I wrote a lot of software to do various kinds of special things, and I loved the idea of composing pieces in an electronic studio.

Sometimes I imagine that there's a binary division going on in contemporary practice that has to do with chromatic versus diatonic. I notice that I tend to listen in a diatonic sense, that I register a pitch as a member of a diatonic scale, even in a non-tonal context.

I came to what I think of as the critical problem: the aging process of a piece of music. I noticed in the '70s that pieces I wrote would sound great the first time I listened to them and then on repeated hearings they sounded older and older until what seemed exciting and vibrant on first listening became stale.

When you have performers, there's the uniqueness of live performance and what performers do in concerts.

I never thought that I would write orchestra music, but in fact I did write a group of orchestra pieces.

With repeated listenings, a piece eventually becomes its own being. I very often say to students that this is like meeting a person for the first time. When you first meet someone, you reference that person with others who are similar; but, as you get to know that person better, you begin to understand his unique qualities.

If the music has a logic of its own - as I think my music has - an open-minded listener will apprehend and understand.