"When I was studying... there weren't any black concert pianists. My choices were intuitive, and I had the technique to do it. People have heard my music and heard the classic in it, so I have become known as a black classical pianist"
About this Quote
The ache in Simone's memory lands in the pause between "studying" and "there weren't any": a childhood of rigorous training colliding with a cultural vacancy she didn't choose. She isn't just describing a lack of representation; she's naming an absence that forces invention. If no "black concert pianists" exist in your field of vision, every technical decision becomes a bet against the room's expectations. Simone frames her choices as "intuitive" and backed by "technique" because virtuosity is her alibi and her weapon. In a world eager to dismiss Black artistry as instinct without discipline, she insists on both.
The subtext is thornier: Simone becomes "known as a black classical pianist" not because she set out to be a category, but because audiences and institutions needed one. She notes that people "heard the classic" in her music, as if classical credibility is something granted by listeners rather than owned by the performer. That verb choice exposes the gatekeeping: the canon isn't neutral; it's policed by what is recognized as "classic" and by whom.
Context matters. Simone trained in classical piano with the ambition of becoming a concert performer, only to be blocked by the racism of conservatories and concert circuits; the thwarted trajectory helped propel her into jazz, blues, and later political songwriting. This quote catches her in the tension between mastery and labeling: she can play the tradition, expand it, even redefine it, yet her public identity is still routed through race. It's pride sharpened into critique: she belongs in the classical world, and the fact that her belonging reads as exceptional is the indictment.
The subtext is thornier: Simone becomes "known as a black classical pianist" not because she set out to be a category, but because audiences and institutions needed one. She notes that people "heard the classic" in her music, as if classical credibility is something granted by listeners rather than owned by the performer. That verb choice exposes the gatekeeping: the canon isn't neutral; it's policed by what is recognized as "classic" and by whom.
Context matters. Simone trained in classical piano with the ambition of becoming a concert performer, only to be blocked by the racism of conservatories and concert circuits; the thwarted trajectory helped propel her into jazz, blues, and later political songwriting. This quote catches her in the tension between mastery and labeling: she can play the tradition, expand it, even redefine it, yet her public identity is still routed through race. It's pride sharpened into critique: she belongs in the classical world, and the fact that her belonging reads as exceptional is the indictment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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