My earliest memories of classical music are that of 'Bajey Sargam' and 'Mile sur mera tumhara' on Doordarshan. I must have been 7-8 years old then. DD played one of these after the 9 o'clock news, which my grandfather watched over dinner. I would wait for the news to end and see these really serious-looking, old men make beautiful music out of all kinds of instruments. I soon learnt the names of all the instruments and mentally decided to master each one of them before I was 10 years old! They also featured dance forms from different parts of India. I loved all their different costumes and even wanted to have some of them - except that of Kathakali; I would hide behind my grandfather when that green-faced man appeared on the screen moving his immense dark eyes in a strange way.
Just around this time, my mum got me a music teacher. My mum, a trained Sitar player and Kathak dancer, always wanted me and my sister to learn music. I loved my music sir. Whatever music I know, I know from him. We started out on a small Casio keyboard, which lasted many, many years. I think it is still somewhere in the house. He would teach me the sargam, bhajans and popular songs from films, which I would both sing and play. I dabbled with the tabla and the guitar too for a while before finally settling with the violin. This was when I was 13.
I used to love singing - really, really love it. My voice was good then and I hit the notes correctly. I would still love to revive that ability if possible. I never liked the violin as much but I stuck to it nevertheless. I got initiated into serious classical playing soon. My sir taught us in the gayaki tradition of violin playing. It was tough but I liked the sound of it and really wanted to be able to produce it the way my sir did. With all the madness around me, music was one of the things that brought me peace. Being able to play something difficult gave me a sense of achievement. But when I moved to college, I lost touch with the violin and, with that, classical music.
Recently, I got re-initiated into it accidentally and the result is this blog. For the past few months, classical is the only kind of music I have been listening. I finally mustered the courage to explore the music of all those serious-looking old men from the videos - the great maestros - and many more. I decided to make this blog to put together the pieces that I have become very fond of - to put them together in one place with as much beauty as possible. I hope this little venture becomes a long lasting project, a repository to come back to every evening, for me and, maybe, for others like me as well.
Just around this time, my mum got me a music teacher. My mum, a trained Sitar player and Kathak dancer, always wanted me and my sister to learn music. I loved my music sir. Whatever music I know, I know from him. We started out on a small Casio keyboard, which lasted many, many years. I think it is still somewhere in the house. He would teach me the sargam, bhajans and popular songs from films, which I would both sing and play. I dabbled with the tabla and the guitar too for a while before finally settling with the violin. This was when I was 13.
I used to love singing - really, really love it. My voice was good then and I hit the notes correctly. I would still love to revive that ability if possible. I never liked the violin as much but I stuck to it nevertheless. I got initiated into serious classical playing soon. My sir taught us in the gayaki tradition of violin playing. It was tough but I liked the sound of it and really wanted to be able to produce it the way my sir did. With all the madness around me, music was one of the things that brought me peace. Being able to play something difficult gave me a sense of achievement. But when I moved to college, I lost touch with the violin and, with that, classical music.
Recently, I got re-initiated into it accidentally and the result is this blog. For the past few months, classical is the only kind of music I have been listening. I finally mustered the courage to explore the music of all those serious-looking old men from the videos - the great maestros - and many more. I decided to make this blog to put together the pieces that I have become very fond of - to put them together in one place with as much beauty as possible. I hope this little venture becomes a long lasting project, a repository to come back to every evening, for me and, maybe, for others like me as well.
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