---
title: "1 Primary Calling Quotes By Gunther Schuller"
description: "1 Primary Calling quotes by Gunther Schuller. Plus more from Gunther Schuller and more Primary Calling sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9df/gunther-schuller-24722_age_my-primary-calling-i-always-knew-since-t_1222272.png"
---

> [My primary calling, I always knew since the age of 11, was as a composer, and so that had to take priority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/my-primary-calling-i-always-knew-since-the-age-of-11-was-as-a/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9df/gunther-schuller-24722_age_my-primary-calling-i-always-knew-since-t_1222272.png)

## More by Gunther Schuller

> [I wanted to be a painter and an artist. And it's interesting that in some of my later musical works, I refer so often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/i-wanted-to-be-a-painter-and-an-artist-and-it-s-interesting-that-in/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [I don't hate work, composing is not work for me, it's my pleasure; it's my life. So why should I stop? If something is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/i-don-t-hate-work-composing-is-not-work-for-me-it-s-my-pleasure-it-s/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [Symphony musicians are not trained in improvising, certainly not in a jazz style.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/symphony-musicians-are-not-trained-in-improvising-certainly-not-in-a/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [So now, thirty years, forty years later, I mean, I could find a whole orchestra of a thousand to put these things together in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/so-now-thirty-years-forty-years-later-i-mean-i-could-find-a-whole/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [My whole childhood was filled with classical music and going to concerts of the New York Philharmonic and other New York ensembles and organizations,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/my-whole-childhood-was-filled-with-classical-music-and-going-to/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [Many people think of me as a modernist, as a radical in music, you know, someone who's always sort of at the avant-garde of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/many-people-think-of-me-as-a-modernist-as-a-radical-in-music-you-know/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [After the war, once the bop revolution had taken hold, there were all kinds of young musicians, talented young musicians, who were ready for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/after-the-war-once-the-bop-revolution-had-taken-hold-there-were-all/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [I would like to read some books: I don't have time; I would like to continue working on my autobiography.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/i-would-like-to-read-some-books-i-don-t-have-time-i-would-like-to/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [My primary calling, I always knew since the age of 11, was as a composer, and so that had to take priority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/my-primary-calling-i-always-knew-since-the-age-of-11-was-as-a/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [His musical inspiration operates in a world uncluttered by conventional bar lines, conventional chord changes, and conventional ways of blowing or fingering a saxophone.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/his-musical-inspiration-operates-in-a-world-uncluttered-by/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [You know, I'm not gonna take my money with me to heaven or hell, wherever I'm going. So I want to do something good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/you-know-i-m-not-gonna-take-my-money-with-me-to-heaven-or-hell/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [Well, because music is my life and music is not work for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/well-because-music-is-my-life-and-music-is-not-work-for-me/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [So this anchoring in some way, in some important way in the past without repeating the past, but on the basis of the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/so-this-anchoring-in-some-way-in-some-important-way-in-the-past/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [As long as I'm healthy and can keep going that's what I'll do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/as-long-as-i-m-healthy-and-can-keep-going-that-s-what-i-ll-do/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

> [Because I have sixty years of being a professional composer, conductor, musician, whatever, and you develop a lot of friendships and you get involved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/because-i-have-sixty-years-of-being-a-professional-composer-conductor/)

[Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/)

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