Don't play everything (or every time); let some things go by... What you don't play can be more important than what you do.
Thelonious MonkRead
The majority of juice-heads and winos and junkies arent musicians.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Not everyone who abuses substances has the talent to be a musician.
Thelonious Monk's quote highlights the distinction between genuine musicianship and substance abuse. It suggests that many individuals who engage in excessive drinking or drug use may be drawn to the lifestyle often associated with the arts, particularly music, but do not necessarily possess the skill or artistry that defines true musicianship.
Themes
MusicianshipSubstance AbuseTalentArtistry
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the pressures artists face, this quote can illustrate the misconception that all artists lead chaotic lifestyles.
More from Thelonious Monk
All quotes βJust because you're not a drummer doesn't mean you don't have to keep time.
Thelonious MonkRead
A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination.
Thelonious MonkRead
Jazz is my adventure. I'm after new chords, new ways of syncopating, new figures, new runs. How to use notes differently. That's it. Just using notes differently.
Thelonious MonkRead
Everybody in all countries tries to play jazz.
Thelonious MonkRead
All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.
Thelonious MonkRead
Similar quotes
When I'm singing the blues, I'm singing life.
Etta JamesRead
I say to string players in small chamber orchestras, 'it's always easy to become a passenger on the journey in sound, just adding volume to the whole. But if you play in an individual way, it makes the difference between good and great sound in an orchestra.'
Itzhak PerlmanRead
We'd like to think that our music will always be bigger than any one of our individual personalities.
Chester BenningtonRead
As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me - Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.
Mary J. BligeRead
Very few of the men whose names have become great in the early pioneering of jazz and of swing were trained in music at all. They were born musicians: they felt their music and played by ear and memory. That was the way it was with the great Dixieland Five.
Louis ArmstrongRead
I know people said I wasn't selling out in America, but that was entirely untrue. We sold out all over the world, and every night I looked out into the fans and those front rows that you're talking about, the tears, the honesty, the inability to not be completely overjoyed because they felt accepted.
Lady GagaRead