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My Initial Bansuri Days

Hello Musicians,

I seriously feel like I have successfully teleported to some different world, whenever I heard music. Especially Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet (Indian Classical Music). No music is above or below another. Although, the effect that this particular music generates is something which I cannot explain. I just love it.

In this post, I will share the instance when I first touched that magic.

I had started playing flute after my father gifted me my first one. He knew that I wanted to play the Bansuri. It was of the scale of C small. I tried very hard to produce good sound. When I started blowing into it, I had not read or seen or heard anything about how to play. I was totally unaware about any such lessons. I just picked it up and started blowing.

One of good things about the small scale Bansuri is that you will be able to hear atleast something other than the hissing of your air blow. But, it requires too much power to continuously play the small scale instrument. So, there I was, producing the sound, but, not liking it at all. It was as shrill as an irritated car's horn :-p..

I once met a street vendor who had all kinds of flutes, on the streets of the busy roadside market at Borivalli(Mumbai, India). I was intuitively attracted towards him. I , my fiancee, and the vendor stood there for almost 40 minutes and I bought 4 flutes of different scales from him. However, I later realized that they were all improperly tuned and I was not going in the right direction.

The best thing that happened though, was that due to the excitement of newly bought flutes, I started practicing daily. I had slightly improved. Tiny viny improvement only.

I used to get very impatient while playing. The reason was that inspite of trying hard, I was not able to produce any sound that would please the ear. My fiancee used to provide lots of motivation during that time. The support of your family members really helps. Thank you so much!!

The initial stage in Bansuri playing is the most difficult stage. This is the stage where you will be challenged the most. This is also the stage where you will feel like quitting. Please Do Not Do So. Wait wait and wait. Have patience. Just keep on practicing. It will start happening on its own. Trust me. Get the right Bansuri and keep on practicing.

When I was able to play Sa, the first shruti, it was like falling in love. It was like dancing without any reason. It was magical!!

The masters of this art have always pointed to practice Sa on the Bansuri regularly. Without fail. It helps in steadying the breath, improving breath control, improving breath capacity and also listening skills.

This post is not of much practical use to anyone. But, I just wanted to share my journey. It was amazing. I just wanted to share it with the world.

In the next post, we will surely discuss some practical lessons and my experiences with them.

Till then,

May music bless us all.

See You Soon.

Ninad.

Comments

  1. This is awesome.i could make sa,re and ga well.andi don't know which scale is this.Any tips for a beginner??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there,

      Great to know that you have started producing Sa, Re & Ga.

      Well, for tips, I shall share what worked out for me.

      1) Daily practice without getting frustrated of failures. Be very very patient and frustrated.
      2) If possible, please purchase a professional flute if you are seriously looking to pursue this.
      3) Learn a little bit of basic theory of music, it will help you understand what you are playing and doing.
      4) If breathing is an issue, please practice Anulom-Vilom Pranayam daily.
      5) Listen to the Bansuri masters on regular basis.

      This should do it I guess.

      Do let me know if I help more.

      Take care.

      Delete
  2. I struggled a lot to get some sound from Bansuri. It took nearly 2 months to produce sa,re,ga,ma,pa,da,ni. I kept your page open for 2 months and read this line daily from your blog" Wait wait and wait. Have patience". Finally it has worked. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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