Starting in the middle of a musical sentence and moving in both directions at once.
John ColtraneRead
I'd like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Coltrane expresses the power of music to communicate profound emotions and connect with the inner selves of listeners.
In this quote, John Coltrane emphasizes the transcendental nature of music, suggesting that it serves as a language capable of expressing the divine and reaching beyond mere words. He aims to use music as a means to connect with people on a spiritual level, appealing to their souls and evoking deep emotional responses.
Themes
MusicDivineCommunicationSoulTranscendence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a music festival emphasizing the importance of creativity.
More from John Coltrane
All quotes →When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people.
John ColtraneRead
I start from one point and go as far as possible. But, unfortunately, I never lose my way. I 'localize,' which is to say that I think always in a given space. I rarely think of the whole of a solo, and only very briefly. I always return to the small part of the solo that I was in the process of playing.
John ColtraneRead
In the year of 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening, which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life.
John ColtraneRead
Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before.
John ColtraneRead
My goal is to live the truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being.
John ColtraneRead
Similar quotes
Overacting is a self-indulgence, while underacting comes either through a lack of talent or a lack of courage.
Gregory PeckRead
The earth doesn’t care where death occurs. ...It’s the artist, by coming in and writing about it or painting it or taking a photograph of it, that makes the earth powerful and creates death’s memory. Because the land will not remember by itself, but the artist will.
Sally MannRead
Emphasis on technique is justified only so far as it will simplify and clarify the statement of the photographer's concept.
Ansel AdamsRead
Sometimes I've called writing a disease. If so, I'm glad that it caught me.
Charles BukowskiRead
A woman drew her long black hair out tight, And fiddled whisper music on those strings, And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings, And crawled head downward down a blackened wall.
T. S. EliotRead
I never have an intended audience. I just write, you know.
Alice WalkerRead