Raag Khamaj

Now here is a Sarode players piece. I have several compositions from the late great Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
He is sooo good at bringing out the maximum from the Sarode. The medium fast and fast Ghats are all I can do, and push me to the limits of my abilities.

Difficult Raga

OK, they are all difficult, but Dardari Kanra is exeptional in that the andolan is very precise and a challenge to do correctly and keep any sense of melody. I still love playing it and do as one of my teachers said, "just play".
Ali Akbar Khan left a great book on this Raga before he died. It's available from the Ali Akbar College in California.

Looking back

The first time I heard the Sarode was in India in the fall of 1966. We visited a music festival which continued for four days and nights. One of the artists was Zarin Dharuwalla, a Sarode playing beauty from Mumbai. She was nineteen and a fantastic player. I was hooked.
As we had travelled overland from Europe I had no money or way to transport a Sarode home. After a few months I arrived back in England and ordered a Sarode from a Mr Kansara.
So my first Sarode was on the way. I didn't get it for a year later. Things take a long time in India. By the time I recieved it I was in Toronto, and a new immigrant to Canada.
To be continued..................  

Sarode is from India

All who want to learn the Sarode eventually consider going to India.
 I wanted this for many years but was a father of three and without money.
Street music does not yeald a whole lot more than a means to eat. Ironically I got to study in India after my marriage broke apart.
 I lived with a man in New Delhi, his name was Moni Das. That was a truely extraordinary experience. Moni Das was a single father and he lived at a temple in the middle of Rabindra Rangshalla, an area of scrub and forest in the centre of Delhi.
We shared a small hut with his two small daughters and he taught me day and night for several months.
I still consider his lessons the most profound of all the Sarode music I have learnt since 1968.

Mesmerize

It is the word that comes to mind when I think back to the 1970's and me sitting on the streets of Munich playing the Sarode. It was a peroid of my life that taught me how generous people could be and how the Sarode can grab the attention of a stranger and mesmerize them. Sometimes I would have one or two people, some times a hundred or more. The more I played in Munich the better I became on my instrument. But also I learnt to listen to my audience as I played because it directly affected my income.
So my music was directly influenced by my german audience. The drawback of the Sarode as a busking instrument is that one has to sit on the ground. I used to perch on a low wall to give me a little height.
Germany back then was a welcoming place, and much more open to buskers than France, Holland, or Italy.
I did spend a year in Greece playing on the streets of Athens. It was a rough place but I did play on television and perform in a recording studio as a result of my street music. I loved the direct contact with people, most of whom enjoyed my Sarode playing.

Hemens death

The great Sarode maker, Hemen Sen has died in Kolcotta. My Sarode was made by him.
A sad day for Sarode players. http://digg.com/d31EQ6e

cycle of fifths

If you play the cycle of fifths on the Sarode from the lowest Sa, you get Sa,Pa,Re,Dha,Ga,Ni,Ma,Sa. In western notes that is, C,G,D,A,E,B,F,C,
Either play it over the three octaves or keep going back in the same octave. You can play this with thirds, forths, sixths, and if you can sevenths, if you are a musician you WILL figure it out, or say, that's elementary my dear Watson. Either way it's great practice and used often in riaz on the Sarode.

Plink Plonk

Unusual instruments remind me that music is an acquired taste. You can be in complete bliss on hearing something that you are familiar with, yet act like a dog listening to a symphony when not familiar. You know, the head goes from side to side.
A few of us can accept new sounds easily, but that's not a normal frame of mind.
Like the "Don't speak to strangers"thing. Good for vulnerable children, but how do I make new friends. Music is like that.
My Sarode is like an old friend, and it gets closer with each meeting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHqktb5aEYE

Riaz in 2010

Riaz (Practice), like many things in life,is something we need to do if we intend to play an instrument with proficiency.
Watching people struggle when their playing or singing isn't that pleasant. So remember, you play about 25% as well when you sit in front of an audience.
OK that's to start, if the feeling and feedback is positive you can do better than when on your own.
A contradiction, yes, music is full of them. So try to develop a daily practice routine and your music will grow like a flower in spring.