My Journey With Bansuri

The Sun has started lengthening the duration of the day and also the temperature scale here in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Summers are good though for Bansuri playing. Cold makes it difficult for your lungs to breath. Also, your mouth and tongue become dry regularly. In my previous post, I shared some information about the instrument. Now, I shall try to share the basics of what we have to learn and play on the instrument. I will talk about music in general and a bit more detail about Hindustani Sangeet. Hope you find it useful. Music Any music, in any part of the world, comprises of two main components: a) Notes     b) Rhythm. a) Notes: A note is actually a predefined method(pitch) of producing sound. It is this method which differentiates between any ordinary noise/sound and music. If you consider, except a few languages, all others are based on sound. The alphabets that actually form a language are nothing but a particular sound humans can produce through the...

I was thinking today to start this post in a different way. Always starting with a 'hi' or a 'hello' sounded more like an email. Isn't it?? Another dilemma haunting me was, should I post about basics of Indian classical music first or about Bansuri the instrument itself. Than I thought starting off with the instrument would be a nice idea. So, here we are. Lets see, hmmmm... Bansuri as you all know is made up of bamboo wood and is one of the oldest musical instruments known to humans. It is found in many civilizations. Hence, it has many different versions or types too..Irish flute, Indian flute, South Indian flute(Venu), Chinese flute etc. Indian Bamboo Flute - Bansuri Irish Flute South Indian - Venu Chinese Flute Dizi All of the above flutes are played transversely, but, there are flutes which can be played like a whistle, in a straight way. Straight and Transverse Flutes The instrument that I am learning and the one a...

Hello Friends, Could not restrain myself from writing. Let us get straight to some primary and most necessary requirements, which according to me, are very important for learning Bansuri. First of them all is Listening. According to someone "Listening is completely forgetting yourself. Only then you can listen". Listening creates a relationship, a bond, between you and the subject. So, listen to all kinds of music. For Bansuri, you can listen to Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, for vocal Pandit Jasraj. Both these names belong to the Indian Classical Music family. I have mentioned them because that is the music which I myself am hoping to learn. They both are the best and have numerous videos on YouTube. Second is determination and clarity. Bansuri is very very hard to play. Not only to play but, it is very difficult even to produce sound from it. I myself have felt many times to quit. However, I take a break of 30 mins or so, remind myself about how much tim...

Hello Everyone, Greetings of the day!!!! I am so very excited (a bit of nervous too) to write my very first post on my very own blog. First of all, I would like to tell you all that at this moment, I myself am a novice in Bansuri playing. Perhaps, that is the reason why I have started a blog about it. I have and I still am facing many difficulties in learning it on my own. Hence, why not share the pointers that enlightened my way. There will be many like me who want to really learn this magnificent instrument. Wait...wait...MAGICAL is the correct word. I wish and I pray that whatever I am able to share here reaches to and helps all those who need it. I request all of you to embark together, with me, on this MAGICAL journey of learning the favorite instrument of the almighty Bhagwan Krushna. May music bless us all... Thank you for giving your precious time. See you very soon. Ninad.