There are rhythmic ideas which sometimes only work up to a point. In writing there are moments when it just comes off the page, it's not just a collection of notes.

The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.

One thing I've tried to do in writing music is take on very basic things, very archetypal things.

Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.

You either are or you're not.

In the end it doesn't matter what you do.

This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.