Sometimes we are caught by surprise: One fails a test, one is given a new assignment from your boss, some long last friend comes back to you in need, you suddenly make a new enemy. these surprises can feel crazy, improbable, and possibly impossible. However, everything has an antecedent, something that causes the next event to happen. All of the above examples can be explained by some action before…

Sometimes new environments spawn new thoughts. If you dig a little deeper into this statement, you also realize there is a reaction to the new thoughts: You forget about old thoughts as you are inundated with new stimuli. Sitting in the Charles de Gaule airport en route to Vienna with a lengthy layover, I am able to consume new books, listen to new podcasts and watch new movies. The negative happens as well; I forget about the old music I was practicing yesterday, I forget about the old list of household chores in California, I forget to call and text those people not relevant to the new and exciting now.

Since I am actually writing this blog at the moment and am clearly not reading a book, I will spend the time to look at the paradox of choice. As I have a type of obsessive personality, I began to think of the age old adage that choosing to do one thing is saying no to a thousand things. I sit here “reading this book” as I choose not to answer email, write the next blog post(welp here I am), score study for the next musical gig, keep in touch with loved ones, work on an artist webpage, network for the future, and do important foundation work in terms of career. However, sometimes in the end, one can accept that your action is completely logical because it is utterly non-tangential to my dream. I could do all of those productive things listed above, but my spiritual being is calling me to read a new book. One logical hypothesis might be that new environments help with inspiration, dissolving any creative block that one might have. In my personal experience, new environments help break up habits and past mental baggage. They create a new framework to then continue the journey through life.

Now that my brain has created the excuse for reading this magnificent book instead of doing more productive work, I read this book perfectly content that is perfectly unproductively productive because of its novelty. Sometimes reading great books, like my current read “Just Kids” by Patti Smith is perfectly acceptable in the aura of a new environment. And possibly, just possibly this is actually beneficial to becoming an artist. My brain is tired, and although half of this might not make sense, hopefully clarity will come once I’ve reached my final destination.

Flying off to Europe. If I can use my 21^stcentury lingo from California, I was noticing the vibe as I entered LAX for the last time in the foreseeable future. The foreseeable future is not necessarily caused from this vibe that I have seen today, but I can’t help but notice my negative feelings mixed with this last of sorts. Walking into the airport, there was a sense of lethargy on this Sunday afternoon at 2pm. This is possibly due to the evergreen weather of Los Angeles, the Sunday tiredness, the impending long travel plans, the warmer weather outside, or the laid-back culture that this southern California area is known for. I think the lack of energy from ticket agents, TSA, and passengers weaves itself into a cloak that envelops the terminals of the LA airport.

There is a reason that this airport is considered one of the worse airports in the world; from its crowded sitting areas, lack of walking space, unclean smell, to amount of construction always present, many people avoid this airport. On the flipside, this airport is so convenient to travel anywhere in the world. The convenience, which is a product of price and location, allows this airport to thrive on its half-hazard travelling standards. Hopefully by the 2028 Olympics, things will have changed. In the meantime I will continue flying out of LAX because the next best option is to drive three hours to San Diego instead.

My last trip to Europe, at least for this year, begins in an hour. After this, flying might be limited to what economics calls income.

Starting today, July 21^st, I shall start posting everyday. This is for the goal of writing and connection with the world around me. Again, this is not to build an audience, but is a way to make my thoughts clear and to engage in a meaningful world.

While eating breakfast with a friend this morning, I was reminded heavily of my time in Vienna. I was reminded of the decision to first study abroad, the first experience arriving to Vienna, the unexpected nature of each event, and the sad but fulfilled feeling leaving the study abroad experience. I was also reminded of simple life strategies that I learned and more importantly how to tap into my noggin…?

Okay, so you thought this was going to be a sentimental post, and then I used the word noggin. Well, my friends, today I am going to share a small piece of wisdom about our heads, our brain, our noggin. My piano teacher in Vienna once told me a simple phrase “The human mind is more powerful than you think”. At first glance, one might think that this is self-evident and then that one continues onto Facebook because thoughswithdavid.com is just a poser website. But since you have stayed, I will elaborate.

There is a fine line between being realistic, and then achieving your full potential. In essence, this phrase means that the human can do a lot more than you think. Certain boundaries, whether mental, or physical then get in the way of allowing yourself to reach this potential. In many cases the realistic side kicks in and tells me to not learn two concerti and two recital programs in the span of three months. However, sometimes people, including myself, sell themselves short.  They say “well I can’t learn all that music, but I will try to learn just one movement of the concerti each month, finishing a concerto in the three months that I give myself”. This sounds realistic but might end up stopping someone from realizing their full potential. I many times have found myself wasting time by going over the same small details without making substantial progress. Without larger goals, you can sometimes get lost in the minutia and in the art of being busy.

This of course not only applies to music, but any other field of learning and growth. Think about the last time you might have created a to-do list filled with mostly meaningless tasks. One might do everything on the list, but not have accomplished as much as someone who ambitiously attempted a few meaningful tasks in the same day. If you set out overly-ambitious tasks in the right framework, you might not finish everything, but will probably make more progress than if you gave yourself the whole day to finish one task.

