Stephen Nachmanovitch Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• The noun of self becomes a verb. This flashpoint of creation in the present moment is where work and play merge.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Creativity, Self, Play

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.52, Penguin

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• Commitment to a set of rules frees your play to attain a profundity and vigor otherwise impossible.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Commitment, Play, Vigor

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.84, Penguin

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• In improvisation, there is only one time. This is what computer people call real time. The time of inspiration, the time of technically structuring and realizing... the time of playing it, and the time of communicating with the audience, are all one.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Real, Inspiration, People

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.18, Penguin

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• As an improvising musician, I am not in the music business, I am not in the creativity business; I am in the surrender business.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Creativity, Musician, Surrender

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.21, Penguin

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• Every conversation is a form of Jazz. The activity of instantaneous creation is as ordinary to us as breathing.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Breathing, Ordinary, Jazz

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.17, Penguin

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• Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of ones chosen form.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Inspirational, Art, Creativity

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.42, Penguin

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• Artwork is not thought up in consciousness and then, as a separate phase, executed by the hand. The hand surprises us creates and solves problems on its own. Often, enigmas that baffle our brains are dealt with easily, unconsciously, by the hand.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Hands, Brain, Phases

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.82, Penguin

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• If form is mechanically applied, it may indeed result in work that is conventional, if not pedantic or stupid. But form used well can become the very vehicle of freedom, of discovering the creative surprises that liberate mind-at-play.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Stupid, Play, Creative

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.84, Penguin

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• If we are transparent, with nothing to hide, the gap between language and being disappears. Then the Muse can speak.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Gaps, Language, Speak

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.30, Penguin

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• Whispered words can be devastatingly effective.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.85, Penguin

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• The power of mistakes enables us to reframe creative blocks and turn them around...The troublesome parts of our work, the parts that are most baffling and frustrating, are in fact the growing edges. We see these opportunities the instant we drop our preconceptions and our self-importance.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Block, Mistake, Creativity

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• With too little judgement, we get trash. With too much judgement, we get blockage.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Judgement, Littles, Too Much

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• Play is the taproot from which original art springs. It is the raw stuff that the artist channels with all his learning and technique.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Art, Spring, Playing Games

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.42, Penguin

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• There is not ultimate breakthrough; what we find in the development of a creative life is an open-ended series of provisional breakthroughs. In this journey there is no endpoint, because it is the journey into the soul.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Journey, Creative, Soul

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.11, Penguin

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• If a creative person has a sense of humor, a sense of style and a certain amount of stubbornness, he finds a way to do what he needs to in spite of the obstacles.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Creative, Style, Needs

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.123, Penguin

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• Fidgeting and boredom are the symptoms of fear of emptiness, which we try to fill up with whatever we can lay our hands on.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Hands, Boredom, Trying

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.130, Penguin

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• If we split practice from the real thing, neither one of them will be very real.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Real, Practice, Splits

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.67, Penguin

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• There are only people doing their imperfect best at doing their imperfect jobs

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Jobs, People, Imperfect

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.123, Penguin

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• The professionalism of technique and flash of dexterity are more comfortable to be around than raw creative power, hence our society generally rewards virtuoso performers more highly than it rewards original creators.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Creative, Rewards, Our Society

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.120, Penguin

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• This is the evolutionary value of play- play makes us flexible. By reinterpreting reality and begetting novelty, we keep from becoming rigid. Play enables us to rearrange our capacities and our very identity so that they can be used in unforeseen ways.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Reality, Play, Identity

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.43, Penguin

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• The beauty of playing together is meeting in the One.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Play, Together, Meetings

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.94, Penguin

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• We provide both irritation and inspiration for each other- the grist for each other's pearl making.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Inspiration, Irritation, Pearls

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.95, Penguin

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• Play cannot be defined, because in play all definitions slither, dance, combine, break apart, and recombine.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Play, Definitions, Break

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• When we are totally faithful to our own individuality, we are actually following a very intricate design. This kind of freedom is the opposite of "just anything".

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Opposites, Design, Faithful

  Stephen Nachmanovitch (1991). “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art”, p.26, Penguin

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• If the art is created with the whole person, then the work will come out whole. Education must teach, reach, and vibrate the whole person rather than merely transfer knowledge.

  Stephen Nachmanovitch

  Art, Teach, Persons

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