I think every musician is in some way addicted to conflict. Why else would we practice? “The search for perfection,” answers the wide-eyed conservatory student. Well, I won’t argue, but I also won’t say there’s any difference. Forget music, ask anyone who’s ever looked for perfection in anything — in a spouse, for instance. Do these searches ever end well? Or rather, do they ever end?

Probably not, but then, there are some of us who just like to fight.