate to think I am not an amateur. An amateur is one who loves what he is doing. Very often, I'm afraid, the professional hates what he is doing. So, I'd rather be an amateur.
Yehudi Menuhin
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One should feel in the right arm the vibration of the bow hair on the strings. ... The moment tension or hardness enters into the hand then of course the vibrations will not be felt- they cannot penetrate.
Yehudi Menuhin
