Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?
John Philip SousaI can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.
John Philip SousaAny composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.
John Philip SousaThe vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape.
John Philip SousaI forsee a marked deterioration in American musicand a host of other injuries to music in its artistic manifestations, by virtue—or rather by vice—of the multiplication of the various music-reproducing machines
John Philip SousaAnybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.
John Philip SousaRemember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.
John Philip SousaThere is one thing that freezes a musician more than the deadliest physical cold, and that is the spiritual chill of an unresponsive audience!
John Philip SousaFrom childhood I was passionately fond of music and wanted to be a musician. I have no recollection of any real desire ever to be anything else.
John Philip SousaI had found English audiences highly satisfactory. They are the best listeners in the world. Perhaps the music-lovers of some of our larger cities equal the English, but I do not believe they can be surpassed in that respect.
John Philip SousaJazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.
John Philip SousaThe office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there came a deeper realization of the effect of that office on the man.
John Philip SousaI am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.
John Philip SousaTo the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.
John Philip SousaI still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.
John Philip SousaGovernmental aid is a drawback rather than an assistance, as, although it may facilitate in the routine of artistic production, it is an impediment to the development of true artistic genius.
John Philip SousaI think that the quality of all bands is steadily improving and it is a pleasant thought to me that perhaps the efforts of Sousa's Band have quickened that interest and improved that quality.
John Philip SousaNo nation as young as America can be expected to become immediately a power in the arts.
John Philip SousaGrand opera is the most powerful of stage appeals and that almost entirely through the beauty of music.
John Philip SousaDance as though no one is watching. Love as though you've never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.
John Philip SousaAmerica can well expect to develop a goodly amount of composers for she has a goodly number of people.
John Philip SousaAmerican teachers have one indisputable advantage over foreign ones; they understand the American temperament and can judge its unevenness, its lights and its shadows.
John Philip SousaI have always believed that 98% of a student's progress is due to his own efforts, and 2% to his teacher.
John Philip Sousa