What does it mean to say, “I am an American composer”? At the time of this writing— eight years into the twenty-first century—this seemingly simple assertion is fraught with ambiguity. Consider the word “American.” First of all, “America” usually stands for the United States, not all of the Western hemisphere. Apart from the fact that I might not have been born in the United States (which is the case) or that I am not a United States citizen (which is not the case), being an American composer could mean many different—even conflicting—things. For what is American music? Is it music in the styles of Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, or Leonard Bernstein? Or is it jazz, “America’s classical music,” according to former President Bill Clinton? Perhaps it means American folk or popular music—country and western, rock, hip-hop, or “alternative music.” Does it include or exclude the music of Central and South America? It might mean, to people living in Africa and Asia, American pop and movie music—one aspect of globalization. Even if we confine American music to that which has its origin in the “classical music” of Europe, American music denotes music meant to be played not only in concert halls but in other venues as well, as in electronic and computer music, installations, and via media such as CDs, DVDs, and video. The term “American” has other ambiguities. If I distinguish American music from European music, I might single out musical innovations founded in America such as eclecticism, chance music, and minimalism, in contrast to some fairly traditional features of European music such as architectonic forms and program music. Moreover, when a nationality is affixed to “music,” the resulting label may mean different things. On one hand, if the nationality is German, French, or Italian, the music is presumed to be art music, distinguished by mild forms of chauvinism. On the other, if it is Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, English, or Spanish music, there is a presumption that it blends aspects of classical music per se with the local “vernacular” music of a particular country or region. In the case of American music, it is not clear which of these two uses applies.