"Music is the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life. The one spiritual entrance into the higher world."

--Ludwig van Beethoven

"People who make music together cannot be enemies, at least while the music lasts."

--Paul Hindemuth

"The modern day composer refuses to die."

--Edgar Varese

"Think NOTHING. Wait until it is absolutely still within you. When you have attained this, Begin to play. As soon as you start to think, STOP. And try to retain the state of NON-THINKING. Then continue playing.

--Karlheinz Stockhausen

"It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one, better to perform one than to listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisition of 'culture.'"

John Cage

"I don't choose what I compose. It chooses me."

--Gustav Mahler

"Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance."

--Leo Tolstoy

"Improvisation is not the expression of accident but rather of the accumulated yearnings, dreams, and wisdom of our very soul."

--Yehudi Menuhin

"Music is the answer to the mystery of life. The most profound of all the arts. It expresses the deepest thoughts of life."

--Arthur Schopenhauer

"Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers."

--Learned Hand

"A painter paints pictures on canvas.  But musicians paint their pictures on silence."

--Leopold Stokowsky

"An artist has a duty...to silence." 

--Federico Fellini

"If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music."

--Gustav Mahler

"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom.  If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn."

--Charlie Parker

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."

=Victor Hugo

"To be aware of the resonance that exists all around us and give it an avenue of human expression is the purpose behind our music."

--Michael Pennington

"We are not creators of the music.  We are conduits for the music.  We tune our hearts and ears to silence.  Then we listen and play what we hear.  The music is a soundtrack for life."

--Dave Belzer