“You can play the piano with the white keys only or you can play it with only the black keys. But for harmony you must use the black and the white keys.”

—  Ernest Debrah

On the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), in Will Ross, " Africans wary of Europe's trade offer http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7134407.stm", BBC (8 December, 2007).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "You can play the piano with the white keys only or you can play it with only the black keys. But for harmony you must u…" by Ernest Debrah?
Ernest Debrah photo
Ernest Debrah1
Ghanian politician 1947–2016

Related quotes

Katie Melua photo

“Because the line between,
Wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread,
From a spider's web.
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.”

Katie Melua (1984) British singer-songwriter

Spider's Web, from Piece By Piece (2005)
Lyrics

Yasunari Kawabata photo

“That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music.”

Yasunari Kawabata book The Master of Go

Source: The Master of Go (1951), Ch. 38, p. 164.
Context: That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music. Everything is lost when suddenly a false note is struck, or one party in a duet suddenly launches forth on an eccentric flight of his own. A masterpiece of a game can be ruined by insensitivity to the feelings of an adversary.

“I do not think that any composer has ever asked for octave glissandi on the black keys, but there is a recording by Moriz Rosenthal of Chopin's Black-Key Etude in which he plays the short octave passage in both hands glissando: it hurts my hands just to think about it.”

Charles Rosen (1927–2012) American pianist and writer on music

Source: Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist (2002), Ch. 3 The Instrument and Its Discontents

Niki Lauda photo

“When you have something in black and white, you can deal with it quicker.”

Niki Lauda (1949–2019) Austrian former Formula 1 racing driver

Humphrey Lyttelton photo

“Now it's time to play a brand new game called Name That Barcode. Here's the first one: "Thick black, thin white, thick black, thick white, thick black, thin white."”

Humphrey Lyttelton (1921–2008) English jazz trumpeter

OK who's going to identify that?
The Guardian, Saturday 26 April 2008

Joan Rivers photo

“People say money is not the key to happiness, but I've always figured if you have enough money you can get a key made.”

Joan Rivers (1933–2014) American comedian, actress, and television host

As quoted in Seriously Funny (2009), by G. Nachman, p. 606

Johann Sebastian Bach photo

“It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German late baroque era composer

Variant: There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.

James Thurber photo

“It is true, I confess, that if a male character of my invention started across the stage to disrobe a virgin criminally (ah, euphemism to end euphemisms!), he would probably catch his foot in the piano stool and end up playing "Button Up Your Overcoat" on the black keys.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

"The Case for Comedy", Lanterns & Lances (1961).
From Lanterns and Lances‎

Max Beckmann photo

“All things come to me in black and white like virtue and crime. Yes, black and white are the two elements which concern me. It is my fortune, or misfortune, that I can see neither all in black nor all in white... I cannot help realizing both, for only in the two, only in black and white, can I see God as a unity creating again and again a great and eternally changing terrestrial drama.”

Max Beckmann (1884–1950) German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor and writer

Source: 1930s, On my Painting (1938), pp. 13-14

“Some white people hate black people, and some white people love black people, some black people hate white people, and some black people love white people. So you see it's not an issue of black and white, it's an issue of Lovers and Haters.”

Eden ahbez (1908–1995) American songwriter and recording artist

As quoted by Joe Romersa (c. 1992)
Shadowbox Studio

Related topics