I love music

"The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;

The motions of his spirit are dull as night

And his affections dark as Erebus:

Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music."

 -Lorenzo from The Merchant of Venice (Act V, Scene 1)

A number of pupils I have taught would relate to this quote from The Merchant of Venice so let me share a little bit about myself and my interest in music .   

I enjoy music and always have. Be it Rock and roll, country or the blues – I can sit and listen for hours. I still play the guitar for pleasure, used to play the drums and a little bit of mouth organ as well. The keyboard is something I would love to learn now.

Now before you even start wondering as to how proficient a musician I am, let me state the obvious facts. I am no Clapton or Santana on guitar, no Ringo Starr or Phil Collins on the drums or Larry Adler on the mouth organ. However, I did play in a few bands for a number of years - it was great fun and I earned money as well.  Hundreds have danced to my tune at weddings, dances, parties and picnics and that is when I realized that music does give you a high, especially when the crowd asks for more!

I am an ardent Elvis fan and have always considered him the “KING” but also enjoy quite a few other musicians of varying genres.

Now they do say that music is in our genes and comes down through generations, however no one I know of among my ancestors had a musical note in them (I could be wrong) and I guess the music will die with me, as my daughters are not very musically inclined either.

I guess I would have to thank my mother and my aunt who first got me into singing. Whenever we had visitors, my cousins and I would be called out to entertain them. We had either to sing or say a poem. We did not enjoy it very much and as we grew older we, felt more embarrassed but entertain guests we had to! Probably those impromptu concerts gave me the confidence to sing.

I was about 12 when a family friend presented me a handmade guitar. It was something I had always wanted and I was over the moon.  It was cream in colour and had an amazing tone. At first, I played absolute rubbish and broke umpteen strings but perfected the poses in front of a large mirror!

 Now you must remember that there was no Television or YouTube back then so we listened to the radio and noted down words of songs. A number of the well-known songs were repeated daily on Radio Ceylon so I would sit patiently with a paper and pen to fill in the gaps I had missed the day before and finally within a few days would get the whole song down. There were a few songbooks as well so we would buy, borrow and lend.

I finally met a friend who got me to note down and learn a few basic guitar chords. In fact, I learnt three to begin with and sang all my songs on the same three chords. I was satisfied with myself. From there on it was a matter of practice makes perfect.

In my early twenties, I got fascinated with the drums. In case, you need to know, I taught myself – so four of us friends then started a band- I purchased a second hand drum kit and we practiced hard. Soon we were getting bookings!

The band was well known and we played regularly for large functions – we earned money as well – not in thousands but sufficient to keep us happy. From time to time, I also freelanced with another group of experienced musicians playing either guitar or drums.

A funny matter made me abandon the drums and revert to guitar. I noticed that at all the functions; the guitarists in the band were always jumping around in the front and gaining all the attention while I soldiered on at the back – singing and drumming but hardly being seen.

That was it. It was no more drumming & rhythm guitar henceforth - and more band life. Every year when I would go down from Pune for the winter vacation to Allahabad, I would join an established band and journey to Varanasi to play for the Christmas and New Year week. It was quite the highlight of my year.

I still enjoy playing the guitar and singing with friends and find it extremely relaxing and immensely enjoyable.

So, either you yourself or if you have a kid – get them into music. It is a stress buster and much better than sitting with a laptop, mobile phone or a gaming console.

It is a decision you will never regret.