I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing. Until I'm lost in the music. Until I am the music--notes and chords, the melody and harmony. It hurts, but it's okay because when I'm the music, I'm not me. Not sad. Not afraid. Not desperate. Not guilty.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the deep connection between the artist and their art, illustrating how immersion in creativity can provide escape from pain and negative emotions.
Jennifer Donnelly expresses the transformative power of music and art through her quote. She conveys that while physical discomfort may accompany the act of creation, the process of becoming one with her music offers a reprieve from personal struggles such as sadness, fear, and guilt. This highlights how engaging with one's passion can lead to an exhilarating experience that transcends everyday hardships.
In practice
In a speech about the power of creativity, this quote can illustrate how art helps artists cope with personal challenges.
Most people, if they were generous, were so because they thought life was short and that one must make the most of it. Sid Baxter was generous because he knew that life was long. It went on and on even when you had no use for it anymore. It was happiness, not life, that was short, and when it visited - in the form of a fine evening spent talking with a friend - he honoured it.
I think it's not an accident that you don't have that many Asian American women writers who are breaking out. I don't think it's an accident that you don't have that many Asian American writers, either women or men. I don't think that immigrants are encouraged to become artists. That's very gendered and racialized and ethnicized.
What has happened to architecture since the second world war that the only passers-by who can contemplate it without pain are those equipped with a white stick and a dog?
There is no color line in art.
There must be a story within him/her that wants to come out. That's the reason why 'Dil Chahta Hai,' 'Lagaan,' and 'Rang De Basanti' worked so well: Ashutosh, Farhan, and Rakesh had a story inside them. It's very important that the director should have the fire in the belly to tell the story.
I look for things that are left of center, something you've only seen your whole life, but never heard. Hit it! With a stick! I have a guitar made out of a 2x4 that I bought in Cleveland.
This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.
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