Healing Lessons

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything”. -Plato

 Mr. Siddhaye is a middle aged person born in the  family of musicians. His father was a music teacher for years and so the musical sense in him was not only an inherited quality, but also an environmental one. His early childhood and teenage was devoted in learning vocal music, but his ancestors were talented instrumentalists, which  included Violin, Tabla, Tanpura and many more. Yet, it took years to get  the right ‘Guru’ to show him the guiding path. His  education under his Guru taught him the precise way to hold a bow,  and play the instrument perfectly. As such, his learning included a lot of unteaching of self-learnt wrong traits too, which he says is far more  difficult than learning the instrument. Mr. Siddhaye is  a short, slim and a fair person who dresses traditionally for the music class.  He  is also a perfectionist in punctuality and  is methodological in approach. He often tells us that being passionate about any art in life helps to experience a joy in learning.

His weekend classes are held in the classroom of  a  popular school for those who are zealous about Violin lessons. There is no constraint of age, thus I was one of his oldest students. By and large, he sits on a soft cotton mattress, and his students of all ages sit around him in a huge semicircle on a carpet as they wait to get hold of his attention. As one enters the classroom,  they notice a  framed picture of Goddess Saraswathi, the Goddess of learning, mounted on a bench near the wall. Next to the framed picture  is a metallic Nataraja, the lord of Dance. The radiance of the lit lamp  and  the heady scent of the burning incense sticks has an astonishing effect on one’s psyche before one begins the Violin lessons.  Mr. Siddhaye  is a meticulous person who believes in the initial grooming lessons before beginning the Violin lessons.

As a new entrant in the batch I was initiated towards the Violin lessons after  a methodological class on the protection of the instrument and its maintenance. It included a rationale and  a musical approach too. He told me that the case of the Violin should be kept on the left side as it helped the student to bow the lessons freely. The bow must be taken out first on opening the case, the Violin has to be placed on its side to save it in accidental bumps and mishaps. The lessons were many, each day, each minute, I learnt how to protect the instrument and treat it like a baby as I slid it back into the case after wiping it clean after every lesson.

Rosin is a viscous substance made from plant resin. The occasional rubbing of Rosin makes the horsehair of the bow grip the strings of the Violin to vibrate well,  Rosin needs  to be used tactfully by holding it in its case while running it  with nimble fingers. I was taught to hold a proper posture that helped the bow pulsate separate strings, each time we changed the notes. The lessons proved to be a bonanza  as they were based on Hindustani Classical    Music. Numerous times, while the other students played Raag Malkose or Bhagashree, I would listen peacefully recollecting my vocal music lessons. The students consist of a father and son duo who  travel a clean ten kms to learn together. The twelve year old son seems adept as he gives reassuring nods to his father. They are good friends as they share jokes and the lessons in the most jovial way. Then there are young girls and boys. There are a few college going girls and a few other men who have jobs, s but appear very young.

One day as I entered the class I saw the youngest student. The boy was barely five years old. He was given the smallest Violin, the smaller instruments are almost a quarter the normal Violin and  are commonly used by children as their fingers are not long enough to reach the correct positions on a full-sized instrument. The bow accompanying the Violin is also a small one and a light one. The initial days, we saw the little boy sitting near Mr. Siddhaye and try hard to play the Violin. He would sometimes get annoyed and almost rip the strings apart astonishing everyone with the loud piercing sound amongst the musical sounds. The angry and impatient moves at times would annoy us, but we never found any signs of irritation on Mr. Siddhaye’s face. He would look at him lovingly and say ‘savkash’,  ‘play it gently’. The boy would exasperate him further through his impatience, but Mr. Siddhaye would tenderly take the instrument from his hand and play a beautiful note and then the exercises. Each time I would see the boy calm down considerably and smile. He would then continue listening to Mr. Siddhaye as he taught the more proficient students. There was a gentleness that always touched us and brought in a tranquillity and sanctity to the place. The little boy would bow the Violin for a while and get friendly to all of us. He slowly began to sing  ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ as we played the octave. We wondered how he was able to sing the notes correctly. We saw the little boy’s restlessness slip away with time. Now, when he sported a smile on his face  relentlessly which was contagious. Mr. Siddhaye loved the boy as he chatted occasionally like good friends. The  only striking aspect was that the  little boy always had tired eyes, making all of us wonder.

One of the days, we had begun playing our lessons after the initial revision. The instrument requires  immense  concentration and definitely takes one into a state of mindfulness. The little boy sat at the end and continued with his bowing lessons. He suddenly put his Violin away and walked to the center near the soft mattress of Mr. Siddhaye and prostrated as if he sought his blessings and then stretched completely and looked at the fan. We looked at him in expectancy, but the boy told Mr. Siddhaye, ‘Zopayache Sir’ which meant he wanted to sleep. Mr. Siddhaye laughed aloud and the boy told him that his father came very late as he was a businessman and then the dinner was behind schedule. He would then talk to his father and sleep very late. He was willing to sleep anywhere during the Violin lessons. We asked him to sleep on the bench, but the boy refused to budge from the tranquil spot. As we played the lessons the boy slept peacefully till his mother came and took him home. His mother thanked Mr. Sidhaye as the boy suffered from insomnia for days together and found it difficult to unwind, but music had done wonders.

 Music plays a great role in unwinding and acts as an active and receptive therapy in healing and living well.   Music can improve physical and mental health to improvise listening and working on special needs.

“Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite”. -Thomas Carlyle