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J D Salinger, in his book, "Seymour, An Introduction," lectures to his fictional brother, Seymour, just what it means to be an artist, and what he must do because of it. He approaches the subject from a philosophical, yet apologetic, viewpoint, telling him of his brilliance, that he was an artist before he was anything else. But now he must stop apologizing and ask himself this. (And it pertains to being a writer, but the same goes for composers.) Ask yourself this. If you could listen to any music in the world in your heart of hearts, anything at all, knowing what you know about music, what would it be? And if you are honest and brave, the answer is that you have not yet written it. And then comes the hard part. Because since you are an artist and have been so before anything else, your only choice is to sit down and shamelessly write the thing yourself. The key word is shameless.

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