"A real composer is not one who plays first on the piano and writes down what he has played. A real composer conceives his ideas, his entire music, in his mind, in his imagination, and he does not need an instrument."
.. arnold schoenberg

"When he is working, Stravinsky is always in a hypersensitive state. Everything that occurs seems to be magnified. At first I was astonished at how slowly he worked. He often composes at the piano, intensely concentrated, grunting and struggling to find the notes and chords he seems to be hearing. I was amazed that so complex a score as Le Sacre (The Right of Spring) was composed like this."
.. samuel dushkin

"The factory of the future will have only two emplyees, a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog. The dog is there to keep the man from touching the machines."
.. author unknown

"What's worse is that critics take a guy who only plays in the key of C and call him a genius, when they should say those guys are a bitch in C natural."
... charles mingus

"Music is for the people. For all of us, the dumb, the deaf, the dogs and jays, the quick, handclappers, dancing moon watchers, brainy puzzlers, abstracted whistlers, fingersnapping time keepers, crazy, weak, hurt, weed keepers, the strays. The land of music is everyone's nation - her tune, his beat, your drum - one song, one vote."
... eric stokes .. composer and teacher

"Art is either plagiarism or revolution."
... paul gauguin