Music is a means of communication—a way of touching others more deeply than is possible with mere words. Yes, sometimes words have inspired me to write. I have borrowed the Psalms, Dante's sonnets, and even my maternal grandmother's autograph book from the late 1920s, but in each case the narrative is not created with words alone.

Music connects with both intellect and emotion, and conveys ideas, feelings, virtues, collective memories, and the like. I often seek to make this sort of communication even more meaningful by finding connections with the past and weaving those elements into the fabric of a new work. From popular songs of my youth embedded in the texture of a saxophone quartet, to melodies for a tango derived from the numbers of Fibonacci's famous series, or even the spirit of discovery and perseverance of Galileo in a work for orchestra (with some of the scientist's brother's lute music tossed in the mix), those connections enrich our shared experience and embellish the musical story...even without the use of words.