Danilo Pérez

"I had an incredible teacher in my father, who viewed music as a very powerful tool to change people's lives—and that's my main interest. When I was 7, a guy came and spent the whole day fixing our washing machine. While he worked, my father and I were playing music. As the guy was getting ready to leave, my father gave him something to play: ch-k-ch, ch-k-ch, ch-k-ch. He played with us for an hour. Then my father asked him, 'How much do I owe you for the work you did?' The guy said no money was needed, but said, 'How much do I owe you for the experience?'"

"I went to Panama in 1989 and right after I arrived, the U.S. invasion happened. I performed the concert anyway (I thought, if I die, I prefer to die playing). That day, people for and against the invasion came together to listen to music. That's the power of music."

"When I teach, I talk a lot about values. For example, you can learn the meaning of democracy by understanding the individual parts of a groove. When the guitar part goes che-ka, che-ka, and the bass player goes tun, tun, tun-tun, I say, 'See? When that tun-tun meets the che-ka, che-ka and someone else's chiki-chiki, that's called community.' Community values can only be expressed when we listen to each other. With technology, it's amazing that you can experience music by yourself, but there's a certain isolation within that experience that challenges the idea of community."

"Another thing that I teach is the concept of compromise and discipline. If I ask you to play a piece, you can't cheat; you have to practice. You can't move forward—you can't actually grab the instrument and play music—unless you really commit."

"Once my students understand the power of music, passion creeps in. The passion to survive, to fight for happiness. It's the passion that pulls you in so anything that comes your way—a homework assignment that takes 300 hours—does not matter anymore; you do it. A lot of my students have gone on to have great careers. The really successful ones have learned their mission in life: they see their music as a fingerprint of their lives. Once they figure out that life comes first, nothing can stop them."