What's fusion?

When I....

2005-11-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

So today I wanted to tell you about what I feel when I compose. Usually when I am composing something I am really really excited. I can't sit in one place when I am thinking, and I keep jumping all around, except when I practice what I have thought of. You see, usually the level of music I think of is higher than my level of playing, so I need to practice it several times so that I can play it. This also helps me remember whatever I have composed. That is one perpetual problem I face. I keep forgetting what I composed. So unless I play it a number of times or write it down, I usually don’t remember. Writing down is not such a good idea, because it takes time, and usually I forget by the time I finish writing!!

But nevertheless its not so much of a problem, because I keep coming up with new things again and again, so its ok even if did forget some of the things I composed.

Now when I listen to a song, I don’t pay as much attention to the tune or the lyrics of the songs as much as I pay attention to the feel of it. The feel is also related to the tune and lyrics also, for example I wont even hear a song the second time if the lyrics are bad. They have to be atleast descent lyrics if I have to hear it again. So I have a general idea about the lyrics and what the song wants to convey (again the feel) and leave it at that. Similarly the tune. I never remember the tune in a few hearings, only after 4-5 times of listening, I start remembering the tune. (I do manage to remember the tune better than lyrics)

Along with the tune the other nuances of the song also stay, like the music, the beats and harmony etc. That’s why you would always hear my singing the background music along with the song itself most of the time.

So actually every time I hear a song, (or a music piece) the general idea about the composer's mind is what I try to listen to. I try to find what exactly in the piece is making it sound like that and give the corresponding feel. In this way I hone, and fine tune my skill at composing. It gives me an idea about what sort of notes, beats, harmony and instruments I need to choose to give the kind of feel I want to give to my composition. Of course there is a lot of trial and error too, and most of the times heavy constraints. But I have somewhat become skilled at composing with constraints. I manage to get the best out of the musicians in all my compositions. They do have to work hard at playing my compositions.

There is always this energy in my compositions which is a reflection of me as a person. And more often than not, they are rather complicated, and at times obscure, again a reflection of my personality. I glow when I hear complex music and when I compose it, and hear it being played. Complexity has always intrigued me, more than simplicity. It amazes me to find that actually quite simple things put together make a complex thing, and the order in which you combine them really makes the difference. I look at life the same way, look at the various simplicities within an inherently complex structure.

Though the way I lead my life may seem complicated initially, I think that it is simple. My compositions too need to be heard with more care to find the simplicity in it, though it may not be apparent.

Since most of my compositions are fast paced, or atleast build up in pace, it is not too easy to spot the emotion it tries to convey. Again, it difficult to pin point a single emotion in it.
I compose when I am inspired to compose or instigated to compose. I compose when there is a reason to compose, when I feel that there is going to be an outcome to my composition. (may be in the form of a performance) At all other times I do play music spontaneously, but I don’t try and remember what I played. I just try and sharpen my faculty of composing, so that when it is called for, it performs.

Ennui

2005-10-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

Last time I talked quite well about contemporary art and gave the positive side of the today's artists. I give them credit because they have a huge history of art to compete with, and have to prove themselves far better than their predecessors in order to be one of them in the future.

From my previous blog must have given an impression that wherever you look today, you would find fabulous artistes, who are able to express complex emotions easily. But on the contrary the picture is rather grim.

You would really have to search for such artistes among the dozens of mediocre artistes and maybe even among popular artistes. The irony in this that though we have a lots of artistes today, when you search for quality, the scene is quite empty!

Unfortunately this quality may not always be popular. But fortunately it is the quality which lasts. It is these quality artistes who remain in etched in the minds of people even after many years and go into the history books of art.

Emotional Growth

2005-10-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

As I had said the last time, the 'need' to create something is as primal as hunger. But man as the zenith for evolution till now, has a lot more of complexity in him than all other animals put together. Besides the biological complexity, there is a lot of mental and spiritual complexity ingrained in man. Religion and the definition of a God has come only with man, and I think this has played a great role in man's evolution and civilization. So has his emotional growth. Man's emotions are now a complex maze unlike those of other primates.

