Springing to life with music

This spring started with attending the local Thyagaraja aradhana at our community center in Cupertino. Can sing only the first two as of now. Joined in and enjoyed the experience thoroughly.

Then came the SIFA spring series of concerts. This year, had volunteered with SIFA. It was a great experience being the official photographer for some of the events as well supporting Anand with his elaborate and meticulous sound setup..

Attended all concerts except the last one yesterday. Was still trying to recover and just dozed off in the afternoon and evening.

The season opener with Saketaraman who celebrated Rama Navami with his theme of songs on Rama and also starting all the songs with the anupallavi’s or charanams.

The next event was three concerts back to back in an all day event. Managed to attend the first two by Dr. Suryaprakash (who brought me visions of Madurai Mani Iyer) and soulful singing by Sankari Krishnan. A voice that transports you in time to and brings back images of eating murukku from your grandma’s hands. Had to leave before the third concert to play photographer at Jaya Vidhyasagar’s bhitek event. Again, the theme was Rama and every song was amazingly rendered.

Then there was Amrutha Venkatesh! Having listened to her Charukesi pada varnam (my guru asked me to use it as the reference video) a few hundred times over the last year, it was a fanboy moment for me. Have been to her concert two years ago. This time I got to listen to her from the side of the stage..

Then we attended was Ranjani Gayathri’s concert. This is outside of the SIFA membership but we had tickets booked well in advance. Going to a concert like this as a large group is always fun. They kept us mesmerized!

This was followed by a violin duo concert by Naagai Muralidharan and Dr. Badri Narayanan. Experts bring class with effortless ease. This is a concert I will remember for a long time.

The next concert was a home Bhitek by Jaya (San’s music teacher). The theme was Adi Shankara. She made it interactive with the audience.

Then came the find of the year! If last years find was NJ Nandhini, this years find was Ramana Balachandran with his Saraswathi veena and occasional vocal. He brought the house down, rocking the veena. Two hindustani songs he sang are still with me.. Naam Japan Kyon chod diya in Charukesi and Tejo nidhi loh gol in Lalit. Going to try and learn both. Ramana is going to be a superstar if he already isn’t one!

The supporting artists in every concert made every concert an amazing experience. The smiles, the embellishments, the knowledge and experience to support the main artists.. just exemplary!

This year the SIFA membership came with an added bonus. A packed box dinner after every concert from Mylapore express. In some concerts I grabbed the box. Sometimes I had to rush out to edit photos and missed it. This is a great initiative and we love it!

Last weekend my health was already not that great with Claritin not doing much and nasal spray giving me a sinus infection and fever. San thought it would be a good idea to visit temples to cheer me up. So we went to the newly kumbabishegamd’d Concord Murugan temple, then the Livermore temple where our friends family was going a concert . We got to listen to the dad, son and daughter take the lead in turns and sing songs penned by Basavanna. Ambu just aced it. It was a treat to watch her sing. Her brother and dad were equally amazing. Had no idea of Basavanna and after reading about his life and teachings was suprised to see the event in a temple. The music was divine! I I can always find divinity in music and art, or naturual landscapes .. or even better in my wife and kids smiles.

Missed Abhishek Raghuram’s concert yesterday. It was the grand finale for SIFA spring season. My friends who attended gave him rave reviews. Next time.. given the crowd he pulls locally, I am sure he will be back soon.

There are no more planned concerts between now and fall. Enough life events to keep us busy!

It has been a great spring season. A big thanks to SIFA for bringing amazing music to our doorsteps!

Looking forward to the music in the second half of the year!

Indha kazhudai ketta Manja sevuru

Have not posted anything about music this year and it is May. That doesn't mean there was no music this year.

The year started with learning classical music heavy movie songs and semi-classical songs for the entire January with Paadarivom Padipparivom, and I loved singing every one of those songs. 

We were busy traveling in Brazil and Argentina and I kept listening to "Vedam Anuvilum oru nadham" on repeat even while walking along the beaches in Copa Cabana. Knew I had to sing it as soon as we came back. Had hummed it silently so many times that when it came time to sing it, there was a confidence that the notes were close to where they needed to be! The rest of the songs in the genre were also appealing and challenging but loved it.

Also got a chance to be mentee again after two years and jumped at it. There were high expectations this time from my teachers and hopefully I didn't let them down. Have never tried singing Jathi ever and had to memorize the Jathi portions for a song and sing it. It was a great experience and my teachers were very happy with my enthusiasm. Will write about this mentee experience on a separate post. 

Then we went to India and work caught up and singing took a backseat for a good month. Every now and then, would banish myself to the unheated guest room with the yellow accent wall (hence the title for the post) and try to sing the song of the week from 10-11:30 PM. Given the kids are not here and my wife is busy watching some Korean serial till midnight, can practice till my throat protests. 

One fabulous thing that happened last month was the first US members meeting of Paadarivom Padipparivom in Dallas. Why Dallas? Because two of the teachers are now in Dallas and there are also three members there. One of them is an extremely passionate event co-ordinator and he pulled off what the three members in bay area could only talk about for the last two years. 

Students flew in from all parts of the US to meet and sing with the teachers and the other students. (some are not in the picture as they had to leave early to reach their destinations. there was bad weather and flight delays that weekend to add to our adventures)

The big bonus for us was a crash course on "how to get the most of a dynamic microphone" by the two teachers. Many of us who sing on Smule with our teachers use the mic that comes with earplugs which we hold with our hand (the earpods typically don't work well as they have a lag). When handed a mic in front of a live group the voice simply doesn't sound the same and one has to work too hard.. if you don't know how to use the mic!

