“I’ve never known a musician who regretted being one.”
Virgil Thomson
Here is the entire quote by Virgil Thomson: “I’ve never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.”
In my lifetime, I have never been able to prove this wrong. I have met musicians that definitely had regrets, but never one that regretted being a musician.
As a musician, I recognized early that this is the one passion that will continue to grow with me as I experience life. I believed this so much that when I was in college and at the crossroads of what I was going to study, I chose music. Music was a pillar for me and the only consistent thing I had that I could claim all to myself. Music would not falter, music would not leave me, music would never talk back to me, and my music would continue to grow over time. This at least was my logic at the time. It wouldn’t be until later that I would really understand what my choice really meant.
“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.”
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Such a beautiful quote from our Russian Comrade Sergei Rachmaninoff, and so true in any culture. There are literally hundreds of quotes about music I could comment on but this one really rings true to me for a number of reasons. First and foremost, a lifetime of listening 24/7 would no be enough to listen to all the music that has been created in this world, even music that was created within a single lifetime.
So here is my recommendation. There is always time to listen to one more band, one more composer, one more singer, one more lyricist that can invoke an emotion of love, hate, fear, sorrow, pleasure, or pain. But, there is never enough to listen to all of them. So, my advice is to beg, borrow, or buy whatever music you can from your friends, family, and iTunes and listen, listen, listen. You will most assuredly find music you love and music you don’t. Which reminds me of yet another quote:
“When I don’t like a piece of music, I make a point of listening to it more closely”
Florent Schmitt