Ofcourse for all this, man needed to develop language. And with communication, he could express complex ideas to his fellow species and so together man worked to improve his life and soceity. All this resulted in making things more and more complicated as he wanted to simplify his work. Thats the irony of civilization.

Along with civilization, and technology I think another aspect of humans did grow, namely art. I dont claim that it grew proportionately and at the same time as technology. But it did evolve nonetheless. We can see the great works of art from the past in the form of painting and sculpture. But the forms of dance, music, theatre and literature have come down the generations through the people without any sort of medium. We find perfect examples of this is in India. The Mahabharata and Ramayana are epics that have come down by word of mouth and so has the dance forms of Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchpidi and the music forms of Hindutani and Carnatic music. Folk music and folk dances have withstood the ravages of time and remain one of the purest forms of human expression.

The traditional and historical forms of art of Bethoven or Da Vinci or Thyagaraja or Vyasa are definitely beacons for all budding artists even now. But I think the current generation of artistes are still able to express a lot more of complexity than their predecessors. It does takes a few generations to accept the greatness of the current day art, because not all innovative artistes who make pathbreaking contributions to the field of art are recognized in their life time. I feel that the current day theatre, literature, music and dance are able to express more complex emotions and feelings as compared to some generations back.

I must take an example to prove my point. Lets take literature as an example. Everyone swears by the works of Shakespeare. And great he was no doubt. But do his works have the intricate emotional and complex feelings that are ingrained in today's life. Everything in Shakespearian works was a great idea of Tragedy, Comedy, Pathos or Frolic. Those shades of grey that we see in todays life are definitely not explored. And surely the number of shades have increased a multifold (like defining a 256 bit colour rather than a 16 bit colour ;-))

Its quite similar in music. The older forms of music though complex in musical content are rather simple in emotional content. Most of the music was an expression of a lover's love or that of a devotee's devotion. On the other hand I feel that present day compositions do bring across more shades of grey than were brought a few generations ago.

I may be wrong in classifying so severely, I dont intend to do so. But I do want make this as a general observation of increasing complexity.

Lastly I want to compare the progress in science and art. The industrial revolution and the renaissance took place around the same time in europe. Similarly music, dance and painting are receiving a totally different feel in the forms of fusion and modern art today. So these changes in art do co-incide with the technological advancement happening today. Infact technology has boosted art to a great extent. All these help in the emotional growth of the human civilization as a whole.

Need

2005-09-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

What inspires an artists to paint something? What inspires a script writer to write a story? What inspires a dansuese to choregraph a dance? What inspires a poet to pen some limerics? What inspires a musician to compose a piece of music?

I dont know about the others, but atleast about music I can say that it is 'need'. Somehow people think of this creativity as a more romantic notion, of being inspired by somebody or some emotion. People like to think of something rather grand when we hear Bethoven's Fur Elise or see Leonardo's Painting of the Last Supper.

No I dont want to take away the grandeur of these excellent pieces of works by two all time great artistes. But I wanted to analyse this 'need' in a more scientific way, rather than having romanticised view of it. Lets see how much I can do it.

Need to create I think is as primal as Hunger or thirst or sex. Everybody creates new things everyday, everybody frames new sentences, everybody thinks of new things to do, everybody gets bored of doing the samething everyday, day in after day, everyone has the urge to break free. Its a need that one has for throwing down the norms of daily life and do away with the mundane things in life.

People express these in different ways. Many people do it repeatedly, some in a destrcutive manner and some in a constructive sense. Those in the destructive category, drouse themselves in liquor or drugs, resort to doing somethings publicly unaccepeted or something considered as morally or socially inappropriate. Its the 'need' to do something outrageous and something not conforming to the norms that makes these people do such things.

Diametrically opposite are the people who channelize this 'need' to do something constructive, and bring out the talent hidden in them. For this form of expressing one's 'need', one has to develop certain skills and talents so that the output is something really beautiful and something appeciated by the world.

