The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer would be, “Yes.” And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, “No.”
Meaning of the quote
The quote is trying to say that music has meaning, but it's hard to put that meaning into specific words. Music can make us feel things and express ideas, but the exact meaning of a piece of music is difficult to describe exactly. It's like asking what a painting or a poem "means" - the meaning is there, but it's not simple to explain in just a few sentences.
About Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland, the renowned American composer, is known for his ‘populist’ musical style that evokes the vast American landscape. He is considered the ‘Dean of American Composers’ and is best known for works like Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, and Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland’s career spanned from the 1930s to the 1960s, and he also worked as a critic, writer, teacher, and conductor.
More quotes from Aaron Copland
A melody is not merely something you can hum.
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)
So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, “Is there a meaning to music?” My answer would be, “Yes.” And “Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?” My answer to that would be, “No.”
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)
If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong.
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)
You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down… some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)
To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)
Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.
American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor (1900-1990)