William Kraft (September 6, 1923 – February 12, 2022) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, timpanist, and percussionist. (wikipedia)
What I've learned is that it's okay to take from heroes, such as Debussy, but it has to be filtered through my own personality so that ultimately it's me.
I also like to involve the conductor. He needs to respect the piece and be involved in doing it, and the players should be involved in doing it.
You never write down to the people - you write the best you can with the hope that someone else will feel the same way.
When you go to the theater, if you're really involved in the play, you don't think about it - you're in it.
If I think something is beautiful, there must be somebody out there who will agree with me.