Are You Learning Music ? Here Are Some Tips - Vishwamohini Editor

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Are You Learning Music ? Here Are Some Tips

By Shivraj Sawant 1,024 views

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Are you learning music?, that is something great happening with you in life. That is the wonderful gift God/Nature has given you. Not everybody is fortunate enough to get it.
 
Learning music is a journey, here are some tips to make this journey meaningful.
 
1. Learn how to learn
Currently I am attending a course on â€œLearning how to learnâ€ on Coursera.com.
Coursera.com is a website where many online courses are available free of cost.
 
Important concepts I learned is, understanding is not a learning, you can learn only by doing things & making mistakes. For example, if you want to learn maths, you cannot solve maths problems just by reading & understand maths concepts & problems. You have to try to solve problems thatâ€™s the real learning.
 
Second important method is recall, whatever you read/learn, try to recall it, it is the proven way for effective learning.
 
So how & when we should apply these concepts for music?
 
When you go to music class, teacher will teach you new composition. First thing is to by heart the composition & then try to play under guidance of teacher.
So by the end of your music class, ensure you have by hearten the new composition & you have well understood & tried, how to play the composition.
 
2. Never carry a notebook to music class
If you donâ€™t carry notebook to music class, you are forced to focus & by heart the compositions in the music class. Also, you & your teacher will be automatically restricted to learn what you can really learn as per your ability in given specified time. What you can do is after class you can write down composition in notebook at home. This process of remembering & recalling will help you to make your learning stronger, effective & long lasting.
 
I remember my learning experience with Pt. Mukesh Jadhav, where I never used to carry notebook & even my guruji used to like that & I remember everything I learned through this method.
 
3. Practice daily
Whether you are a student, working professional, business man, you can surely spare minimum 15 mins for practice. Practice daily, it is really important to keep your learning spirit up.
 
My sister ask her daughter to daily practice for 10mins in the morning just before leaving home for school at 7 Oâ€™clock. My sister says I am confident that one day will come that she will just start feeling uncomfortable if she does not practice music in a day. It is like you hold â€œsomethingâ€ for some time & that â€œsomethingâ€ holds you for lifetime, it is an addiction. :-)
 
Also, Practicing daily is important, because if you practice something, you become better in that, as you become better in something your interest starts growing & as your interest starts growing, you love do that thing more frequently.

4. Explore mathematics of composition/tihai
There is maths in music, your learning is not in right direction if you are learning compositions without understanding, how composition is mathematically correct?

Its pleasure when a composition or a tihai comes on Sum (First beat of taal). But are you sure that composition was also mathematically correct. Many times I heard conversation from students like "hey, do you remember the tihai of taal xyz?". Is it really difficult to compose a tihai in any taal?.  Best thing is to understand mathematics of Tihai, if you learn a tihai of particular taal, try to explore its mathematics.

To improve the implementation of your knowledge one need to master basic calculations. This will exponentially raise your ability of understanding & learning music.

5. Hang out with music friends
You have to hang out with the people who are learning/interested in music. If you are learning vocal/instrument, find a tabla player & practice with him. Similarly if you are a tabla player, find vocalist/instrument player with whom you can hang out.
 
Also there are some places where hobby artists come together on regular basis & share their music, find such places & go there. You will get opportunity to listen & learn variety of music/styles, its fun.
 
Also, in India, we are fortunate to have strong tradition of Bhajan, in many temples of India, there is weekly Bhajan (atleast in Maharashtra we have strong tradition), go there, you will surely get opportunity to learn, experience & experiment music.

I have benefited a lot by playing tabla in bhajan, it provided me an opportunity to play tabla for longer time in one sitting which normally becomes difficult if I am playing alone in the home.

Also it provided an opportunity to experiment & practice my music ideas.
 
6. Listen & watch a lot
Listening or watching good music is equally important like practicing music. It unknowingly builds your maturity & sense of music. While listening try to understand which notes artist is playing or which taal/raga is going on or which laykari is going on etc.
Pick some best records of great artists & listen them literally hundreds of time, every time you will discover something new.
 
If you donâ€™t have time to explicitly listen music, then just play music when you are getting ready for office, or when you are traveling or just before going to sleep.
 
7. Attend live concerts
Attending live concerts of great artists is a very simple way of getting charged for Riyaz. When you see the possibilities that music can create, you get inspired to duplicate those possibilities & that motivates you for Riyaz.

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