I thought that I had died and gone to heaven the first time that I heard Steve Reich's "Violin Phase." And it took me places. I discovered Glass (of course), Satie--an old favorite of many minimalists--Riley, and John Adams, among others. I don't recall now whether my love of minimalist music led me to Brian Eno or whether Eno's "Music for Airports" led me to minimalism. I suspect that the latter is true. True story: When I was in high school and college, I had a stereo system (purchased from my friend Dennis) that included a cassette player with an alarm clock. This was quite amazing at the time (1979 to 1981). Set the alarm, put in your favorite waking-up music, and go to sleep. I awoke to "Music for Airports" for over two years. The gentleness of the record provided the perfect transition from sleep to wakefulness.

I love jazz and classical and rock and world and folk and. . . . But my desert-island genre is progressive rock. I mention this because the two genres, minimalism and progressive rock are, on the surface, dissimilar.

Obviously, my wording would lead the average reader to believe that I am now going to prove how the two are, in fact, the same. They are, but not because they are.

What marks progressive rock and minimalism and classical and jazz and . . . as being comparable is their equal ability to ignite passion in a perhaps peculiar subset of listeners. And while most of my compositions share more with progressive and jazz, I have written some pieces that mix either or both of those genres with a kind of Michael Hedges-inspired minimalism.

Your post was a fun read and your piece fun to listen to.