Jazz great Charlie Parker once said, "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." What do you think he meant by this? Do you agree with him? Does his
sentiment apply to other forms of music beyond jazz? Why or why not?

Parker wanted to say that jazz has to be felt and experienced to be played. I find this to be true, as the music that is made with genuine feeling will make us feel more connected to it, especially when it conveys ideas of personal and political struggle, as jazz often does. However, this sentiment can be applied to any type of music. The audience can feel the honest sensation in the music, and the art is supposed to wake up strong feelings in us – any genre that does this will tend to be better and more successful.

Explanation:

Charlie Parker meant that if you don’t truly feel, experience, and mean the music you are playing and it’s sentiment, it just won’t sound right or you must feel incompetent to play music at all. Music is a form of art, and like any art, it is strongly connected to the emotions and the artist performing it. Because of that, it is vital for musicians to feel what they are playing. This especially is connected to jazz as it is the music that started in the African American community and speaks of their problems and experiences.

This quote, of course, should not be taken literally  – while musicians can play what they don’t connect personally with, I agree that people will less likely listen to that kind of performance. The audience responds better if they find the music to be a genuine, artist to be honest, and if it evokes some deep feelings in them. This is why I think it’s important that the artists feel a strong connection to their art, maybe even to live through it themselves.

This connection does not only have to appear in jazz music, but with various types of art and music. It is more important when it comes to the music of certain communities or music that conveys political ideas, but any type of song will work better if it shares personal feelings and thoughts. We might think this is less important in popular and mainstream music, but even in these genres, we can notice the honest artist who writes their own work will do better.

The reason for this success of personal music is the fact that the audience wants to hear authentic experience and feel the candid sensation. The art of any genre that has a strong impact on the audience tends to be more accepted, as the audience can connect to it, and with the author better.