“What is the first feeling that you get, when I say….’the topic is music’? ”
My music loving friend, who is a trained musician and vocalist himself, seemed startled at my sudden inquisitiveness. His rapidly moving eyes and facial expressions told me he has a mouthful of answers and opinions, but can’t decide which feeling should be popped out first! Finally he gathered himself, and unfurled, “Well, I feel like I am swimming in an ocean. If I apply a little more of mind into it, and less of heart, I feel I am playing hide and seek with an invisible person in a big, big maze. An unfathomable mystery, both ways, you see!”
I should admit that I am not at all a musically inclined person. But I take things as they come, enjoy their beauty and companionship, ask lot of questions on their face, appreciate their value in human life, and finally make them my identified pebbles in the journey of life. And the concept of music was not different. So when my friend, who has been in the practice for more than 15 years now, shared his idea of music, I instantly could relate to it, because of the element of mystery in it. I have often thought while listening to my mp3 player, how does a music composer’s mind work? How does a piece of music get created? From my sister, who practices ‘sargam’ in her harmonium, I have learnt that those seven notes when placed one after another, in various durations and in all possible combinations, give birth to music. Okay, I got to know how ‘music’ gets separated from ‘sound’, but then how is it decided, which note will sit beside whom, whether for half, quarter, eighth or sixteenth of a measure duration, whether they’ll have dots and ties, what clef to use in which place……who decides it damn it! I can understand the birth of music, but still lack the concept of melody.
I have had an opportunity to meet two eminent vocalists of our time in a recent music competition in our office. I asked them the same unanswered question of what brings melody into music, and how does the composer know about it? If I try to revisit their thought process, and their opinion that they shared with me, it would be something like:
A composer is like a leader. Just like a leader needs to have a vision of what he is going to do, a composer needs to hear the great music that he is going to compose. And no science, no set of rules can help him do that. It sheerly comes from a place………
My heart was pounding as my mind could predict that I was nearing to my much sought after answer….
…... from a place in between his head and heart. It is a manifestation of his knowledge and creativity, that is.
If you think my quest for exploring the mystery of music ended after that evening…...then you are right! Now, I have started savoring its different forms, appreciating the vocalists and instrumentalists who act as the bridge between music and me. I can easily understand, why music is the second highest crowd puller, and second strongest force behind binding people….after religion. As I am grateful to my music loving friend, my sister, the two eminent singers, and the bunch of talented composers for presenting me the key to this world, let me conclude by asking you a question:
“What is the first feeling that you get, when I say….’the topic is music’? ”
