Music
This is the article I wrote for my school magazine. Since many of you people don't have access to the magazine, and me being as nice and sweet as I am, I decided to publish it here on my blog. Do comment and tell me what you think...
Music
What is music? Where is it? Music is (according to Webster) a combination of pleasurable sounds. But music, to me, seems like so much more. Music is all around us. In rhythm of the fans whirring around and around in the chemistry lab. In the sound of pens scribbling on paper in an exam hall. Music can be found everywhere. Music can be not only heard, but felt, and sometimes even seen. It’s the whole atmosphere that a piece or composition creates for a person that defines it. That’s one of the most beautiful things about music - the fact that one doesn’t need to know the story of a musician’s life or what he/she was thinking when they wrote or performed a piece of music to experience what they are feeling. One doesn’t have to know or understand the lyrics of a song to be able to feel the depths of the emotions of the singer.
When people ask me how I got involved with music, I think to myself – I didn’t get involved with music, music got involved with me. Once I got a taste, there was no turning back. Once music gets inside of you, if makes everything you feel a shade more beautiful: jokes are funnier, sunsets are more beautiful, and flowers smell sweeter. And music makes it easier to find the beauty in even sad situations.
The best thing about creating music is just that – creating music. Every time I sing, I get to experience how amazing and powerful music is. Every day I get to wander in and out of thousands of different emotions and experiences and discover how they affect both me and other people. In a way, music is like love – it’s blind. Not jealous or resentful. Music is absolutely and purely beautiful.
It seems to me though, that nowadays, people are getting so carried away with the technique and skill involved in music that the underlying emotions are lost. A song written to convey feelings of devotion and love is now just a medium for an artiste to exhibit his or her skills. Perhaps it is because of this that the general public is unable to appreciate classical music. Sometimes, I am unable to feel any trace of emotion when listening to some of today’s classical music performances. This makes me wonder – what is it that the connoisseurs of music appreciate about these performances? The skill? The purpose of music (as I have stated before) is for the musician to be able to express his/her emotions to the audience. If no hint of emotion is present, then the so called ‘music’ is like a body without a soul.
The true beauty and timelessness of music is found in the underlying emotion. Emotion can transcend time, language, social mores, and personal history. It is part and parcel of the spiritual well in all of us and it calls on us to be true to ourselves.
15 Comments:
You forgot to thank me for the chemistry lab bit.
ah so its you...yeah everyone...dhruva gave me the bit about the chemistry lab...
thanks a lot dhruva...
and i think we have now figured out the identity of our beloved anonymous in the previous post...
I would not totally agree with you on why audience is unable to appreciate Classical Music.
It more in the packaging...Not many people would listen to P. Unnikrishnan's Krishna nee Begane but if you do it the Rajhesh vaidya way it would reach lot of people...
Hold on..I am not saying that we should start remixing the Carnatic Compositions...I feel...
The Musicians should start innovating and improvising using the technology available today...If they start taking about Sampradaya, Parampara...etc nobody would yield an ear to that.
When I read your article, I am reminded of what I heard from Ilaiyaraaja in an Interview - "Music should happen".
I think that sums it up. I have personally experienced what he says in that statement.
Vozhi Gid.
Vozhi Gid.
Long Live Saanks and Meesiks.
Project Foreign Tensions ki jai!
Kaushik
According to me, there's no particular definition for music. Illayaraja feels "music should happen". Well, that works for him, & he's a great composer. Whether we like it or not, the music of greats like Jim Morrison & Kurt cobain were fueled by drugs. Therefore, my point is: Music is what you feel. Music is all about expressing what you feel in the form of 12 notes. That's what is beautiful about it. To me, hindustani music is great because of the emotion & depth in it, something that I find lacking in carnatic music. This can't be the same way for you. Music sounds different to everyone.
"The Musicians should start innovating and improvising using the technology available today..." According to me this statement means nothing. There are people like AR Rahman who can't compose the great songs we know without a computer while there are other greats like George benson(jazz great),who needed nothing more than his voice.In fact, my personal opinion is that the standard of music has gone down with the betterment of technology in music.
"Long Live Saanks and Meesiks.
Project Foreign Tensions ki jai". Okie.
aditi,
seems like you have a lot of experience with music. I too have more than 13 years experience with music. i started taking carnatic classes since i was in 1st grade and now i am in choir and i still do continue my carnatic music classes. i was also in music class with your cousin anusha in ellen sharma. lets see if you are able to remember.
Nice! Sweet too, may be. Nice AND sweet? May be not! :)
->K
umm i ve 1 question...
how the heck can u see music? i dont mean like notes and stuff. the real thing. i mean music can be heard but seen? unless u r watching somebody sing or play something, then it can be seen but..........um... ok i think i m probably drunk
c ya
@Peanuts - You have an extremely good style of writing for your age. As a fellow writer, I'm able to appreciate that much more than anything else in this post. Coming to the music bit, I completely agree with Ilaiyaraja's Music should happen...that is the case with any art!
PN wants to thank you paati(grandma) for saying that she is good "for her age". I also want to thank you for inspiring me to comment.
Who is this anon fellow??
which anon fellow r u talkin bout? cuz there r lots of anon fellows here.
the one that is thanking people on my behalf
And Pean, that anonymous person was me
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