The office of President is a great one; to every true American it seems the greatest on earth. And to me, as I was engaged in weaving a background of music for the pageantry of it, there came a deeper realization of the effect of that office on the man.

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

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

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.

I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.

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?

To the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.