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American music is a powerful ingredient in international music, and as much as it comes from within, it also comes from without.

Music has always been transnational; people pick up whatever interests them, and certainly a lot of classical music has absorbed influences from all over the world.

I have observed, too, that the people of the many countries that I have visited are showing an ever increasing interest in the classical and traditional music of their own cultures.

I used to think that, given enough goodwill, anybody would be able to 'get' any music, no matter how distant the culture from which it came. And then I heard Chinese opera.

I was just going more for what I've always been influenced by, European music.

Music has an intrinsic value that touches Americans - they love their music, and want more.

In America, music is more tightly categorized.

Unquestionably, our contemporary world of music is far richer, in a sense, than earlier periods, due to the historical and geographical extensions of culture to which I have referred.

You can enjoy many different types of music. I think that's something more Americans should think about.