8/10/2014

Indian Classical Music

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Indian Classical Music - Philosophy

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"Music is a conduit to the pure essence of the universe. Free yourself

of all obstacles and distractions and tap into it."
-- Kerry Kriger, August 4, 2013

On learning music
What it takes to learn music

I think that any intelligent person can

learn music, given three things:
(1) The desire to learn: if you don't want
it, it will never come.
(2) Dedicated practice: preferably daily,
and the more you play the better you'll
be. Professional musicians practice 4-8
hours daily...or more. I feel the first hour
of the day is only getting you to the point you were at the day
before, so it takes an hour just to break even, more to see
improvement!
(3) A competent teacher (guru). A serious musician should always
find the best teacher possible. A "self-taught" musician has as much
chance at learning the complexities of music as a person has of
learning calculus without ever having gone to math class. Private
lessons will almost always be more beneficial than will group
lessons.
"Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time
and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge".
-- Robert Greene

"I'm not too musical"

I do not think people are born with musical talent. Those who are
quicker to learn an instrument have likely just been exposed to more
music in their life: one subconsciously learns music every time they
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hear it.

"I'm too old to start learning music"

I do not think anybody is "too old to learn music". If you're lucky

enough to have started playing music when you were seven years
old, that's great; however, when you're 60 years old, how much
difference will it have made whether you started when you were 7 or
27? And if it only takes a couple years to play quality music that
people enjoy, why would it be a problem to start at 60?

"My hands aren't big enough"

Yes they are. My flute teacher was about 5'2" and played flutes much
larger than mine. Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead guitarist) was missing
part of a finger; Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath guitarist) was missing
parts of two fingers; Django Reinhardt had two fingers badly burnt
and consequently took all his guitar solos using two fingers. The
point is, whatever you have is what you have: practice and make the
most of it.

Your instrument

You should always have the best instrument possible, as your music
will only be as good as the weakest link, which will either be your
playing or the instrument. There is no reason to compromise all your
hard work by having a poorly made instrument. A beginner who
chooses an inexpensive "beginner's instrument" is more likely to quit
solely because their music was bound to sound bad due to their poor
quality instrument.

Reading music

It is imperative that any musician be able to read music. This

enables you to more easily visualize the structure of the melody, and
thus more thoroughly understand the intricacies of the music. It also
enables you to play music at a future date, even if you had partially
or entirely forgotten it, in which case it would have been lost forever.

Go see live music

It's good to have a vision of what you want to sound like or be able
to do. Go get some inspiration: try to see at least two live musical
performances every month. Meet other music lovers, enjoy yourself,
immerse yourself in the music. It's fun and part of your learning
experience, plus it supports the musicians you are seeing.

Portable instruments

One of the best things about the bansuri (and one of the reasons I
decided to play flute) is that it is portable. You can and should travel
with your bansuri. The more it is with you, the more you will play and
the better you will get. This means you can play music:
-- During lunch break outside your office;
-- while waiting for the bus, train, plane (some of my best music has
been played in airports);
-- on your vacation
-- on the beach, mountaintop, or other beautiful place.
Build a case for your bansuri: I use PVC with a screw-on cap at one
end; I drill holes in it so the flute can breathe and dry out, and I put
a carabiner on it so I can attach it to my backpack.
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There are lots of other small instruments that can fit in your
bookbag: darabuka (drum), jew's harp, harmonica. I also suggest
iPhone users get the Thumb Jam app by Sonosaurus and the Ocarina
app by Smule, not only because they make nice music but there are
times when it is not feasible to play flute -- in particular when
volume must be kept down. The Thumb Jam app you can actually play
music on with output to your headphones, perfect for use on the
airplane! And why not put an instrument next to your computer for
those times you're on the job with a few free minutes, or maybe you
just need to de-stress a bit.

On learning and playing Indian Classical Music

Tanpura

Always play Indian Classical Music accompanied by a tanpura.

Beginners should purchase an electronic tanpura, or download some
tanpura tracks here. Your sense of pitch will develop much more
quickly if you practice with a tanpura. To begin with, work on
perfecting Sa, Pa and Ma, as they are the notes for which it is most
noticeable when one is incorrect.
If you have an IPhone or ITouch, I highly recommend iTablaPro, which
has great sounding, fully adjustable tanpura and tabla tracks...and
it's probably with you at all times. Here are my iTablaPro Presets
(last updated March 17, 2013). I suggest downloading them to your
computer, emailing them to yourself. opening that email using your
iOS device and then choose "Open in iTablaPro". NOTE: This will
overwrite any existing preset(s) with the same name. I have
"corrected" many of the default presetas by adjusting the mix of the
volumes such that the swarmandal is generally around 20%; the
tanpuras are lower volume than the tabla; so that the swarmandal
melodies sound better to my ear; so that the tanpura notes are
tuned to Sa, Ma or Pa depending on the raga. I also created presets
for a few ragas that were not included with the original download.

Digital Tuner

Since we're on the topic of pitch, I strongly recommend every

musician has a Korg CA-30 tuner: it's small, portable, cheap, and
does everything one needs for Indian Classical Music. Otherwise,
your iPhone or Android have tuner apps.

Tabla Machine

Another investment one should make early on if they plan to play

Indian Classical Music is a tabla machine. It allows me to play in
different taals (rhythms), in different layas (tempos), and has
adjustable pitch, for different flutes. A tabla machine will reduce the
time it takes before you are comfortable playing with a real tabla
player, and will allow you to practice tricky rhtyhms without a tabla
player, thereby engraining in your head the sounds and feels of the
various thekas (drum "notes" used in the taals). If you have an
IPhone or ITouch, I highly recommend the iTablaPro app, which has
great sounding, fully adjustable tanpura and tabla tracks. Prior to the
days of iPhones, I used the Riyazmaster tabla machine.

Gamak

One of the primary differences between Indian Classical Music and

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western music is that the former uses "gamak" or other

ornamentations on virtually all notes (except during "taans", which
are fast runs). A gamak is generally played by putting a grace note
on the main note that's being played. This grace note usually comes
from above. Thus if I wanted to play Sa Re Ga, I would put a quick
(barely audible) Re connecting to the Sa, a quick Ga connecting to
the Re, and a quick Ma connecting to the Ga (assuming Ma is in the
scale being played; if not, I would likely use Pa): RS, GR, MG.
Similarly, to play Ga Re Sa, I would precede the Ga with a quick Ma,
the Re with a quick Ma, and the Sa with a quick Ga: MG, MR, GS. I
use gamaks on virtually all notes other than during taans. Gamaks
produce a rounded feel to each note, and essentially double the
amount of notes you are playing in each phrase. Gamaks are one of
the most fundamental concepts of Indian Classical Music.

"The best tutorial for Gamaks on YouTube...Your way of presenting

the material is par excellence...just can't wait for the next one :)"
-- Devinder Sethi

More coming

Coming soon, some general thoughts on meend, patterns, 4's, scales,

etc...

Tchaikovsky on inspiration

"There is no doubt that even the greatest musical geniuses have

sometimes worked without inspiration. This guest does not always
respond to the first invitation. We must always work, and a selfrespecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not
in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavoring to meet it
halfway, we easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be
patient and believe that inspiration will come to those who can
master their disinclination." -- Peter Tchaikovsky

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore

The fairy mistress of dreams is coming towards you, flying through

the twilight sky.
The world-mother keeps her seat by you in your mother's heart.
He who plays his music to the stars is standing at your window with
his flute.
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And the fairy mistress of dreams is coming towards you, flying

through the twilight sky.

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