I've come to realise that the ego is the greatest obstacle to music-making.

At the most practical level, the existence of ego translates to stage-fright: when I realise that I'm going to be playing in front of an audience, there is the egoistic fear of making mistakes in front other people, or not playing at my best and causing people to think badly of me. Because of this, I start to focus too much on getting the right notes rather than on the overall musical and emotional content of the piece. The funny thing is that this often backfires: the more I think about what are the notes I have to play, the more likely I am to suffer a memory lapse. Even if no mistakes occur, the resulting performance would be mechanical and lifeless.

My best music is always produced when I'm playing on my own, without any feelings of self-consciousness or nervousness. Somehow, this just frees me to play the best music I ever make.

I love playing music for other people, but somehow this I get the feeling that my audience will never enjoy my music as much as I enjoy my own playing when I'm alone.