However we can find a few intances of people who get mixed up in these paths, drug addicts who are great musicians or some fabulous painters addicted to smoking joints. But according to me the driving force or 'need' for either way of living one's life is the same.

Ya I did it!!

2005-09-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

So that was the performance I was always waiting for. I made my debut, though in a very small fashion for a small audience. Almost everyone congartulated me on my performance and told me that I managed to get the sound of a sitar out of my guitar. I thought I did'nt play to the best of my potential, but nevertheless did a good job.

I hope this boosts my confidence and helps me play further and more profound pieces.

One of my dreams come true!

2005-09-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow is one of those rare days when one of my dreams come true. It will be the first time I wil be performing a solo classical event on my Guitar. I would be playing an 10 min composition of my own in the classical style, like sitar or sarod.

The best part of the whole thing is, that the whole composition is extempore. I would be playing whatever comes to my mind at that moment. I do really hope that the program comes out well and then I would be more confident about performing elsewhere.

Re-finding

2005-08-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

However much a recluse I am, and how much ever I feel that music is my private property it is not much of fun without a good audience. However I dont find it necessary to have a huge audience and I dont want to have one. I feel most comfortable playing my music in the company of a small audience who would appreciate my music.

I had a friend, long back who would listen to my music for hours together patiently (through all my mistakes) and give me good critical comments on my playing. Life took the usual turns and I found myself devoid of the audience that would listen so patiently. I did find some other audience which appreciated some different forms of my music and I did find pleasure performing for them.

Recently I have found another friend who has the same patience and can listen to me playing for hours on end without complaining. On who can absorb all the essence of my music and comment on it with just a few words that touches the same chord that had touched me while I was playing. Thats just the feeling of joy I look out for. This joy for me is boundless!!

My music has changed a lot over the years compared to what I played for my first friend. I also do play different kind of music, and also my command over it has improved to a great extent. So mistakes are less and I can express a wider gamut of feeling and emotions. I only wish that my old friend would also listen my music sometime later and I hope life turns once again in favour of my wish :-)

Breaks

2005-06-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Ok there are sometimes when I dont want to play any sort of music. My mind is working too fast for any kind of music, I am excited and I want to do around 200 things at the same instant.

Playing music calls for a bit of peace of mind. A lot of concentration is needed when you play any sort of music. If I try to play or sing in that state (Even though I never play I sually sing) I do that really badly. If I am singing i'll be repeating the same line again and agin with the wrong lyrics and mostly the worng tune too. I cant even think about playing anything.

My latest

2005-06-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

I want to try and compose something which is contemporary. I somehow feel that all my compositions are really classical, though bohemian are appreciated by the older people. The youth seems to like something different. Ofcource there are a lot of my friends who like my music and appreciate it, but the ordinary guys dont seem to associate with it.

At the same time, I too dont associate well with contemoprary music. I prefer my style of music and would stick to it. I feel that all the music I hear around me requires no brain, no heart and no feelings. There is just feeling that oozes out is sleaziness and getting a high out of it.

But I am I right in my attitude? I want to compose one song which sounds contemporary. I want to see for myself if its really that easy to make the music that is supposed to rock???

The next one is a through and through sleazy dance number.

After that ofcourse I am looking forward to completing my triology, started up with the peoms titled Nature, written by my friend who calls herself "A".

Music and Depression

2005-05-13T04:30:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been feeling the lowest in my life ever, do to some personnal reasons. At this time, music has really helped me to get back to myself. I have been playing the guitar day in and day out. My fingers have huge cuts in them. Many times I go on playing the same thing again and again, many times I go on onto something different and creative. Sometimes I play things which are amazing and I felt I should have recorded it.

Music helps me expend the feelings in a more subtle way. I feel more relieved after having played or sang for an hour than having poured my heart out to any good friend. I think my music understands me the best, more than anybody else ever could. I think I find words insufficient to express my sorrow at the present state. I possibly could never tell anyone how sad I am feeling. But I find a vent through music and it helps me overcome my sadness.

