Quotes About Artistry

I really preferred the characters I could totally create by myself, because I always think of myself as an actor first.

Those that know me know that I'm not 100% in love with commercial pop music. It's not my preferred genre - I don't do squeaky clean pop.

I don't like directing a lot of people. So trying to keep things really simple and elegant is my preferred way of working.

There's a certain kind of motion and pacing that our music has, and this just doesn't have that. We just kind of rushed to the conclusion of most of the songs. I just would've preferred to done them over.

I've always preferred being behind the camera.

There are so many songs that have become massive hits merely because the video is great, while the song is pretty rubbish. From that point of view, I think I've always preferred to listen to a song rather than look at it.

I have always preferred paper and ink to a computer screen and I still write most of my lyrics by hand.

I create from a place of passion. It's like a pregnancy, where you create from a place of passion, and then it grows, and then before you know it, you want to push that baby out.

I want people to come to my music without prejudice. I want them to get the music first. And who I am isn't that important. If they like the songs to me that's a good thing.

Every time you get on a stage or in front of a camera, the whole exercise is about imagination. You're constantly depicting something that doesn't exist, and trying to find the reality of it. Once you settle on that premise, everything else is a matter of degrees.

Losing yourself in the character opens you up in a way that no amount of precise preparation can.

With my personal preparation at the piano, I can afford to hum at half voice.

If I had different parents who were in it for the money, I might have a different perspective. But they really are artists; they intelligently approach each character and prepare in every sense of the word. I grew up in a world that had great discipline.

I am writing something which I find satisfying and which I am prepared to put my name to as a composer.

When I was preparing 'Kiss Me, Kate,' I did go to the Museum of Broadcasting and watched an old kinescope of Alfred Drake doing the role on a television special. It was interesting, but I didn't feel any need to try to copy him.

The first prerogative of an artist in any medium is to make a fool of himself.

Music is a prerogative of those who are willing to spend time to study it, understand and love it, well aware of the fact that one life is not enough to improve just one single note of what has already been written and performed.

My mom was obsessed with Joni Mitchell; I grew up listening to so much of her music. But it was never a prerogative to emulate her.

Meryl Streep does things I would never have thought possible... Her presence on screen is outstanding.

Fire is one of my temperaments. It is behind all my work... Fire is a chemical presence.

I always feel like the past informs my present musically.

I just try to tell a story rather than present an open diary to the world.

Whether it be a bolder lip, a dewier cheek, a more lush lash, or an exceptionally extravagant eye, no time is better than the present for unleashing your cosmetic creativity.

I first thought maybe I'd do a banjo presentation record, where I'd play a couple of songs and get a bunch of other players to do the rest. Then I realized I had enough of my own songs to do an album of them.