--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois…" description: "\"I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois. My dad was at the University of East Illinois, so I was always around the music. One of my dad's buddies was t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/stuart-hamm-80153_avant-garde_i-grew-up-mostly-in-champaign-illinois-m_568707.jpg" --- # I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois. My dad was at the… ![“I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois. My dad was at the University of East Illinois, so I was always around the music. One of my dad's buddies was the avant-garde composer John Cage, so I picked up on that weird classical and eclectic music.” quote by Stuart Hamm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/stuart-hamm-80153_avant-garde_i-grew-up-mostly-in-champaign-illinois-m_568707.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/stuart-hamm-80153_avant-garde_i-grew-up-mostly-in-champaign-illinois-m_568707.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0e/stuart-hamm-80153_avant-garde_i-grew-up-mostly-in-champaign-illinois-m_568707.jpg) > “I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois. My dad was at the University of East Illinois, so I was always around the music. One of my dad's buddies was the avant-garde composer John Cage, so I picked up on that weird classical and eclectic music.” Stuart Hamm ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Growing up near a university and exposed to avant‑garde music shaped his eclectic musical taste and openness to experimental sounds. **In simple terms:** Early environment and exposure to experimental music broadened his artistic outlook. Key Takeaway Seek diverse influences to enrich creativity. Themes musical influences creativity upbringing Mood curious inspired open‑minded Type educational personal When to use this quote - education - family background - music appreciation - artistic development Key Concepts music history psychology of art Questions to Reflect On - How does exposure to diverse art affect your work? - What barriers exist to embracing avant‑garde ideas? A Different Perspective Experimental music can be polarizing and limit mainstream appeal. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Avant garde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avant-garde/) [Composer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composer/) [Dad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dad/) [Illinois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illinois/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [University](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/university/) ## Related quotes > [I grew up in a small town in Illinois, and my dad was a basketball coach. Thanks to him, I have excellent fundamentals in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-offerman/i-grew-up-in-a-small-town-in-illinois-and-my-dad-was-a-basketball/) [Nick Offerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-offerman/) > [The thinking of John Cage derived from Duchamp and Dada. I was not interested in that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-lewitt/the-thinking-of-john-cage-derived-from-duchamp-and-dada-i-was-not/) [Sol LeWitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-lewitt/) > [I was part of the sort of avant guard tradition of John Cage and music concrete and pushing back the boundaries of avant garde…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-dudley/i-was-part-of-the-sort-of-avant-guard-tradition-of-john-cage-and/) [Anne Dudley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-dudley/) > [I think teenagers just don't have the persistence to pretend to like something they don't anymore. I used to do that - make myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bradford-cox/i-think-teenagers-just-don-t-have-the-persistence-to-pretend-to-like/) [Bradford Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bradford-cox/) > [When I read John Cage's book Silence, I was growing up in Louisville, Kentucky. For me, records were a mode of time travel and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grubbs/when-i-read-john-cage-s-book-silence-i-was-growing-up-in-louisville/) [David Grubbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grubbs/) > [I have this ideal listener, as John Cage did. This listener doesn't bring expectations that my music will fit into some part of music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/missy-mazzoli/i-have-this-ideal-listener-as-john-cage-did-this-listener-doesn-t/) [Missy Mazzoli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/missy-mazzoli/) > [All really great artists, Jackson Pollack, John Cage, Beckett or Joyce - you are never indifferent to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/all-really-great-artists-jackson-pollack-john-cage-beckett-or-joyce/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [I did a twenty foot print and John Cage is involved in that because he was the only person I knew in New York…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-rauschenberg/i-did-a-twenty-foot-print-and-john-cage-is-involved-in-that-because/) [Robert Rauschenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-rauschenberg/) > [I always like to cite John Cage's mantra, "If you can stand it for two-minutes, try it for four." In fact, when I look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yvonne-rainer/i-always-like-to-cite-john-cage-s-mantra-if-you-can-stand-it-for-two/) Yvonne Rainer > [We used to have endless discussions with journalists about that: 'Why are you calling it noise? It's not noise, it's music,' and make references…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-ranaldo/we-used-to-have-endless-discussions-with-journalists-about-that-why/) [Lee Ranaldo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-ranaldo/) > [Parallels between classical and pop are not new. The whole San Francisco movement of John Cage and Terry Riley went hand in glove with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-hazlewood/parallels-between-classical-and-pop-are-not-new-the-whole-san/) [Charles Hazlewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-hazlewood/) > [“Marietta, I do not believe in ghosts, astrology, palmistry, graphology, John Cage, love or God. I do believe in the moment, in the pleasures…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/marietta-i-do-not-believe-in-ghosts-astrology-palmistry-graphology/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“Ideas are one thing and what happens is another.’ (John Cage)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sheppard/ideas-are-one-thing-and-what-happens-is-another-john-cage/) David Sheppard > [I recall improvisational drummer and composer Michael Evans telling me a story of someone who had the opportunity to meet Cage and give him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grubbs/i-recall-improvisational-drummer-and-composer-michael-evans-telling/) [David Grubbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grubbs/) > ['Untitled' is a time machine that can transport you to 1992, an edgy moment when the art world was crumbling, money was scarce, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/untitled-is-a-time-machine-that-can-transport-you-to-1992-an-edgy/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) ## More by Stuart Hamm > [You never know that this is the moment when you're in the moment. When I was sixteen I moved to a smaller town in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-hamm/you-never-know-that-this-is-the-moment-when-you-re-in-the-moment-when/) Stuart Hamm > [You look back, and it was important to bring back instrumental music, and it was great to be a part of that wave of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-hamm/you-look-back-and-it-was-important-to-bring-back-instrumental-music/) Stuart Hamm Explore all 3 Stuart Hamm quotes ## More Avant garde quotes > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [Well, the reason that I teach at Bard is because it's a largely avant-garde program.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-reichardt/well-the-reason-that-i-teach-at-bard-is-because-it-s-a-largely-avant/) [Kelly Reichardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-reichardt/) > [Noise has taken the place of punk rock. People who play noise have no real aspirations to being part of the mainstream culture. Punk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thurston-moore/noise-has-taken-the-place-of-punk-rock-people-who-play-noise-have-no/) [Thurston Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thurston-moore/) > [I am, it seems, an avant-garde dramatist. It would even seem obvious since I am present here at discussions on the avant-garde theatre. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eug-ne-ionesco/i-am-it-seems-an-avant-garde-dramatist-it-would-even-seem-obvious/) [Eugene Ionesco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eug-ne-ionesco/) > [There is a book called San Francisco Tape Music Centre:1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde and this book describes everything that you want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/there-is-a-book-called-san-francisco-tape-music-centre-1960s/) [Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/) > [Once you got Hollywood doing these kinds of movies and having all the, how you say, the tools to do it, and also to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/violante-placido/once-you-got-hollywood-doing-these-kinds-of-movies-and-having-all-the/) [Violante Placido](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/violante-placido/) > [On the surface the avant garde as a whole seems united primarily in terms of what they are against: the rejection of social institutions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-innes/on-the-surface-the-avant-garde-as-a-whole-seems-united-primarily-in/) C. D. Innes > [ Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond \[character\] and the psychological approach in search of a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrice-pavis/avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of-the-individual-that/) Patrice Pavis > [“There is nothing more profitable than the extreme avant garde.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvia-hartmann/there-is-nothing-more-profitable-than-the-extreme-avant-garde/) [Silvia Hartmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvia-hartmann/) > [Avant-garde means never having to say you're sorry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-ribot/avant-garde-means-never-having-to-say-you-re-sorry/) [Marc Ribot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-ribot/) > [“My avant garde planters complete, they now yearned to be occupied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-puchalski/my-avant-garde-planters-complete-they-now-yearned-to-be-occupied/) Matt Puchalski > [Now there is no taboo; everything is allowed. But one cannot simply go back to tonality, it’s not the way. We must find a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gyorgy-ligeti/now-there-is-no-taboo-everything-is-allowed-but-one-cannot-simply-go/) [Gyorgy Ligeti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gyorgy-ligeti/) > [In an avant-garde cooking restaurant, it's the experience that's the difference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferran-adria/in-an-avant-garde-cooking-restaurant-it-s-the-experience-that-s-the/) [Ferran Adria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferran-adria/) > [The avant-garde poet or artist tries in effect to imitate God by creating something valid solely on its own terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clement-greenberg/the-avant-garde-poet-or-artist-tries-in-effect-to-imitate-god-by/) [Clement Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clement-greenberg/) > [I like African and avant-garde music, anything that's vaguely interesting. Hard rock I get a bit bored with because it's what I do. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-glover/i-like-african-and-avant-garde-music-anything-that-s-vaguely/) [Roger Glover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-glover/) [Browse all 202 Avant garde quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avant-garde/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I grew up mostly in Champaign, Illinois. My dad was at the University of East Illinois, so I was always around the music. 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