“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
Aldous Huxley from The rest is silence
“I’ve long been obsessed with the hidden power of song. I’m not talking about how music entertains us, or even its higher artistic potentialities, but something bigger and grander. I look to music as a change agent in human life, even as a transformative force in human history.
It perhaps sounds simplistic, but this is the most important core value in my life’s work, the central tenet underpinning in my vocation. Song is a source of enchantment and a catalyst for change. Any philosophy of music—or even a journalistic approach to the subject—that doesn’t respect this remarkable capacity misses much of the point of human music-making.”
Ted Gioia, from The Man Who Put Out Fires with Music
“Songs are the possessions most likely to survive long journeys, remaining the property of the newcomer even when everything else has been taken away.”
Ted Gioia, Music: A subversive history