Renee Fleming’s new book: Selected quotes

The soprano has a wellness book out today.

Here are some clips from contributors:

“If you ask a scientist why birds sing, the answer will deal in courtship and territory. But if you asked the bird, and if you could understand its reply, it would probably be something like, ‘Because I have to, and it feels so good.’” – Richard Powers, “The Parting Glass”

“I was trying to stretch and discovered I couldn’t move. I started to cry and went to John and said, ‘I can’t go on.’” – Rosanne Cash, “Rabbit Hole”

“The early morning Wabanaki ceremony welcoming the sun was more than an encounter in a beautiful setting; it was an act of culture, a renewal of tradition, an acknowledgment of humanity’s place in nature, and a message of hope.” – Yo-Yo Ma, “Nature, Culture, and Healing”

“Imagine a world in which music and the visual arts, dance and movement, theater and storytelling, architecture and design, and many other art modalities are as common in the clinical arsenal as drugs and surgery.” – Susan Magsamen and Ruth Katz, “Blueprint for Cultivating the Field of Neuroarts”

“What possible survival benefit could musical behaviors have had for human ancestors, such that natural (or sexual) selection made musicality part of our evolved psychology?” – Aniruddh D. Patel, “Musicality, Evolution, and Animal Responses to Music”

“Theater, like the medical profession, explores the mystery of life and of death. Americans do not want to face death.” – Anna Deavere Smith, “Healing Arts”

“Slowly, the part of my brain that was studying music was overtaken by the part of my heart that felt it. I was moved by a scene, and later an aria, and sometimes a single note.” – Ann Patchett, “How to Fall in Love with Opera”

“Things start to appear. There seemed to be a crossing with no sign… And then, walking toward me was an elderly dervish…The man asked me my name and asked if I was lost.” – Zakir Hussain, “Music and Mysticism”

“Modern architecture and medicine are bound together in an endless battle against illness.” – Liz Diller, “Porous Density”

“Playing in prisons, there’s often this false idea that the musicians are offering a priceless gift to the poor incarcerated communities and that the energy only flows one way. This is never, ever true.” – Rhiannon Giddens, “How Music Shows Us What It Means to Be Human”

“John volunteered to go first, an unusual act for him. He said that his painting was called the Heart of Darkness and that it represented his heart. He then explained…‘My heart doesn’t have arteries, it is completely disconnected. Like me.’.” – Juliet L. King and Anjan Chatterjee, “Art Therapy, Psychology, and Neuroscience: A Timely Convergence”