Sudden 'gyan'odhayam and looking back
Lots of thanks to my friend praz for raising the question to me. It really made me look back in life and it was only then that i realized how many "muttukattais" i have crossed in my life. I was really wondering how all this has been possible. I never imagined I would be what I am today when I walked into my 12th standard classroom over 6 years ago. I had been busy playing keyboard for concerts then and I had to give up playing it for atleast a year. The real threat of losing contacts loomed large and I was also bothered about getting into "IIT" which never happened anyway. And then I was in college and all I could see then was that the world had grown and people really jacked off on stage much to the cheer of the crowd. And the truth was that I had not learnt any music till then (which remains that way even today). I really felt I was about to lose out on the big stage when suddenly I had several blessings one of which was in the form of my being picked directly to the college band. Moreover we were able to get prizes in every cultural competition in 2001-2002 in which our band participated. This had never happened before and never happened again too after the key players quit college and I played outside the college band. The most memorable ones were the victories in REC Festember and IIT Saarang which we never dreamt would happen. My presence in the team was attributed then as an important reason for the victory.
Looking back I still wonder how this Navneeth of 2001 would have done this because I was half as capable as what I am today on the instrument. Yes I knew to play with only one hand. I was blind on one side of the keyboard. I used to look up at every single keyboard player in other colleges and I was really scared that they sounded better than me on stage and I was just not confident of my abilities then. I would eventually gain their respect as somebody who was more potent and complete than themselves but I was definitely in worse shoes 5 years before. Looking back and trying to simulate those feelings back in my heart will make me puke today. I now really wonder how I had the mental strength to gather back my confidence that had rather been flushed out of my heart then.
Then I had completed my first year of college. By then I had established myself in the inter-college group event. But my stint in the college was to end because the management split. Also all the key players who had been in the final year when i joined college, passed out. So there i was, left alone and left with the job of regrouping a band. But the director who had encouraged all cultural activities was now gone and now we had a new guy who was not as eager. Tis was another "muttukattai" for me. But as luck would have it my friends of culturals, called me tpo perform with them in "Kalyana Kutcherrys" (marriage concerts in which film songs are played). I started playing them and my music continued.
Later on slowly my name had spread to a few Carnatic musicians who called me to perform fusion shows, in which the use of keyboards was permitted. So my music continued. In my first concert I got really really scared because I had to face many new elemnts in Carnatic Based instrumental Fusion. All that I knew about Carnatic were the ragas (I somehow attained this knowledge by birth by God's grace) and some talas (by reading some books). But my observation skills helped me learn the tricks of the trade. Then I started to play regularly in fusion concerts.
In the meantime my friends and I started to explore new software for recording. I initially was left clueless as to how to handle them. I acquired demo versions of software and started exploring them. Eventually in a few weeks, I was able to compose, record and mix a full song. But I knew nothing about the intricacies and secrets of good recording or mixing. Infact I didnt even knew that a concept called mastering existed.
Then I met one of my friends who was directly blessed by God to create musical masterpieces that had great soound engineering. I started observing him and asked questions to both him and myself. As I always used to do, I tried to discover the answer myself. This quest for the secrets slowly started teaching me the tricks of the trade.
Then I met my friend Praz (refer first Para) who continuously bombarded me with questions regarding sound, mixing etc. I patiently answered him from whatever little experience I had. But my little creations were done using freely distributed lo=fi soundfonts that had little or no sibilance in the samples. So I resorted to the technique of garlanding the equalizer to make it sound brighter. I would eventually learn the right way later, but that day I explained how I garlanded the mix to praz sincerely.
My concerts continued. My college timings really helped me go to many concerts. I wouyld be back from college by 3:40. So I was free to attend any concert after that. I got more and more contacts and started playing more and more fusion. Each time the expectation out of a concert increased and I was now up to the challenge because my confidence was building by then. Eventually I got to play solos that were very Carnatic. I started observing how people played solos and when an opportunity came by I would grab it and play something that would surprise the band mates as they would not have expected something of their kind from a person who was supposed to play chords to ragas. I even observed percussionists and learnt how the kanakkus and thaniavarthanams are played and the norms that are to be followed. I started following them in my solos and after some point I started expecting what the musicians would play in their free style solos and followed them accordingly. This was possible because of my grasping power and I can confidently say this one gift of mine that God has given me has helped me achieve a lot in my life.
In the meantime I started to listen to Hindustani music and I realized what bhavam is all about and analyzed how musicians were able to reach the heart. I started to follow these in solos and this variety surprised a few unsuspecting souls. Also my abaility to do programming, mixing, mastering got noticed and I got to work for a few albums.