Me happily demonstrating how not to hold a mic.. too low and not tilted up enough to suit my throat and mouth!

The teachers helped fix my problem in that one session. Turns out everyone is different and the angle you hold the mic and how close you hold it is something you can figure out easily. One has to practice it though.. kind of like holding the flute at the angle that suits your whistle. 

At the end of it, was able to hit high notes without straining my throat. Given the gain in the amplifiers, we don't even have to be loud. We can sing at a lower volume and sound way better. That was the big takeaway for me. All this time I was "seerghazhi govindarajan'-ing in front of a live audience. Holding the mic but using my real voice to reach.. bummer!

There was also great food and excellent conversation. Met some of these folks in person for the first time but feels like I have known them all my life. These folks are going to be friends for the rest of my life. 

It was great that San joined me for the trip. Within a day and a half, we managed to also visit 3 temples, eat at four places and catch up with friends and see the local area. Traveling with San is always fun for me as I just enjoy watching her be happy! Her face lights up when she is with friends and food.

Will cherish this trip for a long time to come! San also thinks my singing has actually improved. My first song was iffy beacuse I had practiced to a Smule track and was so used to seeing the gray and blue bars move to prompt me to sing and we ended up with a different track in Dallas.

There were two lessons there. First, just sing to the music and avoid the visual aid. Should have actually done that given the song was memorized already. Second lesson is to go before the start and get a feel for the sound of the room. Sometimes it is not easy to hear your voice when singing through a microphone because the amplified voice takes a second to hit your ear and if you are not used to it, you will be late on the beat. Guess this is why people use ear monitor in the mics. However that is not required. Just getting used to it before actually singing the songs does the trick!

San said I did fine after the first song. She even said it to our friends and that made me really happy. She sets the bar very high and we fight every now and then on the topic of "just repeating the same thing is not going to fix it. you have to understand what you are doing wrong and fix it and then sing it".. the repeats for me are to get to a basic level before even attempting fixes. We are clearly at different levels when it comes to singing! 

Now I am back to the manja sevuru every now and then trying to sing. Paadarivom Padipparivom has been a true blessing. The 4th year anniversary was celebrated last weekend. In two months it will be my 3rd anniversary with this wonderful group of people. 

My enthusiasm is still alive, but finding time with changed travel schedules and things at home is making it challenging to do more than just singing one song a week and practising Carnatic music for few hours a week.

Happy to be able to do at least that! 

Marghazi singing

Paadarivom Padipparivom has this wonderful idea to give a platform to students to sing one song each during Marghazi season. There is a lot of encouragement from this community for learning Carnatic music as well as Cine music.

Most of the fellow adult classical music students I have talked to, started learning in hopes that the knowledge here will improve their Cine music singing. It has been two years and two months since I started learning Carntic music again after a long break, from Koushik Ramchander.

He has been an epitome of patience!

For a novice like me, the support this group gives is just phenomenal. If there is one place where the Dunning Kruger effect is in full display, it is while learning Carnatic music or singing Tamil movie songs. 

When I started singing, my knowledge was very limited.. not that I could not identify ragas instantly or have a concept of what "right" sounded like. When my own voice was producing the output, my ears somehow selectively decided to be very forgiving when I was off. It takes a lot of "listening", very careful listening to understand that you are off. 

If a song had 600 notes total, I would be off on 400 of them two years go. Today I am off on 40 and going towards 4. My MIL has been my one constant judge and supporter while my mom has been my strongest critic. 

Two weeks ago, they agreed for the first time after hearing me sing a carnatic based movie song. My MIL told me my voice has finally adapted to sing SPB songs. My mom actually said this and I am saving this for posterity! She prefers if I stick to slokas and bhajans instead of movie songs, which is expected. 

My teachers at PP of course gave me honest feedback on every line of that song on where I was off in the notes, pronunciation and execution. The DK effect does play mind tricks, once you know finer details and appreciate what is actually required vs. where you are. You know what has to be done, but it needs a lot more effort to get there and it cannot be done in a week!

Not one for giving up, have been trying impatiently. That is the truth. 

Singing with just a Tanpura in background and your own hand to keep the beat was a lot more challenging than singing along with your teacher or fellow student on Smule with a familier fixed backround track! Almost came to the conculsion that Smule singing isn't singing and was downright depressed two weeks ago. This song is usually sung in the ragam Naatai (for most of the instances you find on Youtube). He taught it to me in Gowlai ragam. Asked my teacher why he thought I could do this and he said "You can do this Sundar! you already sang every line after me very well in class. you just have to do it at a stretch and on your own!"

Thank god for teachers. They tell you to buckle up, keep your head high and get your confidence back, one step at a time. Koushik Sir as I call him has been my music shrink as much as my music teacher. When you start learning at 49, the psychological challenges in learning need to be fixed as much as the skill gap. What he says between singing notes and making me repeat is the other half of the lesson, probably the bigger lesson! After many attempts, voicenotes feedback on whatsapp, he finally gave me the equivalent of the Oliver Cromwell look.. that made my day!

A heartfelt thank you to this platform and the folks who make it great!  

Carnatic music folks (especially family), this will not meet your standards. The good news is that I am okay with where I am today and tomorrow WILL be better than today! 

Thanks again to PP for this experience! It feels good to participate in the Marghazi season remotely!