About music

I met a genius composer when I was lecturing at a university. The student had perfect pitch and outstanding hearing ability. I was talking to the student for a while about the music she created. “I had a really beautiful dream one night. I composed the song to not forget the dream.” She left such long-lasting impressions as a young composer. I was captured by how a composer has a dream and writes a song. I think poets are similar in that way. I know a poet who wanted to write a poem based on a dream but forgot about it because he didn’t have a pen and paper. That’s why he always puts a notepad and a pen near the bed.

It’s not just a dream in sleep that becomes a poem. A poet can capture the sense of reality similar to a dream while awake. I think Lee Seong-bok’s poem titled ‘Music’ is a good example. The poem captures a dreamy scene in real life. On a rainy day, being in a car makes one feel quiet and still as if isolated from the world. The world seen beyond the window looks a little different than usual due to rain. It feels strange, as if you are a little further away from this familiar yet strange world.

In such cozy isolation, the poet listens to music. It feels like he is briefly visiting this strange world while the beautiful music is the real world. The sensation is fleeting yet intense. Rain and music seem to have brought the real me out of my consciousness. Music cannot be described clearly in a language and this is how the poem is like. Yet, it remains in one’s mind for a long time.