Its not that I just play sad tunes or sad raagas when I am sad. I do play anything. But when I play something sad, I feel some kind of resonance within which tells me, yes...this is what you are feeling. This is the emotion you are going through. This is the turmoil you are facing within yourself. This eggs me to produce music which is exactly what my heart is facing, and after it has been produced I feel cleansed of that emotion. It dosnt bother me anymore. Ofcourse there is so much to pour out presently, that I have been playing like crazy.

I guess thats why people say sadness or love gets out the best music and poetry from a person.

Feel in my music

2005-04-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

There are a few times, I am able to think of music as just an emotional feeling, rather than a cerebral one. Most times when I listen to music or compose something I am constrained or rather I constrain myself to enjoying cerebrally. I get into the music emotionally very rarely. But the times I do so, i feel really great. It feels like I have cried for an hour and laughed for a day and danced with joy and drunk myself out with sorrow. Music can essentially express more complicated feelings than words could, though one's understanding of it is subject. But it can touch deeper in the heart than any words could. I suppose that is why, even now hindi filmstars express their love and sadness through songs. Its because thats what reaches closer to the audience rather than a dialogue.

Music when combined with words, as in peotry can become a deadly medium to express oneself. Thats when Bhagat Singh sang 'Rang de Basanti Chola', he got for himself a huge following and so did Gandhiji's 'Raghu Pati Raghava'.

But what is important for me, is how much I get emotionally involved in a music piece. For me, the music is more important than the words in the piece. Just music alone can stir my heart and mind.

Pitch Perception

2005-03-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

As I had written in some previous Blog, Pitch is an often confused term. I too wanted to quantify pitch in physical quantities, so i conducted a perceptual experiment to find out what usually people call pitch.

I wont go into the detials of the experiment, but while conducting the experiment I came across really fantastic experiences. On of the most fascinating things was the variation among people regarding what they call pitch. Its really wide. Sometimes I could not believe that a person can preceive some thing in that particular manner.

One more significant thing to note is that each person, was not sure of what he/she really called pitch. Their own definitions became clear as they were conducting the experiment. At the same time, the comments that each one made was totally different. After conducting the experiment, I always discussed with them the results in general and the results which that particular person had come up with. I always got new inputs and insights into the problem. Each person gave me new problems they had faced with while conducting the experiment.

At this stage I have understood certain things properly and certain things are even more muddled. Most importantly what I found was, pitch is not a single physical quantity. All the following go in determining the pitch, the lowest frequency component, the lowest difference in frequencies (the fundamental frequency), the highest frequency component, the bandwidth of the signal, the existance of the 3rd or fifth harmonic and so om..... I have not still experimented with varying levels of the harmonics. I guess things may get even more complicated. Even thinking of a suitable experiment is going to be a tough job.

I hope I really am able to get a good answer at the end of my MSc period in IISc.

Great fun

2005-03-31T10:08:00.000-08:00

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

Current state of affairs

2005-02-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

This blog I want to devote for blasting the state of affair of music in todays world. I am actually thoroughly disgusted with the kind of music that is actually popular among the youth today. Every song is only about sex and musically extremely poor. Whether it is hindi or english, nothing is worth listening to.
Another unnerving development in contemporary music are these so called re-mixes. They are the worst of the lot with simply no thought put in. The only selling factor are the extremely vulgar dances that are exhibited along with the songs.
I really wonder why people say, that only good music lasts. There are so many aspiring artistes and composers who are far better than the ones who are famous, then why is it that they dont get even their bread. Is music all about publicity? Is music all about showing off your raunchy bodies to the world? Is music the divine gift to mankind from god all reduced to nothing?
My idea about good music is somethng which comes from a lot of thought and a lot of devotion to your music. Only after one has spent his life and soul on the quest to master music, can one come up with something worthwhile, either in composition or in performance. But in any case devotion is a must. One cannot creat music with half of your mind in nonsense. In that way it would only lead stuff like Janet Jackson's half-time incident, or like Brittney's marriages and Madonna's dresses and so on.

