There's opportunity to discover things about ourselves, that we frequently fail to be aware of at an assuredly Conscious level. These opportunities are available to us all the time. Most of the time, we may not notice that particular 'knowledge' to be a part of us, as in having influenced us, or if we do, we don't associate that with saying something about us. For me at least, I think.
This post has to be dedicated to Rangsook, a gifted Curator and Museum Administrator. She is the reason, I made this 'musical' discovery about myself, and articulated it in response to her inviting me to join them at an Anoushka Shankar Sitar Concert, coming up in Gainsville on March 18th. I responded with:
"Rangsook, I’m not a huge fan of the sitar, unless there’s lots of good tabla with it. I much prefer Shehnai, and adore Bismillah Khan. Also Flute, I suppose I have a weakness for the wind instruments rather than string. Like string if accompanied with piano."
Even as I wrote that, I realized that while it was true, I had never verbalized my preferences about musical instruments. I just listened to whatever it was I was 'into' at any given time. I suppose, it was because I have no education in music and never considered myself qualified to have an opinion about one instrument or another.
I think of this as a weakness, and feel we are entitled to our preferences, and should be assertive about them. That makes us who we are. As you can tell, this awareness comes from a new found sense of confidence. In my mid 60's, I'd say it's about time.
This Flute issue has stayed me for the last few days and I pondered further, as to why it never occurred to me sooner to proactively pursue my preferences, and voice my opinion about my musical instrument preferences! Though in all honesty, sometimes I do, having attended Andrea Bocelli's concert last month, (not cheap) and thoroughly enjoying it.
To get back to the Flute. My thoughts went back to one late afternoon, as I sat in the Hindu temple in the lingering light of a mellow Florida winter. It was at a sad time in my life, as someone very dear to me lay dying on another continent, and all I could do was pray for them. Helplessness brings tremendous guilt and at such times, one can only seek the Savior.
I sat in the middle of the Prayer hall, so all the Deities on the three sides of the room, could hear my prayers. 'Vaishnav Jan', played on the flute, and it filled me with a sense of longing to be with this family member, as the vocals of this song are an apt description of their personality. While tears streamed down my bowed head, there was a moment, when I knew their time on this earth was over. I left with a sense of sadness and sorrow and within minutes, just as I was pulling out of the temple gates, I got the phone call.
To come back to the present, interestingly I noted that the music I'm 'into' these days, or what I've been listening to now, does have a strong flute element, and I had noticed that when I first heard this singer and composer, that he uses flute quite frequently. One is "Meetha, Meetha". Shivpreet Singh is accompanied with Flute/ Bansuri by Prasanna, who is just amazing. I would go to his concert if he ever came to town.
However, I'm not totally averse to string, as I discovered while listening to Shivpreet Singh sing "Ek Ek Raghunath". He has an amazing voice, which makes you forget that there are techno sounds in there too. I would never imagine enjoying that, but the fact that he has elements of the classical in his compositions makes them enduringly pleasurable.
While mulling over musical instruments, it occurred to me that maybe the Flute and Shehnai speak to me more because they use breath. Breath comes from within and close to the heart. While all music comes from the heart, flute comes from Breath, the essence of Life.
Strings are manipulated by the fingers, and nothing wrong with that, we survive with the use our hands. Even to make a flute, we would need hands. Hands do all kinds of work, and good deeds and bad, and therein lies the choice. Maybe that's why the gopis were enchanted with the sounds from Krishna's flute, it made a heart to heart connection?
Veenu Banga
March 8, 2019.
This post has to be dedicated to Rangsook, a gifted Curator and Museum Administrator. She is the reason, I made this 'musical' discovery about myself, and articulated it in response to her inviting me to join them at an Anoushka Shankar Sitar Concert, coming up in Gainsville on March 18th. I responded with:
"Rangsook, I’m not a huge fan of the sitar, unless there’s lots of good tabla with it. I much prefer Shehnai, and adore Bismillah Khan. Also Flute, I suppose I have a weakness for the wind instruments rather than string. Like string if accompanied with piano."
Even as I wrote that, I realized that while it was true, I had never verbalized my preferences about musical instruments. I just listened to whatever it was I was 'into' at any given time. I suppose, it was because I have no education in music and never considered myself qualified to have an opinion about one instrument or another.
I think of this as a weakness, and feel we are entitled to our preferences, and should be assertive about them. That makes us who we are. As you can tell, this awareness comes from a new found sense of confidence. In my mid 60's, I'd say it's about time.
This Flute issue has stayed me for the last few days and I pondered further, as to why it never occurred to me sooner to proactively pursue my preferences, and voice my opinion about my musical instrument preferences! Though in all honesty, sometimes I do, having attended Andrea Bocelli's concert last month, (not cheap) and thoroughly enjoying it.
To get back to the Flute. My thoughts went back to one late afternoon, as I sat in the Hindu temple in the lingering light of a mellow Florida winter. It was at a sad time in my life, as someone very dear to me lay dying on another continent, and all I could do was pray for them. Helplessness brings tremendous guilt and at such times, one can only seek the Savior.
I sat in the middle of the Prayer hall, so all the Deities on the three sides of the room, could hear my prayers. 'Vaishnav Jan', played on the flute, and it filled me with a sense of longing to be with this family member, as the vocals of this song are an apt description of their personality. While tears streamed down my bowed head, there was a moment, when I knew their time on this earth was over. I left with a sense of sadness and sorrow and within minutes, just as I was pulling out of the temple gates, I got the phone call.
To come back to the present, interestingly I noted that the music I'm 'into' these days, or what I've been listening to now, does have a strong flute element, and I had noticed that when I first heard this singer and composer, that he uses flute quite frequently. One is "Meetha, Meetha". Shivpreet Singh is accompanied with Flute/ Bansuri by Prasanna, who is just amazing. I would go to his concert if he ever came to town.
However, I'm not totally averse to string, as I discovered while listening to Shivpreet Singh sing "Ek Ek Raghunath". He has an amazing voice, which makes you forget that there are techno sounds in there too. I would never imagine enjoying that, but the fact that he has elements of the classical in his compositions makes them enduringly pleasurable.
While mulling over musical instruments, it occurred to me that maybe the Flute and Shehnai speak to me more because they use breath. Breath comes from within and close to the heart. While all music comes from the heart, flute comes from Breath, the essence of Life.
Strings are manipulated by the fingers, and nothing wrong with that, we survive with the use our hands. Even to make a flute, we would need hands. Hands do all kinds of work, and good deeds and bad, and therein lies the choice. Maybe that's why the gopis were enchanted with the sounds from Krishna's flute, it made a heart to heart connection?
Veenu Banga
March 8, 2019.
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