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A composition is always more than the sum of its parts. In other words, a really good piece of music is more than itself. It's sort of like a prism, which you can see from each facet a single totality.

I love writing songs. One of the toughest things is structure; it just works when you use verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge. And as soon as you become aware of that formula, you start to have a bad conscience when you write with that particular structure.

I'm just trying to work out how to write music now, because I've never had the opportunity where my number-one priority is writing music. I don't know how my brain works yet.

I'm not interested in possible complexities. I regard song structure as a graph paper.

Interplay and interaction are the integral parts of music - they're as important as the notes.

Writing a play, you start with less, so more is demanded of you. It's as if you have to not only write a symphony, but invent the instruments as well.

And the invention of transformations of certain figures has become the most important in musical composition.

There is a musical rhythm to great writing, especially if it's performed correctly.