Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself.
From John Philip Sousa
Sincere composers believe in God.
Composers are the only people who can hear good music above bad sounds.
My religion lies in my composition.
My success is not due to any personal superiority over other people.
I can almost always write music; at any hour of the twenty-four, if I put pencil to paper, music comes.
I still feel the impulse to give young writers a hearing, and I believe I have played more unpublished compositions than any other band leader in the country.
There is much modern music that is better adapted to a wind combination than to a string, although for obvious reasons originally scored for an orchestra. If in such cases the interpretation is equal to the composition the balance of a wind combination is more satisfying.
To the average mind popular music would mean compositions vulgarly conceived and commonplace in their treatment. That is absolutely false.
There is one thing that freezes a musician more than the deadliest physical cold, and that is the spiritual chill of an unresponsive audience!
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