How Music Brings Me Back to Programming
Growing Up with Music
For those of us born in the 1990s, owning a music player was probably a common dream in the mid-2000s. The model and generation did not matter; as long as it could store and play music, that was enough. There were not as many forms of entertainment as there are today, so people often shared their favorite songs with one another. Some even copied lyrics onto paper, bound them into collections, and passed them around. Whatever they were doing and wherever they were, everyone was ready to hum a familiar melody. Music back then was beautiful, easy to sing, easy to remember, and easy to pass on.
I enjoyed Vietnamese music and was also a K-pop fan. Vietnamese songs were easy to sing and remember, while foreign music had catchy melodies and eye-catching choreography, even though I could not understand the lyrics. One way or another, listening to music felt like a shared celebration that nobody wanted to miss. If everyone listened, I listened too; if everyone liked something, I liked it too. Music became an indispensable part of my life.
When I moved away from home for school, I listened to music less often and stopped following the bands and singers I had once loved. Music gradually became more closely tied to my emotions. Some songs belong to a particular chapter of life, and the moment they begin, memories come rushing back. Món quà vô giá (A Priceless Gift) is one of those songs. Even now, whenever its opening piano notes play, I am carried back to those restless days with my friends at internet cafés. Over time, I became more selective about what I listened to. I did not like a song simply because it attracted many listeners; it had to resonate with my present life or be part of the childhood music still buried deep in my subconscious.
Many years ago, for reasons I can no longer remember, I decided to buy a guitar and learn to play it. It looked easy at first, but it was much harder than I had expected. Pressing and plucking the strings was difficult enough, while posture and chord shapes gave me a headache. My skin was naturally thin, so pressing my fingertips against tightly stretched steel strings hurt and stung, especially my poor, delicate little finger. Still, I did not give up. I kept practicing until one day the strings became so tight that they pulled the wood away from the guitar body, damaging it beyond repair. And that was the end of my "passion." When inspiration is not accompanied by persistence, it is easy to abandon something before seeing it through. Both music and programming require skill and practice if you want to master them.
The years 2018–2019 were a period when cover songs became especially popular. Anyone could perform a favorite song and share it on social media. I followed several performers partly because they felt new to me and partly because they sang with a style I had never heard elsewhere. They did not have to worry too much about appearance, location, or the stage. Sometimes all they needed was a guitar and a place to sit, and they could play and sing from the heart. I gradually came to admire people who could both play an instrument and sing, performing songs in their own distinctive and heartfelt way. Over time, I paid more attention to each performer's style and reshaped my own taste in music. I realized that what I admired was not just the song, but also the moment, its simplicity, and the emotions attached to it.
I sometimes ask myself: what if I had not become a programmer? Would I have pursued music instead? Do I truly love music that much, or possess even a little talent for it? Please do not laugh 😅. The question has crossed my mind more than once. Every so often, when I revisit the music of my past, I indulge in that fantasy again.
Music Is a Way of Feeling
Gaming is one of the ways I unwind after work. These days, however, video games are not as enjoyable as they once were because my time is limited and my old friends are no longer around to play with me. Sometimes they even make me more stressed for reasons such as... losing over and over again. Walking, running, and playing sports are also excellent ways to exercise and clear my mind. Simply going outside for a short walk and breathing some fresh air can already improve my mood.
Music works differently. It does not require me to move or leave my desk, yet it can still take my mind somewhere else. Music helps me relax, soothe my emotions, and reconnect with memories. A song can help me see the person I was many years ago, recall lessons from the past, and sometimes even make me long to return to an unforgettable day filled with wonderful things. Every song carries a message from its creator. Some have cheerful melodies, some are bold and triumphant, while others are gentle, contemplative, and full of affection. I choose what to hear according to my mood. I do not need to go anywhere or do anything; I only need to surrender myself to the melody and lyrics.
Whenever I encounter a difficult problem that cannot be solved in a day or two, I become restless and frustrated. No matter what I am doing, I keep thinking about it and wondering whether another solution exists. Walking, running, eating, showering, or even sleeping cannot make me stop thinking. At times like these, I usually turn to music. When a song begins, emotions wash over me, my worries gradually settle, and I suddenly feel much lighter. While building the OpenNotas application, I felt as though I were living on borrowed time, with my mind devoted entirely to the problems I needed to solve before the release date. On late afternoons or early mornings before the sun had risen, I put on my headphones and leisurely made a few laps around the field. After covering those distances, I found myself believing again that there would be a solution.
Even now, whenever I am alone at night, I still enjoy returning to songs from the past that once left a mark on me. A voice rising through the quiet darkness brings a feeling that is difficult to describe: wistful and aching, yet carrying a gentle trace of joy.
