A living tradition is based upon the principle of imitation: what has proven to work well and, in the hands of artists with an individual personality, this “imitation” gradually acquires, after their period of apprentice, the stamp of originality. Originality is a psychological quality, a personality trait, and can never be a conscious intention. The very few pupils Maurice Ravel accepted had to work according to this principle: they had to closely imitate carefully chosen examples and if they felt they had to deviate from them, it was — as Ravel said — in the deviation that their originality showed itself.

—John Borstlap, The Classical Revolution: Thoughts on New Music in the 21^st Century