To have music education stricken from the school system is devastating. The emphasis on getting a job, which is an American view of what education's for, is a catastrophe. Education should be to create a whole human being, and it's not going to if you have to only do well on English and math tests and excel in sports. Sports has totally overwhelmed the arts in a lot of schools, and competition is not always the best thing in education. Any art form is a valid way of understanding the world, interacting with people and becoming a valuable citizen.
Music is a language without barriers, and it creates a community that's a model for humanity.
It's more like taking an English phrase and writing it as e.e. To challenge the technique of somebody like that, you'd probably push the limits of the instrument in a way that's almost insane. For the Perlman solo pieces I wanted to make sure there was a level of virtuosity because his audience expects that. Themes don't come to me when I'm not thinking about composing, but rhythms do. I have a lot of pieces where there are two simultaneous tempos.