Celebrating Music

When the venerable bard said, “If music be the food of soul play on” he was probably not aware of the fact that Indians had already realised the value of naada bramham and had even designed a meticulous way to celebrate it.

Ancient Indians believed that when the sun shone on the stellar constellation of Sagittarius the “Brahma Muhurtham” set in, ushering in a new day to the very Gods. This short phase of early dawn in the life of the Gods stretches out into a month in the life of us who are mere mortals.

The Dhanur Maasa or the much touted MAARGAZHI which falls between mid-December and mid-January has been celebrated in a very unique manner in the south of India. When one would ideally like to stay up late in bed, traditionalists get up before the crack of dawn, bathe and cleanse themselves and offer prayers to the Gods.

The Dhanur Maasa also known as “Maargazhi Thingal” in Tamil doubles up as a month where young girls can showcase their talent by drawing beautiful Rangolis outside their homes and also display their ability to sing. In fact, the entire month is celebrated as the “Musical Month” in Chennai when venerated classical musicians and instrumentalists fill the air with their cadence.

The unique feature of this festive month lies in the fact that it is celebrated in a very exclusive way.

Temples open their doors way before the first ray of the sun appears on the horizon. Earthen lamps are lit not only in the temples but also at the doorsteps of the homes of people to light the way for wayfarers during the misty hours of the morning.

Classical music concerts are held for an hour or two in the wee hours of the morning to celebrate the precious moments of the “Brahma Muhurtham”. The thirty stanzas of the “Thiruppavai” composed by the saint poetess Aandal in Tamil are sung during this period of time to invoke the blessings of Lord Vishnu.

The average Indian’s rendezvous with music begins in the womb. Science has shown that the babe in the womb can listen through the mother. Perhaps this is the reason why pregnant women are exposed to music during their confinement. Once the child is born, the infancy of the child is punctuated with lullabies, rhymes and folk songs. In fact, every stage of human life is punctuated with music in one way or another.

It has been proved that music has therapeutic values. The electronic world has made the world’s best music available on a platter. Yet not everything seems to be well in the world of music.

Gone are the days when the parents and the family of the child spent quality time with their young ones visiting live classical music concerts thereby inducing a love and respect for traditional music. Today music at best means film or album music to the growing youngsters. They relish loud and fast music with insensible and sometimes crass lyrics. Perhaps if parents introduce the child to classical music a lot of aspects of the child can be honed. If the child has innate talent for the aural skill he/she may pursue it. Otherwise, the child can be encouraged to learn to play on a musical instrument of his/her choice.

Learning any type of classical music, be it, Karnatic, western or Hindustani will introduce the learner into an amazing world of music. It will be an eye-opener for them to know that there are infinite possibilities to use the seven basic notes of music in various permutations and combinations. They will imbibe a sense of time [tala/beat] and precision in the course of learning. They will understand the science and mathematics behind classical music. Once they grapple the subtle nuances of the basics they will be able to adapt to any other genre of singing like folk, pop, ghazals—the list is endless.

It is high time to introduce the children to the world of music to overcome their personality disorders like lack of focus, indiscipline and occasional delinquency.

An elementary understanding of classical music will certainly help the learner imbibe a sense of sensitivity, discipline, and creativity.

Eventually the uplifting magic of musical notes can cleanse the soul paving the way to a harmonious and clean world quite like the rosy dawn where fresh breeze and soothing music rub shoulders without much ado!