My musical journey

My first foray to actually listening to music was in 9th grade when our English teacher played for us the musical piece "Nightingale" by Yanni. It is by far, in my opinion, his most relatable work amongst the common public. Mrs. Kala's motivation behind playing it for us in class was related to that year's poem on "The frog and the nightingale", to make us understand how beautiful a nightingale's voice really is. Listening to that piece gave me goosebumps quite literally, and when the violin piece started I was transported to another world where I was attuned to every note. 

At that time, I didn’t have much resources from where I could hear more of such music. YouTube wasn’t available and smart phones hadn't been launched yet. So I was still listening to Britney, Savage garden, Ronan Keating and so on. Those were fond memories, belting out the lyrics as if we really understood what they meant. 

Much later in life, after I started earning my own money, I decided to take up learning the violin. I just walked up to a music school, talked about learning, bought the violin and started off. It all took less than an hour but I guess the decision to be involved in music was made back in 9th grade. But I realized on day one that starting off on the violin is damn tough. The first time I moved the bow on the strings, it sounded like I was torturing a cat. The next tough thing was moving from one string to another seamlessly and without touching another string. The next tough thing was counting 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4. And so on the journey went. But it has been one of the happiest decisions of my life - to do something which I wanted to do just for myself. I am absolutely pathetic at playing still but I get a rush when something turns out decent. And it's a total worthwhile thing to flex about. When I tell people I play violin, they go "Whoaaa!"

Many years later, during class I used to hear piano classes going on in the next room. And so one day I just decided to start learning that as well. Went to a shop selling musical instruments, browsed and bought a beautiful black Korg LP-380, and that continues to be the most expensive thing I have ever purchased in my life. It’s an upright digital piano and I absolutely heart it. Transporting it from one place to another gives me a mini coronary. Starting off on piano was relatively easier because there are tuned keys and you don’t have to struggle with finding the right note unlike on the violin. But tougher part here is reading different set of notes for the two hands, playing them at the same time and also using your feet for the pedals. And to top it off, the pressure applied by both hands should be slightly different so that one hand is the base and the other leading. I just CANNOT do that. 

I want to of course get brilliant at it and just play music all day without having to worry about earning money sitting in front of a laptop. I want to sing while I'm playing the piano, I want to learn the guitar as well, do recordings, instrument layering etc. But alas when that shall be, no one knows. But I'm enjoying where I am right now in my musical journey. 

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