Let Me deviate

2005-01-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today, I am not much in a mood to write anything serious. I will write something more from my heart.

Each time, I get into one of the moods, whether happy or angry, or ponderous, or melancholic, or literally any mood which cannot even be described in words, I get some tune, some set of notes in my mind. Every thing I want to say, but cannot say either because I am over-whelmed, or because its too complicated to say, I generally get into a singing or a playing spree. I usually prefer my guitar under such circumstances, because I can express myself the best with the guitar.

Many a times, I don't even remember what I played (in fact most of the times) I just play whatever comes to my fingers, from my heart. At this time, there is a great influence of my previous practice. I find that many a times, a phrase or an expression which I have oft practiced before, comes repeatedly to my fingers. But my heart probably wants to say something different. So, sometimes I go back and slowly play what my mind actually wants. But many times, my mind accepts the expression, because its a more familiar one and seems more pleasing to the ear.

On the other hand, I can't really make out whether some expressions are from the heart or from my fingers. But my mind tells me whether it sounds musically good or no. Many a times, my mind also does away with very simple sounding expression, whether they are from the heart or from the fingers. I have this urge to compose pretty weird music, so it gets reflected in the nature of music I finally play.

Its quite interesting to see the actions of these three things interact with one another to produce a piece of music. And it gives me a great pleasure to watch their interactions and think about all these three parts of the brain from a fourth part of the brain. Isn't the whole idea incredible??? What I called my heart, my fingers, my mind and my conscience, all are actually different parts of the brain itself.

But all the same, many people ask me, how can you compose? Tell me how you compose. But I am not able to answer, what happens to me when I am composing? How do the ideas come into my head? How do I know what to play so that it sounds good? I really don't know. And again I cannot repeat it whenever I want. I am not able to come up with something great when I must. Only when I am at some peak which I cannot even know, I can come up with something really good. I have never performed under pressure.

I think that the ability to play music and to play original music is a God sent gift. I am very lucky to be able to discover it and use it to find relief in my life through all the mental and physical struggles.

Before ending the blog I must point out the irony of my discussion. I wanted to write something from my heart, but ended up writing something from my mind.

Cheers!!!!

More about the physics

2005-01-11T02:12:00.000-08:00

So I have some time today after actually a long time, and not too much to do, so I thought I would write something more in detail. I thought I must apologize, but the question is to whom? :-)

Actually I had started this blog a long time back, but today as I continue it, I have to say something quite important. Today is the day, I finally decided after consulting my guide that I will be doing my MSc. research in MUSIC!!! Its almost like a dream come true to me!!!

So as I had mentioned earlier, a musical note is essentially a periodic sound and it contains something called harmonics which may sound like some mumbo-jumbo. So in todays post I would like to explain what this harmonics is all about.

So, most people can find that a song sounds different from the other because it has a different tune. And from heresay from some musicians, we know that these tunes are made of sime discrete components called notes.

Now each note has different pitch (Many musicians may disagree with this statement because, the pitch that they refere to is the reference note of the whole/part of the composition. I shal explain that too later). As explained earlier, pitch is somewhat related to the frequency of the vibrations. However, the percieved pitch may be different from the fundamantal frequency.

I shall explain this a little more in detail. A sine wave is one of the simplest forms of periodic waves in many wave (more so mathematically). For those who do not know what a sine wave is, imagine the cross-section of the surface of water when a pebble is dropped into it. Now if we add another sine wave with a different frequency and possibly a different amplitude, we get a more complicated
waveform, which is nevertheless periodic.

Thus we can make more and more complicated periodic waveforms by adding sine waves to each other. Now if the subsequent sine waves that are added have frequencies which are multiples of the first wave, then the first wave is called the fundamental frequency.

Another way of looking at it is, the fundamental frequency is the Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) of all the frequency components that are present in any periodic waveform. Actually this definition is more accurate, because it may be possible that no component with the frequency equal to the GCD may actually be present in the waveform. And again the other frequency components will be some
(integral) multiples of the fundamental frequency, which are called 'Harmonics'.

