My music is very, very precise. It's very rigorous. The forms are much more intricate than you would imagine. Meredith Monk More Quotes by Meredith Monk More Quotes From Meredith Monk That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something. Meredith Monk never-quit honesty voice I work in between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where theater becomes cinema. Meredith Monk singing voice dancing I think about that "empty" space a lot. That emptiness is what allows for something to actually evolve in a natural way. I've had to learn that over the years - because one of the traps of being an artist is to always want to be creating, always wanting to produce. Meredith Monk creating artist thinking When you start worrying about form, then you're not in the moment. Meredith Monk form moments worry (There is) art that states the problems of society and wakes people up to make changes in their lives or in their communities,...art that offers an alternative, that demonstrates human behavior that can become a model for creativity, cooperation, freedom and playfulness, and...art that in itself provides glimpses of a larger consciousness or reflects upon the inexplicable. Meredith Monk creativity people art Curiosity is a great antidote to fear. Meredith Monk antidote curiosity Yes, the more I go through life I realize that there's really no separation between practice and art at all. The two things more and more become one rather than two different aspects of my life. Meredith Monk practice two art As artists, I think that one of the good qualities we have is that we're imaginative. We're resourceful. We like challenges. Meredith Monk artist challenges thinking Sometimes in the past when I was going to perform a piece again I would listen to old recordings and try to reproduce the material. This time I realized that carrying around old information, trying to get everything in, and still be in the moment just doesn't work. Meredith Monk pieces trying past I somehow sensed when I was a teenager that I wanted to do my own work. I was quite clear that I didn't want to be an interpretative kind of artist. I had an intuition about wanting to create my own form, in one way or another, whatever that would be. Meredith Monk intuition teenager artist My partner sometimes liked to go into the studio and improvise voice things just for fun. When I returned from England I transcribed one of her melodies, and had some of the hospice participants sing it, because they said they liked to sing. Their singing is very raw, but I'm going to use it for the final work. Meredith Monk singing voice fun I've never had an empty house. Ever. Meredith Monk ever never empty house It's been a continuity right from the beginning - that longing to weave together perceptions, to affirm the richness of us as human beings both as performers and audience members. Meredith Monk us human beginning together In the late '70s I was asked to sing for the first time in Germany. I'll never forget it. It was at a festival in Bremen. The German audience went berserk and the reviews were a phenomenon. For some reason the German audience understood how technically challenging this music was; it wasn't just someone yelling their head off. Meredith Monk never-forget music time forget When I'm an audience member I do not want to go and see something that I already know, I want to see something that I don't know. I want to be surprised and stimulated to think about something. I want the magic. I want to be in a situation of uncertainty; that's what excites me. Meredith Monk think me situation magic I have always believed that we all have male and female within us. Meredith Monk male within us always
