Black and White Magic

In Robert Louis Stevenson's words:

"EARLY in the morning I hear on your piano 

You (at least, I guess it's you) proceed to learn to play. 

Mostly little minds should take and tackle their piano 

While the birds are singing in the morning of the day."

Looks like  R.L Stevenson had told this to make me play and practice the music. I wonder who is at the back of birds that sing in the morning of the day. I don't see any improvement graph in birds's singing. They sing so perfectly at the very scratch. I am at times envious. I suggest you to spend some quality time listening to their songs.   

              

When I sat down after finishing all my house hold work, and went online, I saw a beautiful google doodle opening up in my home page showing a lovely young lady with her jubilant kids trying to play the piano. Clara Schumenn must be definitely experiencing happiness on a high note today from above, seeing her picture on the doodle that celebrates her 193rd birthday. Schumenn was a German musician considered "one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era". That s nice to know about a woman pianist because I remember only Beethovan, Mozart when it comes to piano. 

My eagerness to play the instrument doubled by seeing such a doodle. I have always been passionate about playing the piano right from my school days. I thank my beloved husband for encouraging me to share my enjoyments with the instrument. I, a beginner and on the learning curve, am amazed at every aspect of this music. Its structure, tones, scales, chords all line up to tickle my senses. 

I remember since when I was 6, I started differentiating instruments in movie songs. I wasn't sure of which sound refered to which musical instrument but I was told by my parents that I never forgot to wave my hands for violin, drums, tabla and piano medleys by doing some funny stunts with all giggles and grins. I guess my parents would have definitely made me do all that for them to get some laughter and entertainment. I forgive them as everything is fair in parental affection :-) My hugs to them.

It was in my teens that I developed a keen observation of baseline music that kept running throughout  the song or upto certain extent to add extra grace to the main melodies. Now technically speaking the chords part (the broken form, or arpeggios) -  be it played in guitar or keyboard/ piano, or violin, enchanted my ears. I used to wonder at the composition.
 

I would like to give some examples. Starting with MGR - mejastically playing the piano in the song - Kanpona pokile... The piano intro would be mindblowing. The lyrics too are electrifying.
 

Shivaji comes next with his one of the blockbusters- Uyartha manithan- the heroine Sowcar janaki 's song- Athanin muthangal.. she played the piano. Please listen to the piano intro to get lost in the maze of admiration.

 

Violin is magical in one of the 80s hits of Ilayaraja-  Edhu oru Pon malai pozhudhu

And the notes of the guitar in this ever green song - Ilaya Nila... - just give me the goosebumps.

I am linking here an extra ordinary video which is a new and refreshing version of the song from the Kamal hasan starrer Punnagai mannan. It is a theme music. It is a piano duet where four hands are required to play. http://youtu.be/XZZLcGc1vEs

There's music in the sighing of a reed; 

There's music in the gushing of a rill; 

There's music in all things, if men had ears:

Their earth is but an echo of the spheres. 

Did you hear the poet "Lord Byron"- humming?

I cherish this for ever and now leave  you a question - How does music inspire you?

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Ticktock

   

We live in a society where every thing is on a schedule. Whether the job requires a time card or not,  many of us are forced to be ever -conscious of the clock and this may not be the best way to work. We carry forward the habit of being time conscious for an occasion that does not need. 

Recently we planned for a movie to which my parents in law accompanied. Their home is two kilo meters away from ours. It was planned in such a way that they would come in the car and we would go in a bike. 

It was at the peak of sunshine when we started from home and my mom in law told me that we too could have joined them in the car and avoided the hot sun.

I felt she was right as it was a genuine concern. My husband was too time conscious that he wanted to be there half an hour before. Tickets were already booked online though. 

I was thinking from my mom in law's perspective.  She could have been happier on us accompanying her in the car .  For her the fun is not hanging out to a movie, it is about being with us. Any mother would naturally like to have her son around , that too when being a  week end or he was on a planned leave. 

I shared my thoughts to my  husband about it . Prioritizing is important here. I felt he should not have prioritized time at the cost of being togetherness. Losing first few scenes of the movie is really not a great loss , hence not worthy for a '' worry''. 

I would definitely not have an iota of guilt in case I was late for an outing like movie. 

To be honest I was never punctual during my college days. I request you not to be like me too. Let me not pat you on your wrong back. What I did was a mistake. 

I now have learnt to value time yet I suggest you to prioritize it in a right way. When it is an important occasion that demands our presence well in advance, we have to be on time. 

