Robert Fripp's Quotes

A mistake is always forgivable, rarely excusable and always unacceptable.

There are no mistakes, save one: the failure to learn from a mistake.

Linguistic philosophers continue to argue that probably music is not a language, that is in the philosophical debate. Another point of view is to say that music is a very profound language.

The perception of the audience is the interesting part. If the audience doesn't hear what is going on, is it going on or not?

And if you are playing in several meters at once, there has to be a - not a rigid - but there definitely has to be a reference to a common pulse in the band.

However, in modern conceptual frameworks there is a more sophisticated view. I would say that the act of music exists in several worlds simultaneously.

If you are playing repertoire material, you're stuck. There's not huge amounts you can do.

According to USA today, the average length of an attention span of a man in America is 23 minutes.

I'd say that what we hear is the quality of our listening.

What is necessary is possible, what we want is expensive. What is unnecessary is unlikely.

Music can be transformative, utterly transformative. The act of music is utterly transformative.

So, you can set up an orchestra down this end of the railway station playing one particular area, and simultaneously at the other end something completely different going on. And in the middle they meet, or not, depending.

The spoken form is in fact a very restrained representation of what is possible in the musical language.

To me, Bill's musical heart is in Earthworks, in the jazz they are playing, in the acoustic kit.

But above that, most mature adults can hold their attention on something for 45 minutes, whether they like it or not. But above that requires training.

Even within the band, if I cannot manage to persuade the members of what I see to be the next course of action, how do you expect the group to deal with the expectations of thousands of people. It is not possible.

If a professional musician in a symphony orchestra is playing Beethoven. But this particular orchestra have played this particular chestnut so many times, they can play it in their sleep. Does the genius remain present in the music or not?

If an apprentice does not hear what a master hears, is then that quality not present in the music? Yes and no. In the world in which the apprentice lives no.

In terms of an identity, an identity reflects an individuality, by definition. And, if there is a quality present, it is recognizable and it can be named. If you can't name it, it means you don't recognize it.

Michael Giles the first drummer of King Crimson, never agreed to the name King Crimson. But then, if you'd knew Michael, you would know he didn't agree to the album cover either. So maybe Michael didn't agree to the point of definition with many things.

Now, if King Crimson accepts responsibility for innovating its own tradition, you can't accept responsibility for the audience. And there is an enormous tangible weight of expectation, which comes from an audience attending a King Crimson concert.

Then certainly for a musician timing becomes something that is immediately accessible as a concept, because it's a necessity in ones everyday performance.