I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.

Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you've never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.

Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.

Sincere composers believe in God.

I think that the quality of all bands is steadily improving and it is a pleasant thought to me that perhaps the efforts of Sousa's Band have quickened that interest and improved that quality.

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.

Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?