Anuj Bhutani reflects on what his non-linear path into composition may have actually been teaching him all along: a process built on following curiosity down paths that mostly don't pan out, until the one that does becomes obvious. A comment from Ted Hearn about watching him rework material over and over crystallized something Bhutani had been doing without fully naming it. A separate piece of advice from teacher Andrew May — that it's every person's right to gather evidence, form a hypothesis, and test it — reframed decision-making itself as a practice rather than a destination. The excerpt closes on a conviction both composers share: that no matter how abstract or apparently non-referential a piece is, it carries the life of the person who made it. The composer who claims otherwise, Bhutani suggests, probably hasn't looked hard enough.

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