If Nothing Is At Risk, Nothing Is

Actually, Most Things I Say In Public Lead More Or Less Directly To My Own Compositional Practice, So I Should Be Careful About Generalizing Lest They Come Back To Haunt Me.

The Western Musical Canon Came About Not Merely By Accumulation, But By Opposition And Subversion, Both To The Ruling Powers On Whom Composers Depended For Their Livelihoods And To Other Musics.

This Was Possible Only By Dint Of Extended Periods Of Frequently Quite Painful Reflection And Digestion.

When I Left Europe In 1987 I Did So With The Thought That My Relevance As A Composition Teacher Would Benefit From A Certain Cool Distance To Certain Tendencies I Had Been Observing For Several Years With Increasing Disquiet.

I Would Not Say That I Was, These Days, A 'student' Of Philosophy, Although In My Youth I Was Quite Deeply Involved With Certain Aspects Of The British Pragmatists.