Add Quote by Claude Levi-Strauss
“The musical emotion springs precisely from the fact that at each moment the composer withholds or adds more or less than the listener anticipates on the basis of a pattern that he thinks he can guess, but that he is incapable of wholly divining. . . .”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Raw and the Cooked, Claude Lévi‑Strauss, 1964
Music creates emotional tension by playing with listeners’ expectations, using patterns they think they can predict but cannot fully know.
In simple terms: Music surprises listeners, creating feeling.
Embrace uncertainty in creative work.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- composing music
- film scoring
- live improvisation
- educational workshops
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you balance familiarity and surprise?
- What role does listener expectation play in your art?
If patterns are too predictable, the emotional impact may fade.