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Copland was one of the first American composers to forge a truly modern style of American classical music while also making use of American popular music - including jazz.

Aaron Copland was a man that had a very specific point of view about what music should be which was that, he felt that new music should have the composer should show a personality in his music.

Film music has a great history of composers and performers.

I started off as a studio pianist in Hollywood.

You know, they were returning to the language of the people and trying to use musical language, particularly as Copland did to create a musical language in which all Americans would feel that they had a stake.

I have tremendous respect for film composers.

The great composers I worked with along the way, I always felt they were filmmakers more than composers. They would talk about the story rather than the music.

I think of myself as a film composer.

Still, American composers working in France have had a pretty hard time.

There are a lot of musicians in my life. But movies came first for me. That was my original passion.