"They're supposed to be able to play different rhythms, different tunes - Lilliburlero and what have you - but it all sounds the same to me. A bloody dunderin. On the Twelfth they thump so hard and so long they bleed their wrists. Against the rim. Sheer bloody bigotry." Part 1, pg. 8

"She used to eat the tar of the roads in the summer. Everyone said there was a wee want in her. Chalk in the classroom - touched to the tongue, grasped - it was so dry. Chewed, it made her feel better." Part 1, pg. 30

"Do you compose music or does the music compose you?" Part 1, pg. 32

"One pronunciation threw her. Peach. She thought he was referring to the fruit but he said it several times and she realized by the context what it was. For him peach and pitch were homophones." Part 1, pg. 33

"A composer does not...