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Music for the soul.


Rishii  is now getting well into his tabla tour. Nishka and I watched Rishii and up and coming Sitar player Akash Ash Parekh give a musical demonstration last weekend, for a Health and Culture Event. This took place at Beauchamp College, Oadby, Leicester which happens to be mine, Rishii's and our sisters old college.

The demonstration that Rishii and Akash gave focused on the mental, physical and spiritual aspects of music. Rishii began with a demonstration of   warm up exercises on the tabla that really work the upper and lower arms, focusing on the physical aspect. Akash went through warm up exercises on the sitar and mentioned how even the sitting position when playing the sitar requires a level of physical flexibility. Akash then went onto demonstrate the warm up exercises he performs on Sitar during his practise.

They both moved onto  the mental aspects of music and the emphasis on different levels of concentration. Playing tabla and sitar involves memorising different phrases and various time and rhythm changes that really work the left and right brain.

The final part of the demonstration looked at the spiritual aspects of music, where Rishii emphasised on "zoning out". During  a performance a musician gets very deep into their music but at the same time they often have to contend with background noise and often organisers telling them to hurry up if performances run past the allotted time. Akash talked about how the raga's ( compositions) played on sitar have different moods and can put the musician in a relaxed medatative state. Rishi talked about how tabla players often say the rhythms they are playing and how this is like reciting a mantra.

I personally walked away from this demonstration full of motivation to encourage Nishka's musical interest. From this demonstration one can see that investing in music lessons for a child is an investment in a child's over all health and well being. One of the many reasons my blog is called mummy manic Mondays is because I have moments of mania when Nishka gets bored and does not know how to use her energy. I have observed many positive behaviour changes in Nishka since she has been having lessons with Rishii. The other day Rishii and Akash were rehearsing and when Nishka came home she went into great detail about what they were practising. According to Rishii Nishka was more than happy to sit and watch them as they rehearsed. Getting an energetic four year old to do that is a result.

On a more personal note, I am friends with a lot of single mums who like myself are going through bitter legal battles. During these moments of darkness, I would say both a parent and a child can find light through something they are passionate about. For me it is writing and I am so happy that Nishka is showing an interest in music, which I will wholeheartedly support. To all parents and kids find a passion that nourishes your mind, body and soul.

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