Yehudi Menuhin Quotes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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We are full of rhythms . . . our pulse, our gestures, our digestive tracts, the lunar and seasonal cycles.
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The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency - half tiger, half poet.
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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?
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It is absolutely vital to hold it as lightly as possible - rather as one might pick up a newborn bird.
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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.
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The best teacher is the one who himself has had to struggle to learn.
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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
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To play great music, you must keep your eyes on a distant star.
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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.
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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.
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What fascinated my imagination was the tremendous feat, which I felt I should be perfectly able to accomplish.
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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.
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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.
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To be an outstanding musician, you have to be very attentive to the smallest detail and willing to have infinite patience in the pursuit of your ideal.
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Learning an imposed method seemed not in my nature
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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.
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What guides us is children's response, their joy in learning to dance, to sing, to live together. It should be a guide to the whole world.
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Undoubtedly I had lost time in balking at scales, arpeggios. ... There is an advantage in establishing the top story of one's constructions first: One has seen the heights; one knows what one is building for and what must be sustained.
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We in the Western world have grown to understand matter as imprisoned light, and light as liberated matter, yet this has had no influence on our spiritual thought. In practical terms it only led to the creation of the atom bomb.