Job seekers and office goers need to be on time because that is how the society is structured. Here comes an opinion from a free lance writer living in the Pacific north west. '' Kori  Roadley Irons''  . She starts with a question.,''  Is there a way to let go of some of that time -consciousness to free up creativity and efficiency ?''  

She believes much time is spent and wasted checking with the clock and hence we may have to held back in terms of productivity , problem- solving capability and especially quality. 

I now stick on to a popular belief ,'' Over -doing of anything is always counter- productive.  

Try to relax being less time sensitive and to enjoy being conscious of others feelings and emotions. This is really a great man's work loved by God. 

Be as a snug as a bug in a rug!

                                                                                                                

I have been contemplating on a conversation I had with my husband today morning. The topic is '' Being comfortable'' . Well we did not definitely talk on material comforts. Its about being at ease when you meet  the other person, how and on what grounds two persons become peaceful  each other with their presence and not.

This is quite commonly analyzed nowadays. I heard my friends say,'' We are pleased to work under that manager , we are not comfortable with that guy's attitude.. etc.''  I would like to give an other example. 

When I was working at HCL, my friend and I were put together in a nesting team as we were new comers. 

The team head was racketed by many for being rude, cold and authoritative, always trying to boss around , quite frequently belittling the other person to show off his greatness. The higher superiors too were accepting the fact that this guy was attitudinal and never holds smooth relationship in the office, hence he was graded low for a log time though his professionalism and expertise deserve a  promotion. 

My friend was happy to work under him said ,'' she did not come in touch with his impelling shouts with protruding eyes so far. I told her that I was waiting to move into another team at the earliest  and I hate to work with him.. God blessed me to run as faster as possible to another good production team. My work went smooth thereon. 

A few months later I chanced my soft skill trainer to whom I shared my experiences. She knew my old team head and was in the same opinion that everyone had towards him. She also gave me a billion dollar advise.

" When you and I say we are not comfortable with this person, actually we are not fine with certain aspects in our lives .. be it any. When we find these in some body we tend to keep away and that is not wrong also to run.''. 

To confirm my understanding I said,'' Suppose that I am not comfortable climbing  up a tree and hanging upside down for a long time but my friend forces me to do all the time she meets me, I will definitely tend to keep her away or I shall hide myself  when ever she comes though being my friend..right..??!!!'' ..

After some laughter renting the air, she said ,'' You are right actually, how could you suddenly imagine an example like that..? ''  The conversation went for a while , we had a cuppa tea and departed . 

I still carry this advise  in my heart and apply it when ever I come across ordeal days.  This is not just an advise but a great truth too which I heard it once again from a revered institution 'Oneness university'.

I later on  learned another interesting behavioural pattern from  my observation.  

Sometimes , we tend to change our talking manners depending upon the perceptions we carry about people we know ,and importantly when we find people of common interest we shall spend more time with them sharing ideas and if we find them moving a little bit out of the common interest , we rate them down leading to harsh clash.  

I would like to illustrate this. Mr X and Mr. Y are close relatives. They both love cycling , own separate cycles and go for a ride together praising the mode of transportation to be the best, cheapest and least affordable . Mr.X likes Mr.Y and starts to appreciate him to have found an interest in cycling and his simplicity.

After few weeks, Mr.Y chances a bullet ride , feeling it  beautiful , comfortable and equally interesting too.

He buys a bullet , starts to bike it. Occasionally accompanies Mr.X for  cycle rides. Mr.X throws a different behaviour, letting out some unkind words from a deep routed values he has upon cycling.  

He shouts at Mr.Y not for having bought a new bullet, but for not enjoying what Mr.X likes.

Here Mr.Y is shocked to receive such a heart breaking response, feeling uncomfortable totally ,decides to keep away from Mr.X . Thus turning a cold attitude towards each other and building perceptions on each other based on the new attitude formed in their minds now. 

The issue here is not valuing something so high, but constantly expecting the other person to be consistent in throwing the same high values on what you like  in the same fashion too. This kind of attitude also leads to an emotional clash bringing a break down. 

The greatest gift would be to learn the art of being at ease and making others feel the warmth of your presence.Letting others to make their own choices and  live in their space of freedom.Every body indeed expects concern and care. It may not be possible to cut copy paste the mother's care but sure easy to format it and present. 

You shall see  better results are achieved , be it in schools, colleges or work place.