James Tenney Quotations

I have to keep reminding my students, asking them, "What is your experience of listening to this? Don't tell me about the notes you see on the page, tell me about what you hear.

None of these worlds was incompatible. All of these people were around, and if you were at all interested in painting, poetry, or dance, you met them.

All of these people kept on being professional musicians and composers in the strictest sense.

People would use each other in their works. The barriers were breaking down; everyone brought in special qualities.

I've come up with another formulation about style: that it's essentially a manifestation of a certain habitual set of limitations. It's what a composer does NOT do that defines a style.