Through the Ages ... musicians, philosophers, authors, and ordinary persons like you and I have experienced music's powerful effects on the human body, spirit, emotions, and soul.  May these words give voice to the music that moves your soul. 

"Music gives peace to the restless and comforts the sorrowful. They who no longer know where to turn find new ways, and those who have despaired gain new confidence and love."  Pablo Casals, cellist, 1876-1973




"Rhythm and Harmony penetrate very deeply to the inward places of the soul, 
and affect it most powerfully, imparting grace."  Plato, c. 428 BC

"How can we teach music so that it will ‘penetrate very deeply to the inward places of the soul’? " 
Isabel Carley, Orff Re-Echoes, 1977

"Music expresses that which cannot be said 
and on which it is impossible to be silent." 
Victor Hugo, 1802-85

"And the tunes that mean so much to you alone
Common tunes that make you choke and blow your nose,The Song of the Banjo

"All true and deeply felt music, whether sacred or profane, journeys to heights 
where art and religion can always meet." 
Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1952, physician/missionary & musician, 
Nobel Peace Prize Winner

"That which colors the mind is a raga." 
Sanskrit proverb

"Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rock, or bend a knotted oak."
William Congreve, 1670-1729

"The business of music 
should in some measure 
lead to the love of the beautiful."
Plato, c. 428 BC, Republic

"An admirable musician! 
O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear."
William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, Othello, IV.i

"I am seething within, and cannot relax;
Days of affliction confront me.
I go about mourning without comfort; ...
Therefore my harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the sound of those who weep."
Job 30:27-28a, 31

"Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, 
a long way from home."
African-American Spiritual

"When all hope is gone, 
you know sad songs say so much."
Elton John, b. 1947

"Music can articulate the rich subtleties experienced in suffering and joy. It is a language native to exiles returning to their native land, the best medium for expressing gratitude so intense as to explode in glorias. It releases a wider spectrum of emotions than can be released by confessional formulas or historical reconstructions. It evokes the sense of mystery that surrounds such homespun words as death and life." Paul S. Minear, in Death Set to Music: Masterworks by Bach, Brahms, Penderecki, Bernstein

[Of the grave] 
"Silence more musical than any song." 
Christina Rossetti, "Rest," 1849

 "If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature." Charles Darwin, 1809-1882

"Music revives the recollection it would appease." 
Madame de Stael, Corrine, 1807

"We know an age more vividly through its music than its historians."
Rosanne Ambrose-Brown

"No white man ever sang the blues."
Huddie Leadbelly, 1888-1949

"Supposing times were normal, normal as they were before 1914, then the music of our time would be in a different situation." Arnold Schoenberg, in 1936 (1874-1951), quoted in Rosen, Schoenberg (1976)

"Music has the power of producing a certain effect on the moral character of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, it is clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it," Aristotle,  384-322 BC, Politics

 



"I always love music. We must teach music in schools; 
a schoolmaster ought to have skill in music, 
or I would not regard him;
 neither should we ordain young men as preachers 
unless they have been well exercised in music." 
Martin Luther, 1483-1546

"Tune into your own music within and the music all around.  
Hear the literal music and the metaphors of life.  
Hear the order and beauty, the dissonance and chaos.  
Here is God.  Hear, God is ..."  
Joy Berger, 1998

"We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday!"

 

"Music sets up a certain vibration which unquestionably results in a physical reaction. Eventually the proper vibration for every person will be found and utilized. I like to think of music as an emotional science." George Gershwin, 1898-1937, quoted in Morgenstern, Composers on Music, 1958

 "I was on the point of putting an end to my life — the only thing that held me back was my art. For indeed it seemed to me impossible to leave this world before I had produced all the works that I felt the urge to compose; and thus I have dragged on this miserable existence." Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827, Heiligenstadt Testament, 1802 (upon losing his hearing)

 
"Oh Providence, do but grant me one day of pure joy! For so long now the inner echo of real joy has been unknown to me. Oh – when – oh when, almighty God – shall I be able to hear and feel this echo again in the temple of Nature and in contact with humanity – Never? – No! – Oh, that would be too hard." Ludwig van Beethoven, Postscript to the Heiligenstadt Testament, 1802 (upon losing his hearing)

"Joy is more joyful, given a tune." Jane Swan, b. 1943

"Joy, bright spark of divinity,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary.
Thy magic power re-unites
All that custom has divided,
All men become brothers
Under the sway of thy gentle wings."
Schiller’s "Ode to Joy," 
Set by Ludwig van Beethoven  
Symphony No. 9, Movement 4, 1824

"There is a balm in Gilead, to make the wounded whole ..."
African American Spiritual