Navratri.

Navratri is a Hindu Festival dedicated to the Motherly form of God. This period lasts for nine days and is celebrated twice a year, usually between the months of March-April and September-October.

During this time, Hindus around the world are encouraged to fast, not only by eating vegetarian foods but also by cleansing their minds from evil thoughts and not performing evil actions. Many temples have services each night in which the Motherly aspects of God are worshipped.

On the first three days of this auspicious period, Mother Durga, the Goddess of all power, is worshipped. On the second three days (days four-six), Mother Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and happiness, is worshipped. On the last set of three days (days seven-nine), Mother Sarasvati, the Goddess of knowledge, is worshipped.

During the services, puja, or worship is done to the Goddesses. Flowers and various items are offered and Hindus pray for a healthy and happy life. There are many bhajans (religious songs) that are sung and readings from the Holy scriptures. This celebration is one of the most important occasions that takes place for Hindus around the world.

Navratri

Reflection.

Overall, I thought my paper was not that great. The main reason is because I had first wanted to write about the development of Indian music and how it has influenced my life. However, Professor Marsh said I should focus more on how music has influenced my life and how it connects to my life. Another reason is that I don’t think I spent as much time on this paper as I should have.

When we were asked to choose a topic, I thought this topic would be fairly easy and obviously very interesting to write about. However, while trying to find information and writing the actual paper, I realized that it was not that easy at all. Firstly, when trying to make a connection with something, it is essential to include personal experiences, but it is quite difficult to connect those experiences with information from other sources. For example, in this case, I made various connections of how music has influenced my life in order to help me become a better human being and also how I have served my community using my musical talents. When it came to making a connection between these ideas and my research, it was hard because the research did not go too much in depth. I think for a topic like this one, it comes more from inside the person rather than any written source, which is why I feel this paper was a bit tricky to write.

I used a statement, “[t]he classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self-realization. All the different forms of these melodies (r[a]agas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.” Professor Marsh said I should have expanded more on how this happens, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s hard to explain. Another reason this topic was difficult is because the paper contained a few Indian words, which the audience probably didn’t understand.

I think my topic was a bit too personal and that’s why it was hard to focus on one main point and support it with enough details. I also found that I repeated some things throughout the paper. I think that I have learned a lot from writing this paper, mainly that even though I thought that this topic was simple to write about, it turned out to be the opposite. I think this report was a great idea because it helped me to realize that all writing requires an ongoing task of proofreading and editing.

In my Discover New York Class on Monday, February 26th, 2007, we had an Irish musician come in to speak to us. Each semester my professor, Dr. Heidi Upton, chooses a different culture for the class to study. Although we are supposed to be "discovering" New York, Dr. Upton is a musician, and so, she teaches how the people of that specific culture immigrated to New York and brought along their musical and cultural backgrounds as well. The Irish musician, Ben, spoke to us about why the Irish immigrated to New York City, and also various instruments they brought along with them. For example, we were introduced to the Bodhran, a handmade drum, and the Uillean Pipes, which is considered a God-like instrument because of its complexity to play. As a class, we were individually given a Bodhran which we all played for a while. Ben also showed us clips of a group that we will be going to see in concert on Saturday, March 24th. When it came to the dancing segment, Ben showed us movie clips of various people dancing, including the River Dance, and he even demonstrated his own talents for us. He is a "sean nos" (a traditional Irish dancer). Looking at Ben dance brought me back to my high school years, where one of my friends, Elizabeth Ong, was considered the "Irish Dancer" of our entire school. However, she sadly passed away last November.

List of Sources.

References:

• Indian Classical Music: http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/music/64/indian_classical_music.htm
• Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_classical_music
• Music of India-Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_India#Hindustani_music
• Awareness – The Center of Being:
  http://www.self-realization.com/articles/intro.htm

The Influence That Music Has on My Life.

According to Ravi Shankar, an Indian musician who became the guru (spiritual guide) of George Harrison (lead guitarist for the Beatles) in the 1960’s, Indian classical music has “an unbroken history of development, and above all it is a living tradition that still is in the process of evolution (Indian Classical Music).” As a student of Indian music for ten years now, I can attest to this statement. Just as learning in general is a continuous process for everyone, the same idea applies to learning music. It is a process that takes many years of dedicated practice and devotion to master. I am now a teacher at the East Indian Music Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens. One thing I see that happens frequently is when parents register their child into the school to learn music, many of them believe the child will learn every thing over-night. As mentioned before, it takes time because learning, in all forms, is an incessant process and we can never know every single thing possible.

Indian music is rooted in the Vedas, one of the main scriptures of Hinduism. “Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed (Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia).” Similar to Western classical music, which has eight principal notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight major notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. “The two main traditions of classical music have been Carnatic music, found predominantly in the peninsular regions and Hindustani music, found in the northern and central parts. While both traditions claim Vedic origin, history indicates that the two traditions diverged from a common musical root since c. 13th century (Music of India-Wikipedia).” Hindustani music is based on the language of Hindi, while Carnatic music is based on the languages of Telegu and Tamil.

According to Wikipedia, “[t]he classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (ra[a]gas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers (Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia).” Classical music is the main component of Indian music. When listening or playing classical Indian music, the person becomes a changed human being. “The heart of Indian classical music - of both the Hindustani and the Carnatic system - is the ra[a]ga: the melodic form upon which the musician improvises and which may take hours to develop. The raaga framework is established by tradition and nurtured by the leading musicians of the past and present, composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar being one of them (Indian Classical Music).” A raaga is composed based upon many emotions, the time of day, and even the season.

Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, I have been shaped into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture and about the music of other cultures as well. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.

I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I think it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I feel it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.

Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends, not only because we all have so much in common, but also because we can share our talents with one another. When playing an instrument, I feel very relaxed. For instance, if I am upset at someone or something, I go straight to my instruments and just start playing anything that comes to my mind. While doing this, it helps me to become much calmer. In a way, this technique doesn’t only help to release my stress, but I can also create new tunes and melodies based on what comes to my mind. Referring back to these raagas, playing classical music helps one to attain self-realization. Music brings me to another place, something which is difficult to explain. It helps me to grow spiritually and enables me to feel content with everything I have in my life.

I believe this concept is similar to that of yoga and meditation, where one can experience life based on another level. It is said that we cannot physically see God, but those of us who are religious, believe that there is some form of God. I think that by playing music and being devoted to my culture, I am able to become directly closer to God. According to the book, Awareness – The Center of Being, “...God can be proven: indirectly through circumstantial evidence and directly through personal experience.” I consider this statement true based upon my own experiences. This idea ties into the concept of faith, where people can become truly closer to God if they have steadfast commitment and devotion in their lives.