Actually, the pitch is often comfused with the fundamental frequency because, it usually is the same. But studies have found that it may not always be the same. Thus pitch is an extremely perceptual phenomenon. Many researchers have tried to quantify it, but without heartening success.

I hope to study this phenomenon too during the course of my research and hope to provide some answers atleast to myself and to this blog.

More later, I am actually feeling sleepy. Its 2 in the night.

The relation between Music and Emotion

2004-10-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

I guess I found what I wrote earlier. You can consider this a the first version

In the previous post I wrote about the physics of music. But today, I am in a more pondering mood, so a non-emotional piece of writing would do me no good, so I shall continue about the previous stuff later.

Music has a very emotional content to it. It is one of the few things in this world, one of the few art forms which can truely stir your soul. Music as contrast to Poetry, Prose or Drama does not need the clothing of words to appeal, pure musical notes can either throw you up in joy or reduce you to tears. However, Music goes well with either of these forms, besides Dance of course. Dance is an independent art form, but has a great dependence on music and how well they support each other.

I personally prefer the kind of music without words, words of course do add value to some odd combinations of notes, but personally, I do not need words to understand something n music. Infact I feel that words constrict ones imagination in a music piece. When I listen to a piece, I can imagine different things at different times. I can just close my eyes and think of something beautiful, something ugly, something red, something blue, something warm, something cold, something soft, something rough, something smelling like the ripe mangoes or something else.....I can go wild, imagining things.

Again, music is a fantastic means for me to express my inner most feelings, without being specific. I can say so many things without saying anything. I can vent out my feelings, any, all kinds of them. The most complex inter-twined, unspeakable of them I can ease out of my mind. The volcano, the flower, the sea, the space, anything in the world, anything out of this world is nothing for music. It is beyond seeing, beyond hearing, beyond feeling. It is the heart that music plays with, or it it the music that the heart plays?

Music has been my sole soulmate for all my years. It has been my companion through my sorrows and joys. I just have to open my hands, strum my fingers, and my music is with me. But not always!!! Music is worse than a girl friend sometimes. She does not just come to you just the way you want her to come. She makes a lot of tantrums, if you do not keep in touch with her. You have to caress her, play with her, make her yours and all this needs a lot of practice!!!

Music gives me the release that nothing in the world gives me. However of late, I have not been able to give sufficent time for my music. I hope to come back to it soon.

Music and Emotions

2004-10-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Man I am really pissed with this site.. I wrote an entire blog, and these guys made some error while publishing it.. So I have to re-type the whole thing. Non-sense!!! Anyway, I have to write anyway, even though the words may not flow in the same way as before. So, today, I wanted to talk about the emotional aspect of music. Lets see if I can say the same things again.

Music is one those art forms, which does not need the garb of words as against Poetry, Prose or Drama, to appeal to anyone. Just a few sequence of notes of the violin, or few beats of the Drums can either make anyone go over the top with joy or sorrow. However, music blends extremely well with the afore mentioned art forms, besides Dance of course. Dance as we all know is an art form almost totally dependent on music, but Dance gives a totally different embellisment to music which takes it beyond everything in this world.

Personally I prefer music, without words. I prefer to listen to music and interpret it the way I want, rather than how the lyriscist wanted us to interpret. I can feel anything I want, the sea, the couds, see anything I want, warm, cold, soft, rough, I can hear any colour I want fiery crimson, cool blue, and through music I can smell the ripe early morn, the dew on my toungue, and do anything in the world or anything out of this world.

Similarly, music helps me to express anything which cannot be expressed through the framework of words. I can say so many things without saying anything, I can paint the town red without anyone coming to know, or dvelve into the deepest of sorrows. Only those who understand my music will know what I feel deep inside, the inter-twined emotions can run wild with music. I can express anything I want, the volcano, the ice, the flower, the storm, the creeper and also the rock.