Things had been going smoothly and I was about to take music as my career when suddenly I found myself in a job. I had to work in Infy and I had to go to Mysore for two and a half months for training. I cursed my fate but I was left with no option but to join. But things were to be different when I went there. Several of my friends who were into music had joined with me for training. They had told about me to the bosses there and they were waiting for my arrival. In less than a week since I stepped into Mysore I played my first concert in Infosys Mysore. the folks were very appreciative of the output. Later I went on to perform 2 more shows in Infy. But there was a difference. In the first show I played the list the bosses dictated. In the second they made a list which I dictated and I spearheaded the first ever fusion show in the history of Infosys, which concsisted of my own fusion compositions and some film songs. Then my training was over and I had to join Chennai branch. Never in my life had I seen so many sad faces that I saw in Mysore when they I heard I was leaving the place. I joined chennai branch.
But things were always happening around me and the Mysore folks missed me so much that they invited me for an extremely important concert there, the third one. This was in front of the top delegates including the Chairman Mr. Murthy. The video of the show even appeared in Infy Intranet. This show was huge and received lots of applause. I even heard a few mobile ringtones of one of my fusion pieces. For the first time in my life I was stunned by the response for a concert.
I came back to chennai. My name had become common here, so the folks here asked me to compose a song for the 10th year celebration of the Infy Chennai branch. And now even after 7 months of joining Infosys, I am still doing music. And its intensity is only increasing. I even went for a couple of concerts abroad and my work caused no problems with them.After all this experience, I have come to the realisation that whatever happens, happens only for the good, quoting Gita. How true these statements are! I am a living example of this. Things have been falling in place. My worst fears never came true and the "muttukattais" all melted when I approached them. Nothing is bad in life as it first seems. I have come to that realization now.
Yesterday I chatted with Praz again after a long time. He asked one question - "U told me differently about mixing those days. Now u tell me differently. Why is that?". To that I replied, "Those days I was trying to make bad things good. Today I'm trying to make better things best." What I actually meant was what I had written till now in this post. That one question made me trace back in time to all that had happaned in my life. So now I'm still working and awaiting newer "muttukattais" but as a much more wiser person. Thus my journey continues and so does my learning........................
Lots of thanks to my friend praz for raising the question to me. It really made me look back in life and it was only then that i realized how many "muttukattais" i have crossed in my life. I was really wondering how all this has been possible. I never imagined I would be what I am today when I walked into my 12th standard classroom over 6 years ago. I had been busy playing keyboard for concerts then and I had to give up playing it for atleast a year. The real threat of losing contacts loomed large and I was also bothered about getting into "IIT" which never happened anyway. And then I was in college and all I could see then was that the world had grown and people really jacked off on stage much to the cheer of the crowd. And the truth was that I had not learnt any music till then (which remains that way even today). I really felt I was about to lose out on the big stage when suddenly I had several blessings one of which was in the form of my being picked directly to the college band. Moreover we were able to get prizes in every cultural competition in 2001-2002 in which our band participated. This had never happened before and never happened again too after the key players quit college and I played outside the college band. The most memorable ones were the victories in REC Festember and IIT Saarang which we never dreamt would happen. My presence in the team was attributed then as an important reason for the victory.
Looking back I still wonder how this Navneeth of 2001 would have done this because I was half as capable as what I am today on the instrument. Yes I knew to play with only one hand. I was blind on one side of the keyboard. I used to look up at every single keyboard player in other colleges and I was really scared that they sounded better than me on stage and I was just not confident of my abilities then. I would eventually gain their respect as somebody who was more potent and complete than themselves but I was definitely in worse shoes 5 years before. Looking back and trying to simulate those feelings back in my heart will make me puke today. I now really wonder how I had the mental strength to gather back my confidence that had rather been flushed out of my heart then.
Then I had completed my first year of college. By then I had established myself in the inter-college group event. But my stint in the college was to end because the management split. Also all the key players who had been in the final year when i joined college, passed out. So there i was, left alone and left with the job of regrouping a band. But the director who had encouraged all cultural activities was now gone and now we had a new guy who was not as eager. Tis was another "muttukattai" for me. But as luck would have it my friends of culturals, called me tpo perform with them in "Kalyana Kutcherrys" (marriage concerts in which film songs are played). I started playing them and my music continued.
