Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears

Listen to everything all the time and remind yourself when you are not listening.

I have a variety of ways that I make music, but I'm working with the Thingamajigs in a particular way, which is: They are bringing to me their performance skills and their unusual instruments, which I'm relishing. They're really beautiful. The other thing is improvisation - these players improvise and they do it very beautifully, as a matter of fact.

I'm currently very impressed with the level of understanding and of interest in listening that I experience wherever I go. That motivates me to dig deeper into what I've been doing all of this time, to find new ways and also to get over the thought that it's not happening.

When I am composing, the sounds are leading me to the way I want them to organize.

The students were missing out a lot in their ensemble playing because they weren't listening to each other or the environment.

I had to cope with attitudes that were not supportive all along. I mean, you still have that.