The standard advice is to listen. A common admonishment is, “You’re not listening.” There are some good quotes about listening. Malcom Forbes said, “The art of conversation lies in listening.” Stephen Covey, the author of Seven Habits of Highly Successful People said, “Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand. Most people listen with the intent to reply.” Here is a good quote from the actor Alan Alda, “Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.” That seems like it would be especially useful advice for an actor. My own artistic or musical history includes a lot of listening, especially to recorded music. As I wrote in my book No Beethoven, “…in my infancy, I’m playing along to my father’s vinyl LP records on a makeshift drum set that he has put together for me in front of a large Klipsch monaural speaker cabinet in our family’s […]

August 2024 Issue