Perhaps of all the most basic elements of music, rhythm most directly affects our central nervous system.
Unquestionably, our contemporary world of music is far richer, in a sense, than earlier periods, due to the historical and geographical extensions of culture to which I have referred.
One very important aspect of our contemporary musical culture - some might say the supremely important aspect - is its extension in the historical and geographical senses to a degree unknown in the past.
The development of new instrumental and vocal idioms has been one of the remarkable phenomena of recent music.
I think we're in a very low point of music right now.
I pick up the New York Times or Time and it's talking about the latest rock group, which I'm sure is exciting to some people, but it neglects a huge area of music.
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.
If we look at music history closely, it is not difficult to isolate certain elements of great potency which were to nourish the art of music for decades, if not centuries.
The retrospective glance is a relatively easy gesture for us to make.
I have observed, too, that the people of the many countries that I have visited are showing an ever increasing interest in the classical and traditional music of their own cultures.
The advent of electronically synthesized sound after World War II has unquestionably had enormous influence on music in general.
