When she first looked at a student's score, she often commented on its relation to the work of a variety of composers: for example, "hese measures have the same harmonic progressions as Bach's F major prelude and Chopin's F major Ballade. Can you not come up with something more interesting?" Virgil Thomson found this process frustrating: "Anyone who allowed her in any piece to tell him what to do next would see that piece ruined before his eyes by the application of routine recipes and bromides from standard repertory." Copland recalled that "she had but one all-embracing principle ... the creation of what she called "la grande ligne" – the long line in music." She disapproved of innovation for innovation's sake: "When you are writing music of your own, never strain to avoid the obvious." She said, "You need an established language and then, within that established language, the liberty to be yourself. It's always necessary to be yourself – that is a mark of genius in itself."