This is a tribute to all those who are or have been my teachers...
There comes a time when you suddenly truly understand how tiny you really are. One is always seeking knowledge and meaning in life. The path of knowledge, of wisdom, is always illuminated for us to seek, to travel, to explore, to understand but it never has had and will never have, a destination... Our circumstances, our choices determine our path in life. Whatever the path we set off on,knowledge is unending, regardless of what we have chosen. Can one ever cease to learn?
Curiosity awakens the will to learn, the Quest for knowledge. If you truly want to learn, your thirst will actually never be quenched as the world is full of wonders!
I realized today this very thing about Music...
As a student of Music, with every step I know that of course I go a minuscule bit further in my understanding of the subject and I also always know that I need to learn a lot more. But today, it struck me very hard for the first time that how long a way I need to go. And also a strange feeling came over me... Of how the more I learn, that very point of learning brings to me the realization of how less I know! As newer things begin to unravel themselves, you understand things in a deeper manner and that very understanding makes you realize how little you know because a deeper understanding suddenly throws open in front of you a glimpse of things to come!
The more you learn, the less you know!
~1st rehearsal today of an ensemble piece of music that I am playing along with all my music teachers and overseen by a brilliant musician, my boss...
An enriching experience to say the least not just because there was some fine music being played but also because of the knowledge pool I was in! I was considering myself so fortunate that I could be a part of that pool and try and learn something from it.
Was struggling with the first part of the music since 2-3 weeks now... (Of course not enough practice!! :-/ but anyway...) Today, Sir could tell me exactly WHY I wasn't playing it right... He just gave me 1 cue and all the inaccurate playing of weeks was set straight in 30 seconds! Yes I still need to practice that way of course, only then I shall get it... But the point is this that he could tell me what exactly my thought processes were while playing that particular part... What I was anticipating in the music and what I was worried about during the performance that was impeding the accuracy. He was dead right, it was exactly what I was thinking! That is called mastery, excellence, experience... That was the first time it struck me how little I know...
~Saw my own teacher discuss and chart out the structure of the performance, the arrangement, the technical aspects etc. with Sir. A different aspect of Music... I was just absorbing the fact that there are so many paths in Music itself! Knowing someone is a music director and actually getting a glimpse of what they do are two very different things. I was totally in awe watching my teacher develop the overall musicality for the performance and just getting the group together. I truly appreciated this aspect about Music and my teacher today- the understanding of the oneness of Music that should be there in a performance.
Again made me realize there is so much to learn!! I am not even close to anything!
~Each teacher has their own area where they are developing their expertise and this goes for every teacher that was sitting in that room today. And I am sure that each one of them also still feels that they have so much more to learn and such a long way to go... because there is really no end to knowledge...
~ Understood the importance of "listening" to music!!!!
~ An intellectually inspiring conversation between 2 people who were talking Hindustani, Carnatic and Western Classical Music all in the same breath! People who understand all these 3 forms with the same passion... Again I realized in wonderment how vast and wonderful and yet so complete, Music is... Whatever the form, a universal language... The soul's language...
How many wonderful and amazing things there are waiting to be explored... And how little we know and will ever know! This is not about being frustrated or belittling oneself or being pessimistic.
It is just that all these experiences happened to me on the same day and that is why probably it struck me very strongly! I am totally full of wonder, in awe and in amazement... If you truly want to learn something, you will know that there are no limits to your quest.
Having said that, a bow to all my teachers . Not only my music teachers but to every single person who has taught me important things in life...
And I want to say to you that I truly respect you and admire you for everything you bring into my life.
As for me, I realize how long a way I need to go... But yes, the will to learn is always burning...
