Paul Lansky Quotes

I've had a lot of fun writing percussion music. It feels quite similar to writing computer music. But I found myself in the role of choreographer in a way, worrying about physical movement and such.

I didn't want my music to be seen as examples of an electronic culture; I just wanted them to be thought of as pieces of music.

My perspective on the academic world is very favorable. I did certain kinds of things that I could never have done otherwise.

If the music has a logic of its own - as I think my music has - an open-minded listener will apprehend and understand.

I found myself recycling ideas and I saw that I had to invent reasons to compose a piece rather than start from some exciting idea.

I had been creating music on tape that was to be listened to as a recording, rather than through performance.

I think of myself as experimenting with different ways of structuring pieces. A lot of it has to do with the computer, of course.

When you have performers, there's the uniqueness of live performance and what performers do in concerts.

I never thought that I would write orchestra music, but in fact I did write a group of orchestra pieces.

I wrote a lot of software to do various kinds of special things, and I loved the idea of composing pieces in an electronic studio.

It's always a thrill for me to see new versions of my pieces on YouTube.

I think of myself as an experimentalist even though much of my music sounds logical and normal, in a sense.

The experimentation that I do has a lot to do with tunes and pitches and ways that melodies are put together.

I came up in the '60s; that was a time when there was a revolution going on in music. Stravinsky had become a twelve-tone composer; even Aaron Copland was writing twelve-tone pieces at that time!

It's very interesting for me to listen to music with my wife. She's not a musician but she very often makes comments about pieces in ways that are similar to what I'm thinking.

I've been really fortunate to have Bridge Records interested in publishing my music for the past 25 years. Most of my music is available in their catalog.

I don't think of my music as being about something.

I don't think there's something that you have to 'get' with my music. It tends toward the dramatic side rather than the narrative.

I think you'll find a significant number of people who decide not to enter competitions because their music just won't fit in that world.

I noticed things in my computer music that were getting old, and I started to figure out that this has to do with the way the listener interacts with music.