WHY MUSIC?

WHY MUSIC?

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

(- Friedrich Nietzsche)

Music stays with you as you grow up, unlike most form of sports.

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By music, I refer to both listening to and playing music. But playing music increases another dimension of your life.

Music keeps your soul alive.

Playing music is like meditation, keeps your mind uncluttered before everyday buzz.

Playing music teaches to stay focused as you concentrate on your notes and your music at one time.

Playing music teaches you discipline. If you play the violin anyway you want, it will not sound good enough. You have to play as the composer has dictated centuries ago.

Music teaches you humility. If you hear the players around you, some are better, some are worse. You know where you stand.

Music teaches you hard work- violin playing especially teaches you hard work, long hours of dedicated playing to achieve some decent music.

Music teaches you need to repeat and practice to be perfect. “If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it- Quote from Jascha Heifetz, the best violinist of last century.


Music teaches you patience. Even in your childhood , you realize that you cannot play difficult music like the expert, out of the blue. You need to practice over the years to gradually achieve greatness.
 


Music teaches you team work. However good you are, when you play in an orchestra, you need to play with the group the way everyone plays with the same intonation and speed.
 


Music makes friends from everywhere. A tough consultant boss in UK softened up on learning that I am too a fellow violinist.
 


Playing music in a group teaches you to mentor and supervise. If someone is having difficulty playing a certain musical passage, you learn to impart your knowledge without expecting anything in return.

Several musicians have helped to improve the quality of my violin by making adjustments, which I never know existed.
 


Music teaches you to be a good leader. Choir master needs to cajole, encourage the weaker singers to join up, with the rest to ensure maximum output.


Music teaches you to give selflessly. A distinguished music friend of mine Antony Raja hunts music sheets as well as midi music files for me (when I find it difficult to procure them) not expecting anything in return , but just the sheer joy of sharing.
 


Violin music (or any instrumental music) improves your manual dexterity if you are going to be a surgeon it trains both your hands to work equally well and fast.
 


Using of hands in instrumental music develops your brain as a child, as brain has large representative areas in the cerebral cortex for the fingers and thumbs.
 


                                 Figure with Cortical Brain Respresentation for Thumb and Fingers

Playing music elevates your mood. It helps to alleviate depression.
 


With increasing years and constant hours of practice daily, in music you can only getter better, faster and can perform more difficult music.


I started learning the violin on my fifth birthday. Thanks to my father’s persistence, I qualified by passing the highest (grade8) grade exam in Trinity College of Music London before I finished school.
 


Now I am a surgeon but still continue to play harder, more difficult and faster sequences now than ever before.