Top 7 Quotes by R. Murray Schafer

Still the noise in the mind: that is the first task - then everything else will follow in time.

Still the noise in the mind: that is the first task - then everything else will follow in time.

R. Murray Schafer

Mind, Tasks, Noise

R. Murray Schafer (1977). “The Tuning of the World”, Alfred A. Knopf

When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous.

R. Murray Schafer

Miraculous

We cannot close our ears; we have no ear lids!

R. Murray Schafer

Ears

The earth forms the body of an instrument, across which strings are stretched and are tuned by a divine hand. We must try once again to find the secret of that tuning.

R. Murray Schafer

Hands, Secret, Trying

R. Murray Schafer (1993). “The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World”, p.14, Simon and Schuster

Someone once said that the two most important things in developing taste were sensitivity and intelligence. I don't think this is so; I'd rather call them curiosity and courage. Curiosity to look for the new and the hidden; courage to develop your own tastes regardless of what others might say or think.

R. Murray Schafer

Thinking, Two, Curiosity

Today all sounds belong to a continuous field of possibilities lying within the comprehensive dominion of music. Behold the new orchestra: the sonic universe! And the musicians: anyone and anything that sounds!

R. Murray Schafer

Lying, Musician, Sound

R. Murray Schafer (1977). “The Tuning of the World”, Alfred A. Knopf