Great fun

Man, this semester has been really good for me!!! I could really spend a lot of time for my music. I have attended some really great concerts in Carnatic Music, fusion, Ghazals...composed some good stuff, practiced my guitar a lot. Got back to a bit of singing. This new music group I have here in IISc is really kool man. We have really talented people, great singers and great instrumentatists.

I could really take up new roles in this group, drumming, guitaring, singing!! I did not play the usual stuff, ghattam, Kongo and not so much of keyboard. I an really exploring more of my talents. I always knew I would be able to play these instruments, but actually performing is quite different and it took a good amount of practice before I came to the level I was expecting from myself. I think I have come of age as a solo lead guitar player. I am mow able to play some complex pieces without making mistakes. After the final show I listened to the CD, I believe my drumming was as tight as most of the college level drummers. Next time, I hope I can play more freely and with less effort. Its fun to drum.

Singing was one thing I used to miss in VIT. We had a lot of good singers, and I think I was under-rated always. I too lost confidence in my singing in VIT. Now I am considered among one of the better singers here, even though all those here are great singers. I too think that I have improved in the emotional aspect of my singing. I still feel that I have to start practicing properly and gain mastery in singing. I need my voice to do justice to my mind while singing.

I also composed a collosal instrumental for Veena, violin, Sarangi, Piano, Sarod and Keyboard strings harmony. Percussions were tabla, ghattam and drums. It was a monumental task think of something so complicated. I was faced with other problems, like the dropping out of the Sarod player and the second keyboard payer. But I was happy that I could manage to make the adjustments and still make it sound good. It was also one of my longest compositions, for 10 mins. The Tabla and Ghattam guys prepared their percussion solo which was pretty good. The compostion was in 9 beat metre and it was something like a description of spring, or so was my idea. I dont know how it sounded to the audience, but we the performance wasn't tight enough according to me. Lack of practice was evident.

All the same dwelving in music after such a long drought was a fantastic experience. It feels nice to be in familiar waters again.

I'll write more about what I felt while composing in some future blog