In Vienna, I learned that giving yourself more than enough to handle can be quite beneficial. I did not accomplish everything that I gave myself; however, I finished more than I would have if giving myself too little to do. When my teacher in Vienna told me this phrase, he encouraged me to be more ambitious and take risks. By being ambitious, I was actually being less risky than if not doing everything that I could set out to do. This is definitely something that I will work on for the rest of my life. To speak plainly, I must use my noggin even more to deliberately tackle the larger, worthwhile goals. The noggin is a pretty incredible thing if you allow it to be.

Stay tuned for the next post about great accomplishments of great people!

As I arrived back in Bloomington IN, I was reminded of my experience travelling to the “Unknown”. When I decided to adventure to Indiana to complete my undergraduate degree, I had never stepped foot on the campus when I made the decision. Going to foreign cities during my travel abroad experience was in many ways the same feeling; I will share a couple of those “first” experiences. Since you all have read enough about my boringVienna experience, I will give you a taste of travelling to a new city really feels like!

My conducting teacher and I talked quite extensively about how to adjust to a new city from an excerpt of Goethe’s “Italian Journey”. This might seem odd for a conducting teacher to talk about this, but let me explain. In the story, Goethe arrives upon one city and explains how he familiarized himself with the foreign land. He is able to explain precisely the way in which one surveys the land. Specifically, he noticed and observed things without any assumptions. As my conducting professor explained, the key part is to not have assumptions because these assumptions get in the way of perceiving the reality of the situation. Each thing Goethe observed added to a mental map, but each new observation only added or adjusted what came before. This is almost self-explanatory, but it is important to understand the language used. After these observations, and after he thinks he knows the city, he journeys up to the highest point in the city to see if his observations were correct. From the observation point, he is able to adjust and create an even better picture before drawing his own map of the city!

This is the exact process that my conducting teacher instructed me to read a score. First you walk through the piece, observing where there is new material, repeating material and more. Then after these observations, you slowly come to grasp the form of the piece. While making observations, one must also be careful not to assume something while observing. The process in many ways is intuitive and should use rather little forceful reasoning. However, once this approach is used according to my teacher’s regiment, the music in ways can feel more natural and feels more organic. I am still trying this out, but it hasn’t failed yet!

Alright, onto cities. First stop is Paris. The Parisian trip followed the story of the Italian Journey perfectly. With no map and no Wifi to rely on, I had to rely on my senses. My phone was supposed to work in any EU country, but I probably ignorantly didn’t turn roaming on…but that means adventure! I arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport, and realized that Paris was a long train ride away. Luckily, I found the kiosk to buy tickets for the city after following the crowd in that general direction. Then I purchased a train ticket to the main city hoping that the ticket would work. Sure enough…it didn’t work, so I went back and realized I bought a ticket only good for inner-city travelling. I finally arrived in the city around 10 am with The Louvrein mind. After sniffing the crepes and seeing the pastries, I slowly worked my way to what looked like a shopping center. Knowing only some words in French (learn basic phrases people!) I was practically lost.

I again started walking in the direction where most people were heading. After seeing a MASSIVE building and one street sign that mentioned The Louvre, I observed I was headed in the right direction. I finally found the Louvre, with the famous pyramids in the front area. After being asked to buy an umbrella from hustlers about fifty times, I finally was inside, dry and with Wifi! From there I was able to understand a little bit of where I was going. However, I still had to memorize routes by taking pictures, or just saving a mental image until it kind of vanished from sight. This was possibly the reason I walked over 50,000 steps in two days, but in any case, I had a blast. After my second trip back to the hostel I was staying at, I was able to get back home without fail, as well as navigate back to the main part of the city. Through this exploration, I was able to create a mental map of the city that would have not existed if I had used my smartphonethe whole time.

The Louvre

Inside the Louvre- Louis XIV

Best Crepes in Paris

Stravinsky Wall

Notre Dame

Night View!

Overall View

Sacre Couer

The next city that I adventured to half by myself and half with a friend was the city of Salzburg. My phone was functioning in this trip, fortunately or unfortunately. But knowing the Iphone 6s battery life…okay okay nevermind. As with most trips, the morning was early, and there was a slight chill in the air. The Westbahn train effortlessly glided us to the destination two and half hours away. Here, we wandered around without a map to find the Mozart museums, as well as find a good place to eat. After having walked about 5 miles before lunch, we had traversed the small main city center all morning. We headed to what looked like the big Cathedral, only to realized we missed our mark when this church was practically empty. Readjusting, we finally arrived at the monumental Cathedral surrounded by bustling Weihnachtsmarkts. By the time that I was able to see the great view from the Festung,or fortress, I already had a pretty clear intuition as to how the city was laid out. Now with my mental map, I could travel back to the train station with ease.

Mozarts Geburstaghaus

Weihnachtsmarkt!

Salzburg

Great Dumpling Dish!

Cathedral Organ 1/5!!

Overview

Bustling Weihnachtsmarkt

These new experiences are quite phenomenal and challenged me to think in different ways. It’s interesting once in a while to put yourself in Goethe’s footsteps and familiarize yourself with a city without a map. Once you throw yourself in a foreign city, it is truly impressive to see how much your intuition can guide you. This is similar to anyone entering a new city. Of course, when you live in a city for a while, your intuition turns into a 4K resolution with each and every new experience. Hopefully I will be able to have many more of these true Italian Journeys, and not just the abstracted version one can do in music.

Ideas credited to: Jörg Birhance