Music is more objective, I think, than a lot of art is, but a surprising amount of it is cultural.

I don't think that Slaughterhouse-Five was successful movie material. In fact, Vonnegut's books mostly I don't feel are movie material.

People may need something to celebrate. They need a context in which to celebrate things. They need something that fills the void that's left by the bankruptcy of religion and so forth.

And when you don't have to talk to the person next to you, that's real clean. Takes a certain thing not to try to keep anything up, not to have to entertain one another.

I don't feel that one instrument has more weight than others. Any sound that you can produce adds to your vocabulary of possibilities.

Western ears have a hard time hearing anything that isn't in four-four time. A lot of cultures experience music in five-eight, for example, five-four.

How many Beethovens are there that just for lack of the training, the world doesn't get exposed to.