Discipline is never an end in itself, only a means to an end.

The only reward the musician receives is music: the privilege of standing in the presence of music when it leans over and takes us into its confidence. As it is for the audience. In this moment everything else is irrelevant and without power. For those in music, this is the moment when life becomes real.

If you are playing repertoire material, you're stuck. There's not huge amounts you can do.

In terms of an identity, an identity reflects an individuality, by definition. And, if there is a quality present, it is recognizable and it can be named. If you can't name it, it means you don't recognize it.

What is necessary is possible, what we want is expensive. What is unnecessary is unlikely.

If the audience doesn't hear what is going on, is it going on?

And if you are playing in several meters at once, there has to be a - not a rigid - but there definitely has to be a reference to a common pulse in the band.