Improvisation Quotes - Page 12

• Volleyball is one of the most interactive games going. It is a game of intuition, imagination, improvisation - but most of all, of reciprocity - of teamwork. There is no way to free-lance in volleyball.

  Marv Dunphy

  Inspirational, Funny, Teamwork

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• I hope it might help players have confidence in our own ways, and not to be afraid of them, as Bernstein showed - things like hoe-downs, fiddle songs, and the art of improvisation, and the New Orleans funeral tradition, and call-and-response church singing, and the fact that the blues run through everything. And in our relationship to European music, in that we don't have to imitate it, it's a part of us, inseparable.

  Wynton Marsalis

  Running, Song, Art

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• In a certain sense, aspects of my solo playing were developed in order to test the theory about how long particular elements could be, as parts of so-called free improvisations.

  Evan Parker

  Order, Long, Elements

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• I may be prejudiced, but I believe that jazz music has the strongest healing potential, and it's not just because I play it and love it so much. I feel that it's the improvisation in jazz that makes it so strong as a healing tool, what each individual gives to a tune from their heart and their soul when they take a solo. It's all spontaneous, and it's all love, and from the heart.

  Horace Silver

  Strong, Believe, Healing

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• Well David "Fathead" Newman was my first experience with improvisation. When I saw him play for the first time I realized that there is an importance of spontaneous music being made on the spot. It was so soulful and singing through his horn. So that's how I was inspired early on.

  Roy Hargrove

  Play, Singing, Saws

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• I love improvisation. You can't blame it on the writers. You can't blame it on direction. You can't blame it on the camera guy... It's you. You're on. You've got to do it, and you either sink or swim with what you've got.

  Jonathan Winters

  Guy, Swim, Cameras

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• I know all about improvisation and the free-form that mirrors the chaos of our time, but I do like to feel that the playwright has done some work before I got there.

  Jean Kerr

  Mirrors, Done, Chaos

  JEAN KERR (1970). “Penny Candy”

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• I’m going to break one of the rules of the trade here. I’m going to tell you some of the secrets of improvisation. Just remember—it’s always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you’re on your own.

  James Beard

  Ideas, Secret, Trying

  James Beard (1974). “The best of Beard: great recipes from a great cook”

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• I think that music, or at least the kind of music that I make, benefits greatly from improvisation.

  Ryan Adams

  Thinking, Benefits, Kind

  Interview with Noel Murray, www.avclub.com. June 28, 2007.

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• When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say." "Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise." "What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?" "You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another." In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life.

  Patti Smith

  Mistake, Simple, Feet

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• I'm very interested in the improvisation because one of the things I do is to help train scientists to communicate in a better way and more personal way when they're making a presentation, and I use improvisation to do that.

  Alan Alda

  Way, Use, Helping

  "World Science Festival: Brian Greene and Alan Alda Bring Science to the Masses". Interview with Clare Richardson, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 06, 2011.

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• I grew up in the theater, and you can't improvise Shakespeare and Ibsen. You have to speak the language. But obviously, in a contemporary film, there's often room for improvisation and spontaneous things that happen. As long as I know what I'm trying to achieve in the scene, and when something comes up, I know that the response is genuine, I'm comfortable. That's really how I build everything.

  Victor Garber

  Long, Trying, Rooms

  "Victor Garber Talks BIG GAME, LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, THE FLASH, and More". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. June 29, 2015.

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• Classical stuff takes a lot of rehearsal time and preparation, but with stuff that involves improvisation, you can over-rehearse it and it gets stale. You don't want it to be too comfortable. In fact, a good sound check, a good rehearsal usually means a bad performance.

  John Zorn

  Mean, Preparation, Sound

  "Interview hits dissonant chord with John Zorn" by Lee Hildebrand, www.sfgate.com. August 26, 2010.

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• My solo music - I get up onstage, I improvise and it's my improvisation. When I get up onstage with Fred Frith and Mike Patton, then we're improvising together. Then it's not my music; it's our music.

  John Zorn

  Together, Get Up, Solo

  "Interview hits dissonant chord with John Zorn" by Lee Hildebrand, www.sfgate.com. August 26, 2010.

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• To sing a song is like whispering to a child's ear. It is an art heavily relying on improvisation.

  Andrea Bocelli

  Song, Art, Children

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• If you go back to the roots of jazz, it was all about COLLECTIVE improvisation.

  Henry Threadgill

  Roots, Jazz, Collectives

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• If you just want to be a writer, I don't care, for pitching, for writing dialogue, you should take an improvisation class. It's super important.

  Thomas Lennon

  Writing, Class, Important

  Source: www.gq.com

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• I feel that Jazz improvisation is the ultimate. You have to create on the spot, the essence of this music.

  Sonny Rollins

  Music, Essence, Jazz Improvisation

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• Actor training should be broadly humanistic, involving the study not just of dramatic literature and theatre history, but of languages, literature, and history generally, and should be centered on acting in plays rather than just exercises, improvisations, monologues, or even scenes.

  Richard Hornby

  Exercise, Play, Training

  Richard Hornby (1992). “The End of Acting: A Radical View”, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books

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• Jazz is improvisation and syncopation, with resilience and flow, with earthy elegance, nuance and subtlety, with the integrity of individual expression within (usually) a group context, with true democracy in action.

  Greg Thomas

  Music, Integrity, Expression

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• The shortest feedback loop I can think of is doing improvisation in front of an audience.

  Demetri Martin

  Thinking, Feedback, Audience

  Interview with Steve Heisler, www.avclub.com. February 25, 2009.

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• Improvisation is the essence of good talk. Heaven defend us from the talker who doles out things prepared for us; but let heaven not less defend us from the beautiful spontaneous writer who puts his trust in the inspiration of the moment.

  Max Beerbohm

  Inspirational, Beautiful, Essence

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• I've always been into improvisation.

  Tommy Chong

  Interview with Nathan Rabin, www.avclub.com. September 29, 1999.

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• Most of my favourite moments in film have been when I've had an opportunity to say something from scratch, something original, whether I jotted down a few lines or it came out in improvisation.

  Nicolas Cage

  Opportunity, Scratches, Lines

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• With Sleater-Kinney, we did a lot of improvisation in our live shows, and even our process of songwriting involved bringing in disparate parts and putting them together to form something cohesive.

  Carrie Brownstein

  Together, Form, Process

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