In a broader sense, the rhythms of nature, large and small - the sounds of wind and water, the sounds of birds and insects - must inevitably find their analogues in music.

Apart from these broader cultural influences which contribute to the shaping of our contemporary musical psyche, we also have to take into account the rather bewildering legacy of the earlier twentieth-century composers in the matter of compositional technique and procedure.

Perhaps many of the perplexing problems of the new music could be put into a new light if we were to reintroduce the ancient idea of music being a reflection of nature.

An American or European composer, for example, now has access to the music of various Asian, African, and South American cultures.

But I don't think it's a good thing to create less than good music in a world that's full of a lot of indifferent music.

The development of new instrumental and vocal idioms has been one of the remarkable phenomena of recent music.