Music has been my soulmate for a long time. Anytime I want to be with her, I just have to open my mouth or stum my fingers, and there she is, enjoying every moment with me. But you have to spend time with her for her to be your own. I have to caress her, feel her and live through her. You have to imbibe every nuance of hers, and then you can own own her, still be her slave. Of late however, I am not feeling her to be mine..I dont meet her everyday and so she goes away from me every day. I hope I can be her slave all over again.

What creates music?

2004-10-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

Music has "been" almost as long as man has learn to speak. Almost everybody in this world has a special relationship with music. Some have their favourite songs, some favourite artistes, some favourite groups, some favourite genres of music and some people listen to anything. Some people listen to music when they are alone, some people listen to music when they are working, some spend some part of their day just to listen to some music, some others dance to it.

What is it in Music that is different from a sound? We also hear sounds everyday, but we do not like to listen to the sound of an engine, or a horn or something breaking and so on. What is the inherent quality of music which makes it different from a sound, which makes music so endearing to the listner?

A very simple difference between a musical note and an arbitrary sound is the nature of music sounds to have a longer duration. But a more important property for musical notes is to have a base frequency. In lay mans words, every musical sound has a pitch. All the other sounds (non-musical) also have a base pitch but it is just the sound of a random mixture of different frequencies all together. Out of all these frequecies, the more predominant one could be called the base pitch of a non musical sound. (Ofcourse there are more ways to define the pitch of a non-musical sound)

Musical notes too have different frequencies (besides the base frequency), but it so happens that these frequencies are all multiples of the base frequency (Pitch). Infact a sound with just one frequency does have musical content, but does not sound pleasing to the ears.

Let us first try and interpret what frequency means. Frequency gives us the intuition of something repeating. But what could be repeating in a single musical note?? The answer is ofcourse, its intensity. As we all know, sound is a property of the medium, which in most cases on earth is air. Sound propogates through air through a series of compressions and expansions. These series of compressions and expansions are called waves. Thus, whenever there is a vibrating source, then the air around it undergoes fluctuations in pressure/volume (which we called waves), which gets trasmitted all around in the same frequency of the vibrating source.

These pressure waves when they reach our ears, then are reflected on our ear-drum. Our ear-drum is an excellent sensor for these pressure waves. They are extremely thin, and a small amount of variation in the pressure around it, causes it to vibrate in the same frequency as the source interpreted by the neurons and the brain. Thus we can hear!!!

In reality, no natural vibrating source vibrates with just one frequency, their vibration is actually a sum of many frequencies, and all these frequencies are captured by our ear with great fidelity.

So if the frequency components are arbitrarily related to each other, it does not give a pleasent feeling to our brain. It is only when they are related as multiples of each other, we find some pleasure in listening to it. These frequencies related to the base or fundamental frequency are called Harmonics.

Ofcourse, any non-harmonically related sounds is not totally useless. Our speech is a mixture of both harmonically related (Vowels) and non-harmonically related parts (consonants). Again our brain has the capability to recognise different sounds, like that of an engine, a plane a horn, the cooing of a bird etc.

Let us talk more in detail about musical sound next time.

Why did I start?

2004-10-13T01:23:00.000-07:00

I am not too sure why I started blogging. But the first time I came across this concept was with Alok. He told me he had started blogging. The second instance I came across blogging was when I met aradhita online. I decided then that, this might be useful to me. I feel really lonely sometimes, with no one to talk to, or rather no one who will understand, though there may be many people around. So maybe, if I pick up my thoughts and pen it down, at a later date i could read it under a different frame of mind

Again another reason, I found this might be useful for me, is because I wanted to write my tought about music, then it could be useful again.

So, let me write today, about the title of my blog...'What is fusion?' In english, it means to mix and in Physics it means to melt. My life has always been a fusion. I have lived multiple roles all at once and been a jack of all trades, and a master of atleast one of them. I have dabbled in a lot of things, and have done some of them to my satisfaction and some others not so much.

My music also is a good reflection of my lifestyle..It has its swings and incorporates all walks of life and music. I am proud of my compositions, and whenever I listen to them I feel a sense of pride and surprise, that I could have thought of something as good as this!!

Anyway, enough of reflections today...I'll use this space quite often I feel