"MUSINGS"- WHY I CHOSE THIS WORD

A reflection on inspiration, silence, and the true meaning behind my writings

The main category of my writings bears the name Musings.

It stands quietly at the centre of all I do — not merely as a title but as a declaration of method, temperament, and belief.

Every reflection, every essay I have written, no matter the subject — be it piano playing, pedagogy, sound, interpretation, memory, Zen, Qigong, or the slow path of inner refinement — flows from that same central current: the act of musing.

I did not choose the word Musings because it was poetic or convenient. I picked it because it expresses, more than any other word, the inward nature of my creative process — a process rooted not in performance or productivity but in stillness, observation, and the desire to let meaning arise naturally. These writings are not lectures. They are not content. They are lived moments distilled into thought — moments that waited to mature in silence before they found their voice.

And behind this word, there stood for me a presence: Euterpe, the Muse of music and lyric poetry.

Euterpe, whose name means "she who brings delight," is often shown holding a flute or a lyre, seated in a quiet landscape or gazing into the distance. She does not impose.

She inspires. Her domain is not merely music but the soul of music — the breath before the sound, the feeling that gives birth to melody, the inner necessity that compels a phrase to be played, not for acclaim, but for truth.

I have long felt that the kind of writing I do — and the kind of teaching I believe in — answers to that same muse. Like music, my essays begin not with intention but with listening. A question from a student, a memory of a master’s gesture, a walk through the park, or the subtle texture of silence at the end of a Beethoven sonata — these impressions are not seized; they are welcomed. They ferment slowly. They wait until I am ready to hear what they have to say.

In this way, Musings is not a label. It is a form of devotion. A practice of returning, again and again, to what matters — to the invisible thread that links sound to silence, action to reflection, outer discipline to inner surrender.

And this is what I wish to offer through my writings.

Not instruction, but invitation. Not prescription, but presence. Not noise, but nuance.

Each essay under Musings is an attempt to shape thought the way a pianist might shape a phrase—with care, restraint, and reverence for the breath between the notes. They do not aim to impress. They aim to resonate. They are not final answers. They are beginnings—soft gestures toward deeper understanding.

To muse is, by its nature, to slow down. Step out of the marketplace of opinions and into a more sacred space where time is not pressured and thoughts are allowed to ripen.

In this sense, Musings resists the pace and expectations of the modern world.

It chooses silence over performance, integrity over ambition, and soul over spectacle.

This is why I chose the word.

Because in a world that too often rewards what is quick, loud, and marketable, I remain faithful to what is slow, quiet, and sincere. Because Euterpe still whispers — not to the crowd, but to those willing to listen. And because I believe that true knowledge, like true music, cannot be taught. It must be remembered.

Musings is where that remembrance begins.