Medium
I wrote this entry while listening to a piano sonata. I was geeky enough to pretend I was playing the piano in the sonata as I typed to it — lots of fun. I wanted to give this preface because most of the content in the entry is speculative. It’s speculative because I didn’t have the time to stop and think about my ideas; I was “playing the piano”, remember? Also, I wanted to use this “read more” break, and see how it turned out on facebook.
This song [Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11, 1st movement] is so beautiful. I love to listen to different people play it. I especially like Glenn Gould’s rendition of it. Although people don’t necessarily find it orthodox, I think his interpretation is beautiful.
I actually like to listen to different covers. That’s a quirk of mine. I like to hear how people interpret music differently. For example, I have many different versions of Moon River, the beautiful theme in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.
Isn’t that the essence of music? But what is music? We output music. What is music before we output it? That pure state of music, it seems, can never be obtained! It has to be instrumented through some medium. Voice, cello, piano, flute, guitar. ((As an aside, I have to give credit to the band, The War. I was reading one of their blogs about music, and the “pureness” of music. It is his idea that music exists in a “tainted” form. See here.))
Not only in music, but we must express our thoughts through the medium of voice. If it isn’t voice, it is art. If it isn’t art, it is writing. This captures humanity’s core values! We are creatures of art, voice, and writing. This is how we communicate that which can NEVER be fully communicated. How can we achieve the state as to which we can be so positive as to share what our thoughts and ideas are in their purest form?
You can conceive of something, but can you ever fully bring someone else to conceive it in its entirety? If you go back even further to the origin, can one even fathom how your ideas come into existence? What is an idea? Where does it come from? How can you be so sure that the idea you have is the actual idea? By what medium does it come, and how does that medium tarnish the idea or thought?
Incredible! To think that our minds are of such capacity.
continuu 
An idea is only in its purest state if it remains as a thought. An idea is something intangible therefore it is so difficult to conceive it in terms of language – whether it be written or spoken. Language is best used to describe physical properties – colour, size, shape, texture – all of which can be perceived with the senses when a person encounters a physical object but ideas can only be ineffectively communicated through language because as ideas, they are meant to be mulled around in the thinker’s head.
Yet no man is an island therefore he is compelled – instinctively driven – to share his ideas with this peers. This brings the question of the man’s goal in sharing his idea. Will he be content by the fulfilling the act of sharing his idea and allowing others to perceive it through their own interpretations ? Or is he adamant on communicating his *exact* thought process which could inevitably lead him to dissatisfaction and frustration ? In my opinion, although the medium of communication is important, the individual’s goal of sharing his ideas is more pertinent. Sharing an idea will generate feedback from the audience and spur them on to think up new ideas. From this conclusion, it is safe to say that ideas germinate from external stimuli. The concept of an idea germinating from an “internal gut feeling” is much more mind-boggling to contemplate since one has to factor in the question of where this “feeling” originated from.
Ideas… ideas… I think they are best expressed with an open-mind, not so much a certain mode of communication because everyone will perceive it differently from the next person. The core of the idea may not be clearly received but at least the idea will be passed on for others to contemplate. Very thought-provoking post, I must note.