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they pick names out of a hat but seriously, I see nothing wrong in using music for religion. I mean, it's not unheard of. and if someone believes they have a gift from God, well, it's their belief, and shouldn't be argued. Personally, I think everything's a gift and we should make the most of it.

Debussy described music as 'the imaginary country; that is to say, the one that can't be found on the map'. This comes close to the reason why I feel the need to write; namely to create something that is an object of fantasy, some kind of landscape that does not really exist in a tactile, material form. I believe that music should not ignore the real world, indeed it is sometimes the strongest way of addressing it, but it justifies its existance by being a means of accessing 'another place' which is otherwise hidden, and so to compose is to give others some experience of one's imagined world. There is an element of fantasy in most music, and this seems to be particularly prominant in many of my works along with a need for drama. I have to have the stimulation of some unpredictability, and so this is something I try to put into my music. Nearly as strong is the desire to leave an impression on others and for my listeners to be stimulated and transported by the music (also something I try to achieve in performance). I also believe that creative, useless acts are what makes us special. I suppose I could, more bluntly, say it's because I have an opinion of what music should sound like, and feel the need to express this in some recognisible form (which probably explains why I am drawn to arranging almost as much: I feel I can almost always 'improve' something existing). And I can't imagine not trying to write notes on the page.