Henry Mancini Quotes

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Henry Mancini

Profession : Composer

Birth : April 16, 1924

Film music, over the years, has taken from everybody.

Henry Mancini

Erroll Garner is one of the few musicians I believe has a sense of humor in his music.

Henry Mancini

I used to be selected for the Pennsylvania all-state orchestra. It was a thrill to go from my home town of Aliquippa clear across the state to Lancaster for the concerts. No kid is immune to that kind of experience.

Henry Mancini

It takes different mindsets to do different things.

Henry Mancini

I read magazines and reviews. If consensus says something is good, I'll get it and see what's going on.

Henry Mancini

Some producers hang-on to that old cliche that if the audience hears the music, it is no good. I say this is so much talk. Music gives the film another dimension, if it's done with the story in mind.

Henry Mancini

I try to change my concert program every couple of years - hopefully to keep my listeners interested.

Henry Mancini

I'm usually the last man on the totem pole. Except for the sound effects and the final sound mix, the score is the last element to be added to a picture.

Henry Mancini

When someone asks me to do a score, I look at the picture two or three times. I never watch the rushes to pick up the mood as quickly as I can. If it's something I want to do, just watching the film will start the wheels turning.

Henry Mancini

Some people say 'flutist.' Others say 'flautist.' I just say 'flute player.' That's what I was.

Henry Mancini

I've turned down many pictures, mostly because I didn't like them.

Henry Mancini

Bassoon is not an easy instrument to play and to pick it up and play it like a flute or a saxophone is quite an accomplishment.

Henry Mancini

In 'Charade,' there was a big fight. George Kennedy was playing one of his first big heavy roles; he had a hook for a hand, and he was real ugly. Cary Grant was Cary Grant. They were on a slanted roof, a very exciting fight, and we agreed there shouldn't be any music, just the grunts and the action.

Henry Mancini

I don't think I've ever spent more than an hour on any one song, but that doesn't count the thinking that goes on beforehand.

Henry Mancini

Technique is superficial. The method used in applying technique is what gives music its character.

Henry Mancini

Most everything I've ever written has .been done to 'assignment.'

Henry Mancini

I had no idea 'Moon River' would do so well. I was too busy working to think about it.

Henry Mancini

Amplification of guitars revolutionized the popular music scene. Youngsters look for quick fame and big money with amplified guitars and working with rock groups.

Henry Mancini

Stravinsky influenced film music in general - those stabbing chords and rhythms from 'The Rite of Spring.'

Henry Mancini

Quite a few of The Rolling Stones records have had a great honesty about them. In fact, I would put them side-by-side with a 'Treasury of Folk Music' collection, containing all the prison songs, the farm and road-gang songs that were recorded on the spot in the Deep South.

Henry Mancini