"When I was confronted with official tuition, the academic thing, I could see no relationship whatever between that and the music I'd been writing since I was 11"
- Harrison Birtwistle
About this Quote
In this quote, author Harrison Birtwistle reveals his disappointment with standard education and its obvious disconnection from his creative pursuits. He asserts that the structured academic technique to studying music bears little importance to the imaginative process that started for him at an early age. Birtwistle is recommending that his individual exploration of music was substantiated of his own experiences and instinct, instead of being dictated by official direction. This sentiment reflects a broader allusion to the tension between creative self-expression and the boundaries of standard education, challenging the concept that creativity can be effectively taught or examined in a classroom setting.
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"
"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"
