The task of the mediator is to help the parties to open difficult issues and nudge them forward in the peace process. The mediator's role combines those of a ship's pilot, consulting medical doctor, midwife and teacher.
If I wasn't an actor, I'd be a teacher, a history teacher. After all, teaching is very much like performing. A teacher is an actor, in a way. It takes a great deal to get, and hold, a class.
In order not to lose your resolve and purpose, you need to unite with others of like mind and work with an advanced Teacher who is in touch with, and can transfer, knowledge and power.
A mediocre music teacher tells. A good music teacher explains. A superior music teacher demonstrates. A great music teacher inspires.
My brother had a house in Paris. To it came many Western classical musicians. These musicians all made the same point: 'Indian music,' they said, 'is beautiful when we hear it with the dancers. On its own, it is repetitious and monotonous.'
Music is very inspiring to me because "true" music releases a true energy that is just inspiring. It's like when you see a beautiful painting or a wonderful film. You just receive this creative energy, and all of a sudden you want to create too.
I have learned a lot from jazz. I compare good acting to jazz music. The more you study and prepare as an actor, the more equipped you are to live in the moment. Just like the gifted musicians in my dad's quartet, it takes a courageous actor to be free.
My father was my main influence. He was a preacher, but he was also a history and political science teacher, and since he was my hero, I wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a teacher.
We always have a basic structure for a piece of music, but we encourage the musicians to elaborate on whatever they feel at that particular moment. There's a definite conversation happening on stage. I think it is very important for us as creative musicians, to instantaneously describe any energy that is visible at that time.
Musicians like to converse. There's always interesting conversation with musicians - with classical musicians, with jazz musicians, musicians in general.
Teacher is not a great popular person. They teach what they know and make people better than them. Teacher must create a student better than him or her. Otherwise that person is not a teacher but a preacher. There are tons and thousands of preachers.
People come to a teacher to learn self-discovery. A teacher who just wants to keep you on a string forever, the god-guru concept, a teacher like that is very abusive. Those people are actually usually taking their students energy.
When you're humble it's like wearing a beautiful flower. It inspires others. It generates energy and power.
People have an idea that the preacher is an actor on a stage and they are the critics, blaming or praising him. What they don't know is that they are the actors on the stage; he (the preacher) is merely the prompter standing in the wings, reminding them of their lost lines.
When you think about musicians who are reading music, my contention has always been the energy that you're using deciphering what the symbol is is taking away from the maximum creative energy that you might have had if you understood that it's but a symbol.
I’ve broken a cardinal rule of art, music, and career paths: actors are supposed to act, and musicians are supposed to music. That’s how it works. You don’t buy fish from a dentist, or ask a plumber for financial advice, so why listen to an actor’s music?