Amidst all the internal and external babble we experience daily, it's hard to find one's foundation.
I usually work in a room which is totally cluttered with my mess, and there's stuff everywhere, and it's kind of chaotic because I am a very messy person. I could totally write in a pristine environment, but it would mean I would have to be at someone else's house.
Musical themes developing is a lot of what classical music is based on, and exposition and recapitulation - these kinds of things I find oppressive.
I am very interested in the human voice and how we use it, especially when we aren't thinking, like the kind of stuff Robert Ashley was interested in.
Saying that something is accessible gives it this implication that people need something, and thinking that we know what people need or want is really unpleasant. I don't like to think that way, like, predicting what it is that the people want.
I thought I was gonna get a doctorate in composition or be a composer and be at a university for the rest of my life, mostly because my parents are academics, and that was the logical thing to do.
Green tea is my main source of caffeine, so I drink it every day.
I don't use the harpsichord because it evokes a past time period: I use it because I like the sound.
No one recognises me on the street, ever.
I don't consider myself supremely talented, but I really like to try things and sift through it and see what mess I made.
I take music very seriously, but it's important to me that my music is - I don't know if 'intuitive' is the word, but there's a really important element of something kind of mysterious. It's not academic or esoteric.
When I'm depressed is when I'm not interested in writing anything, whereas some people, I think, are spurred to creativity through their personal experiences and through depression. And for me, it's a very low place, and it's not fruitful.
I started classical piano when I was eight, but I wasn't a virtuoso. I just really liked it.
