My music is non-standard because I don't prioritize melodies; instead, I focus on harmony, tension, and other aspects that support the melody.

To avoid clichés in my music, I use anti-romantic techniques to clean out the harmony and prevent banality.

I use a structure of minor and major chords in music that has popular or traditional flavors, primarily for contrast. Minor keys are often labeled as sad and major keys as happy, but this classification is nonsense; the truth lies in how you manage tonalities.

When improvising, I often focus on the Dorian, Lydian, and Mixolydian modes, as they frequently arise in my teaching of improvisation.

As I improvise over the chord progression, I will focus on one pentatonic scale at a time to highlight different aspects of the E major scale, creating varied flavors while staying within consonance.

I find Mixolydian and Lydian scales very useful for creating interesting patterns in my music.

The tones I use are not just one; they are a sum of several levels of decisions I have to make depending on the context of the performance.

I prefer to practice scales in pairs, but sometimes I have to adapt to the requirements of the music.

The 19th-century idea that melody is the queen of music is outdated; I aim to reflect rather than imitate or be impressed by dramatic elements in my compositions.