Artists and Programming
To me, an artist is anyone capable of performing art. The art I mean here is an intangible creative force that can move others while conveying a humane message that does not run counter to accepted cultural values. Every artist has something distinctive that belongs to them alone, and the way they express it is what draws me to one person rather than another. Whenever I watch someone play an instrument, I see the musician and the instrument blending together like fragrance and flower. Happiness radiates from every gesture, movement, and expression. It reminds me of programming: there is no melody and no lyrics, yet every finished product still contains something difficult to put into words.
No matter who we are or what we do, each of us experiences life in a different way. Hearing a good song can feel like discovering a meaningful project. A singer performs for listeners, while a programmer creates software for users. Many open-source projects provide real value and inspire those who follow to keep creating. Some songs become deeply engraved in the mind, much like the experience of learning something from someone else's source code. Later, whenever the song plays or the project is mentioned again, I still treasure the moment when I first encountered it.
When it comes to technique, everyone practices and expresses themselves differently. A musician begins by becoming familiar with scales, rhythm, finger movements, and tone. A programmer begins with syntax, algorithms, and tools. Everything feels awkward at first. People must look at every note or consult line after line of documentation, but after enough repetition, those actions gradually become instinctive. Once the foundation is solid, both can devote their minds to something more important: what they want to express and how they want to express it. No skill comes naturally, and there is no reward for those who lack persistence.
Their creativity does not take place in a space of complete freedom either. Musicians work within rhythm, harmony, and structure. Programmers work with requirements, resources, and system constraints. Different performers can interpret the same song in different ways. Faced with the same problem, programmers can also choose different ways to design their programs. Constraints do not necessarily suffocate creativity; sometimes they inadvertently give rise to a distinctive style.
An artist reaches a moment of transcendence when they can fully convey the emotion of a song. For me, that feeling appears when the pieces of a problem suddenly connect, an idea begins to take shape, and I can express it through a product built from code. Interestingly, these moments do not always arrive while I am bent over a computer screen. Sometimes they come after a pause, a song, or a run. Stopping at such a moment does not mean giving up. It means giving my mind enough space to arrange what I have not yet understood. When I return, the problem remains unchanged, but my perspective is different.
Music and Writing
Some songs feel moving after a single listen, and after repeating them silently a few more times, I can already remember them. I did not use to read song lyrics, but I began paying closer attention after listening to slower cover versions. Some songs use simple, familiar words, while others have a "poetic" quality, with polished lyrics, rich rhymes, and a remarkable fit with their context. Looking closely, I can recognize that many artists have a distinctive lyrical style, and the richness of their lyrics depends greatly on their vocabulary. Writing prose is difficult enough; writing lyrics that are concise, blend with a melody, and still carry artistic value is even harder.
I do not know how you feel, but words matter deeply to me. The difference between a song and a piece of prose is that a song also has melody and vocal expression, while prose must try to communicate those qualities through words alone. Lyrics, on the other hand, usually need to remain concise without losing their meaning. Vietnamese is a rich and beautiful language. Sometimes a single reduplicative or compound word, placed in the right context, can create an image as vividly as an entire descriptive passage. Reading lyrics is one way for me to learn more about word choice, while listening helps me sense rhythm and emphasis that I can bring into my writing for you.
Writing is not difficult, but producing something complete, clear, and coherent makes word choice essential. No two people express themselves in quite the same way. When I like an author, I am likely to seek out more of their work because a familiar voice can create closeness and awaken empathy. Music is the same. Everyone has their own style, and sometimes I can recognize a favorite performer after hearing only a few lines.
After reading someone's work for long enough, I can sometimes recognize their writing without seeing the name. Source code is the same: naming choices, the way a problem is broken down, and the handling of unexpected cases all carry traces of the person who wrote it. I hope that each of my articles can preserve something distinctively mine, not necessarily through elaborate language but through an honest account of how I felt while writing. Perhaps this is where all three—music, programming, and writing—intersect. Technique creates the foundation; a distinctive voice creates empathy.
Conclusion
"Without music, life would be a mistake" is a famous line by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in *Twilight of the Idols*. To me, music can express what words sometimes cannot, helping us reach into the deepest layers of the subconscious and our emotions. Melody and rhythm bring relaxation, soothe pain, and ease some of life's pressure.
Stepping away from a gentle melody also means returning to everyday work. All of life's concerns still lie ahead. The keyboard, the screen, the computer, and the unresolved problems have not disappeared. But the person in front of the screen has changed, carrying more confidence and ready to try once again. Music does not do the work for me, but it helps me recover the state of mind I need to keep writing and finish what remains undone.
This article also came into being after I happened to hear some old songs again. They urged me to put something into words. Whether the result is good or bad, when I return to it someday, I will still be able to smile and think, "So there really was a moment like this once."