American - Composer | August 3, 1940 -
Life is short, and, once somebody is gone, they're gone.
Roscoe Mitchell
LifeLife Is ShortShortGoneOnce
To be a good improviser, you have to study composition as a parallel. Because what improvisation is, on a high level, is spontaneous composition.
GoodYouSpontaneousStudyHigh
I think the best thing you can teach a person is how to learn. And once they discover their own individual approach to that - which is inside all of us - then all of a sudden, they've opened up a door of endless resources.
BestDoorThinkLearnYouPerson
What I'm after is a composed music that will sound like improvised music when improvisors play it. You shouldn't be able to tell what parts are being improvised and what parts were written out beforehand; it should sound like the same music.
MusicYouPlayWillSoundOut
I've always been interested in shaping music in odd ways, with odd riffs and that's been probably something that I've continued on with my studies with improvisation as I'm working with people.
MusicPeopleAlwaysSomethingBeen
I remember times when the whole music scene was just flourishing.
MusicRememberWholeJustI Remember
I felt that I had been influenced by being in the city enough and I wanted to go off by myself to see what was going on. I remember going out there and looking in the mirror and thinking I wasn't anything.
MirrorMyselfCityLookingThinking
You have to know composition to be a good improviser.
GoodYouKnowCompositionImproviser
I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance.
GoBellNextWhistleSaxophoneLike
If you listen to nature, all the sounds are done in a confident way. I'm trying to do that.
NatureConfidentTryingYouDone
I don't like to box myself in when I'm composing.
MyselfBoxLikeComposing
I'm approaching a period in my life though where I'd like to be totally absorbed into music, doing concerts, writing something. Basically, that IS what I am doing.
LifeMusicI AmWritingMy Life
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