Later on slowly my name had spread to a few Carnatic musicians who called me to perform fusion shows, in which the use of keyboards was permitted. So my music continued. In my first concert I got really really scared because I had to face many new elemnts in Carnatic Based instrumental Fusion. All that I knew about Carnatic were the ragas (I somehow attained this knowledge by birth by God's grace) and some talas (by reading some books). But my observation skills helped me learn the tricks of the trade. Then I started to play regularly in fusion concerts.
In the meantime my friends and I started to explore new software for recording. I initially was left clueless as to how to handle them. I acquired demo versions of software and started exploring them. Eventually in a few weeks, I was able to compose, record and mix a full song. But I knew nothing about the intricacies and secrets of good recording or mixing. Infact I didnt even knew that a concept called mastering existed.
Then I met one of my friends who was directly blessed by God to create musical masterpieces that had great soound engineering. I started observing him and asked questions to both him and myself. As I always used to do, I tried to discover the answer myself. This quest for the secrets slowly started teaching me the tricks of the trade.
Then I met my friend Praz (refer first Para) who continuously bombarded me with questions regarding sound, mixing etc. I patiently answered him from whatever little experience I had. But my little creations were done using freely distributed lo=fi soundfonts that had little or no sibilance in the samples. So I resorted to the technique of garlanding the equalizer to make it sound brighter. I would eventually learn the right way later, but that day I explained how I garlanded the mix to praz sincerely.
My concerts continued. My college timings really helped me go to many concerts. I wouyld be back from college by 3:40. So I was free to attend any concert after that. I got more and more contacts and started playing more and more fusion. Each time the expectation out of a concert increased and I was now up to the challenge because my confidence was building by then. Eventually I got to play solos that were very Carnatic. I started observing how people played solos and when an opportunity came by I would grab it and play something that would surprise the band mates as they would not have expected something of their kind from a person who was supposed to play chords to ragas. I even observed percussionists and learnt how the kanakkus and thaniavarthanams are played and the norms that are to be followed. I started following them in my solos and after some point I started expecting what the musicians would play in their free style solos and followed them accordingly. This was possible because of my grasping power and I can confidently say this one gift of mine that God has given me has helped me achieve a lot in my life.
In the meantime I started to listen to Hindustani music and I realized what bhavam is all about and analyzed how musicians were able to reach the heart. I started to follow these in solos and this variety surprised a few unsuspecting souls. Also my abaility to do programming, mixing, mastering got noticed and I got to work for a few albums.
Things had been going smoothly and I was about to take music as my career when suddenly I found myself in a job. I had to work in Infy and I had to go to Mysore for two and a half months for training. I cursed my fate but I was left with no option but to join. But things were to be different when I went there. Several of my friends who were into music had joined with me for training. They had told about me to the bosses there and they were waiting for my arrival. In less than a week since I stepped into Mysore I played my first concert in Infosys Mysore. the folks were very appreciative of the output. Later I went on to perform 2 more shows in Infy. But there was a difference. In the first show I played the list the bosses dictated. In the second they made a list which I dictated and I spearheaded the first ever fusion show in the history of Infosys, which concsisted of my own fusion compositions and some film songs. Then my training was over and I had to join Chennai branch. Never in my life had I seen so many sad faces that I saw in Mysore when they I heard I was leaving the place. I joined chennai branch.
But things were always happening around me and the Mysore folks missed me so much that they invited me for an extremely important concert there, the third one. This was in front of the top delegates including the Chairman Mr. Murthy. The video of the show even appeared in Infy Intranet. This show was huge and received lots of applause. I even heard a few mobile ringtones of one of my fusion pieces. For the first time in my life I was stunned by the response for a concert.
I came back to chennai. My name had become common here, so the folks here asked me to compose a song for the 10th year celebration of the Infy Chennai branch. And now even after 7 months of joining Infosys, I am still doing music. And its intensity is only increasing. I even went for a couple of concerts abroad and my work caused no problems with them.After all this experience, I have come to the realisation that whatever happens, happens only for the good, quoting Gita. How true these statements are! I am a living example of this. Things have been falling in place. My worst fears never came true and the "muttukattais" all melted when I approached them. Nothing is bad in life as it first seems. I have come to that realization now.
Yesterday I chatted with Praz again after a long time. He asked one question - "U told me differently about mixing those days. Now u tell me differently. Why is that?". To that I replied, "Those days I was trying to make bad things good. Today I'm trying to make better things best." What I actually meant was what I had written till now in this post. That one question made me trace back in time to all that had happaned in my life. So now I'm still working and awaiting newer "muttukattais" but as a much more wiser person. Thus my journey continues and so does my learning........................
posted by Navneeth Sundar @ 8:35 AM
3 comments
