MUSIC APPRECIATION ON THE APPRECIATION DAY !!

WEEKEND AMIDST THE SWEET MELODY OF MUSIC !!

MUSIC APPRECIATION ON THE APPRECIATION DAY !!

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”

― Plato

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

― Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays

“The only truth is music.”

― Jack Kerouac

“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”

― Charles Darwin, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809–82

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A CONVERSATION – MUSIC INSPIRES

Namrata - Good Evening Sir !! Get up – I’m here …. Lost in music – Gazal on Youtube – and Beethoven’s symphony on Earphones - CD player. This is Chaos…… open your eyes …

Sudhanshu – Good Evening Namrata …….. This is not Chaos …. But Serenity. Music is never Chaos it is Serenity …..

Namrata - Abhi uss din aap ne kaha thah – These days – Music is cacophony …. Noise… !!!.....

Sudhanshu – Not the type of music I am listening just now. …

Namrata - What are you listening ???

Sudhanshu – On Youtube is one of my favourite singer from Kerala Manjari – A Classical Singer. And this is Shabad a video released this month on Guru Nanak Jayanti.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLyEnCquGwk&app=desktop

I am very fond of her voice. You know the other day I was talking to you about Object Full Awareness and Objectless Awareness. Manjari’s voice has a quality which takes me into objectless awareness. There is a very subtle element in her voice – especially in classical singing ……….. her voice at higher notes of the deep lower pitch is shrill for a moment when it takes a lower course but immediate after that when pitch picks up , aur alaap upar kee taraf aata hai ………… it is a marvelous melody ……… very sharp , very sweet, and very melodious with deep resonance. This even Manjari would’t know ……. Yeh unki ek do Gazalo mein bahut sharp aur beautiful aaya hai. The feel of that resonance takes me in objectless awareness – which is a state of a deep meditative mind, which for me is a very difficult state to go into but it happens to me effortlessly when I hear that segment of her singing ….!!!!

Namrata – Your Music listening is very sharp and scientific I suppose ………. !!!

Sudhanshu – Sangeetkar hona ek baat hai …………. You have to be a good sunkaar of music also …… for real appreciation of music. Appreciation and real listening of music is also an art !!

Namrata – How does one pick up music to become a good sunkaar ……… The Music appreciation.

Sudhanshu – Listen and learn Classical Music – both Indian and Western

Namrata – What were you listening of Beethoven…. !!

Sudhanshu – Fifth Symphony ……… !!!! Beeethoven has inspired me since childhood …… his music has been my inspiration……….. not only his music but his life also ……… !!!!! When Beethoven was young he struggled to earn a living as a musician, to get married and lead a normal life. When he finally achieved success, in his late twenties, he began to lose his hearing. It was a his lowest point. He sank into deep depression. In a letter he declares : ‘The most beautiful years of my life must pass without accomplishing the promise of my talent and powers.’ Six months later, Beethoven decided ‘No ! I cannot endure it. I will take Fate by the throat ; it shall not wholly overcome me.’ Thus began his rise to the summit of his achievements.

Beethoven overcame the obstacle of his total deafness and transformed it into a positive force. He found a way to compose achingly beautiful music. Adversity introduced him to himself. He had come to terms with his anger and frustration. His music conveys this self - reflection and self – awareness; he used his compositions to come to greater understanding of himself. Beethoven’s music was a healing force for himself, and so in turn it helps us heal our wounds.

Beethoven’s works are autobiographical and explore his turbulent life. They speak to us in a universal and positive way. The stunning piano Opus 110 is about overcoming deafness. Beethoven reassures us that when everything falls apart we have the Moonlight Sonata. And Namrata you know how much moon fascinates me – I go in supreme bliss when I listen to this Sonata. And if you are thinking massive thoughts - which I do quite often – then I listen to Beethoven’s ninth symphony – It helps to deepen your questions and your thoughts. Then there is struggle and triumph of the Fifth Symphony and the heroic Eroica Symphony. Music and in particular the piano, was his voice and through it he tells us his autobiography. Beethoven reassures us that he overcame his obstacles and so can we.

Namrata – So Beethoven’s music inspires you ????!!!!!

Sudhanshu – YES with capital letters !!! When you are at your lowest, when everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, see it as the best place to begin. We learn more from disappointments than from successes. Every obstacle we overcome strengthens our confidence to, overcome others. When we respond constructively to big crises it brings out our inner strength. Pain may be inevitable, we’ll all experience loss and heartbreak ; but great creative people like Beethoven show us that suffering is optional !!

There is a time to accept the cards you’ve been dealt and time to fight against them. Things always seem to turn out best for those who make the best out of the way things turn out. Beethoven overcame the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of the deafness and refused to allow it to destroy him. A creative person always has their ideas , ambitions, passions, and memories to support them.

Namrata – Yes they do support ……!!!!!!

Sudhanshu - Music is - Nature’s fabulous gift to mankind !! To appreciate it fully you have to have the subtlest EAR to hear the sounds of magnificence of nature – be it a human voice or rhythm, chords or beats of any instrument. SANGEETKAR TOH HOTE HEE HAI YOU HAVE TO BE A GOOD SUNKAR - LISTENING AND APPRECIATING GOOD MUSIC IS AN ART IN ITSELF. Not in India but abroad in many Universities you have courses in MUSIC APPRECIATION.

Namrata – So I will take leave of you – Have a blissful weekend with your Music .

Sudhanshu – Thank you !! God Bless !! Much Love !!

“Where words fail, music speaks.”

― Hans Christian Andersen

“Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.”

― Hans Christian Andersen

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

― Kahlil Gibran

“Where words leave off, music begins.”

― Heinrich Heine

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”

― Lao Tzu

“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.”

― Henry David Thoreau

“Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.”

― Alphonse de Lamartine

“Without music, life would be a blank to me.”

― Jane Austen, Emma