Deciphering the Sound (Part I)

Last day Nishant (my rommie) told me "You have good taste in music, you can find out which song is good quickly." I blushed at this compliment. Well at this moment let me tell you my true story.

I had a bad taste in music during my school days. In Vidyalaya you had to learn singing or playing tabla. In other words you can tell they were credit courses. I had never sung and had bad memory for learning the songs. I had tried my talent while singing in Prayer hall (which we used to have every morning and evening) and quite often I would find myself out of phase to rest of the band. In one Saraswati Puja (in seventh standard) break when all the talented singers had gone home and we few outsiders had no choice but to stay back, I had shown courage. I had seen my friends playing harmonium and I had remembered how they stroked his fingers on harmonia in playing mantras. I took down the harmonium, and played the mantra. After the prayers was over I found out all my friends were laughing and they told me my hands motion was good but my singing was really out of tune. I was not giving nodes. I had sung the whole mantra in one breath. Silly! Billy!

So I had taken Tabla in my course work. My friends who had some idea playing Tabla earlier on were comfortable. I tried a lot, perhaps never from my heart to learn Tabla and was never able to play it well. My way of playing Tabla was always out of context. In first few months teachers were helpful. But after most of the classes I used to get scoldings and my ears would turn red. Sometimes when we had blind teacher teaching us, some of us tried to cheat also. I used to pass their tests anyhow telling that next year I would try to perform better. I had have to suffer for 3 years and still I was a novice. They used tell me learn then and when you ouldbe grown up, you would try to relax, ease out your tensions, enjoy playing Tabla. Now I feel I was fool and how true they were.

I had distaste of music in my childhood. I agree that in my school days I thought music as the items which killed time.

Now when you are in college, you come across different people having different taste of music. You can search and play your any music on YouTube. You can download all the Bollywood songs and rock bands albums (even the discographies). You can hear music every time, sometime soft and sometime loud, you love it or hate it. Sometimes I play music in room loudly, probably telling my roomies this nice song we should all hear it. :P. I find the world of music quite soothing in this fast college life where you are in race. You will think that you are lagging behind, no one is following you, conspiring against you, all Profs. are disapproving you in all matters, too much tension during exam time, whole world is going against you. It is music which soothes you and rejuvenates you. I have another bad logic to listen logic. If you want to relax why not watch a movie. Again, movies are long and you do not much time. It's like quick soup to quench your sudden rush of adrenaline. Still I do not much understand the rhythm and unable to remember all the songs. Now I love to share music and much passionate to hear fine tunes striking your ear and taking you completely in new world. I often like to hear one particular band at a time. But as time goes by I get bored and switch to other, I find out new one and then I like it too. I often wonder can any song thrill me more this current one, but I find out another song which as melodious as the before .

Let me share with you names my current favorite bands (I love some Bollywood numbers too. But here I am enlisting only foreign bands. This is good for me as after some time I can just see how my taste of music changes. This does not mean that I like all their songs. But it's good you should try to hear all albums at once to have a feel. Based on the no. of songs * no. of times I have played from their album in last 6 months.)

1. Roxette
   
2. Bryan adams
   
3. Pink Floyd
   
4. Coldplay
   
5. The Cranberries
   
6. Madonna , Linkin park
   
7. Nelly Furtado
   
8. Jack Johnson
   
9. The Eagles
   
10. Dido, Michael Jackson