“If you don't hear this kind of music [pop] at the right time, can it ever make sense to you?”

“...loving music didn't have to mean wanting the same song all the time, or believing it perfect, and that what you loved didn't have to add up, let alone define you.”

“I got to know [teen music] as we absorb music in passing but can remember only its seriousness and weight.”

“This is the starting point of dance: something -- the music, the steps, your partner -- holds you but you also have to hold it and, to achieve the necessary tension, hold yourself against it.”

“The greatest act of love was to make a tape for someone. It was the only way we could share music and it was also a way of advertising yourself.”

“More so than with any other instrument, the violin becomes part of the body. Good musicians are physically dissolved when playing, and for violinists, who cannot see where to place their fingers and have nothing to guide them through touch, music must be more than ever about memory than fingertips and breath; the ventage is deeper, more of the self, closer to singing.”

“There are times when we need the rocket fuel of singing and dancing to power us through an act of blind faith. Falling in love is one of those times, when we need to move into a phase of enchantment with enough force so that when things cool and the air clears, we are locked into that person, that love. We fall in love and we sing as we walk down the street; we turn up the music and dance.”