If music be the food of love, play on...............

If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.

That strain again! it had a dying fall:

From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1602:

Music gives one heavenly bliss and it takes one  to the unknown world.Music whether light, classical or instrumental  is a great stress buster.
Listening to music gives the feeling of floating in the air.

The  Influence of Music started well in the early childhood. Mother a great singer, father, uncles and aunts and grandmom all keep singing or humming all the time. 
Growing up in a joint family and the monetary aspect providing music training  to one per family  could not deter us from learning them.

By playing in groups outside the music teacher's house , we picked up the songs minus the notebooks which of course was placed when the trained singers sang everyday in front of god in the puja room. Though we had no sruthi alignments like sruti potti etc, we sang in our own way and we were happy as well as the members in the house!

Life starts with music, first the suprabatham, then the bathroom songs and film music, during festivals the recorded songs from the temple loudspeakers, evenings the bhajans, and finally ends with the  “ aaraaro areeraro”and "laali govinda laali" or 
"jo,jo ranga "or saluting  neelambari .

The umpteen audio cassetts later the VCDsand DVDs now online radios fills one's ears with full of beautifully rendered songs of the mummoorthi's compositions along with the Tamizh poets and composers who came later.

The Shivarathiri , Radha Kalyanams, marriages, festivals gives an ocean of opportunities to show one's vocal power and also singing along with others than a solo gives immense satisfaction to the singers.More than that, the postmortem  of the same saying,' you started on a high note or viceversa...who went besura etc is a feast for ears!

Many occasions I have missed out on the pallavi or charanam or interchanged with due apologies to the composers, this has happened when I sang in groups also.What to talk of my GLC? ( girl looking ceremony) Like  the movie 'Sollaththaan Ninaikkiren' my sister has toprop me with the charanam from inside!

Of late ,mornings when I am in the kitchen I have to listen to the slokas and songs start with "Yenna punniyam seideno".It peps me up with a positive note in the beginnng of the day and it calms my mind and makes me maintain my mental balance .It can be any music, even my grand daughter's nursery rhymes and Zumba dance beats beats my stress. 

I remember befor the tape recorders came into my life it was the 9 o' clock National Programme of Music on radio used to be  the sleep inducer. It soothens the mind at the end of the day after a lot of hustle- bustle.Finding out the ragam just with the alapana, and the pleasure of identifying it correctly gives some pleasure that we are not dumb to music. Nowadays watchin a kutcheri is a thrilling experience, the nakras the facial expressions, the gestures etc are food for eyes too. Sometimes the way the hans move would give a feeling of flying a kite.... the way thesingers keep moving their bottoms would give a feeling whether any insects have crawled or what, it would be a sankatamaana posture.

When my periappa died ,on the tenth day, ( he was 90)we sang as many songs in groups recalling our joint family days and grandmom's way of singing, indeed we picked up a lot songs and slokas from her- who used to sing aloud. It  brought  back the memories of the past. 

The Thiruppugazh, Sahasranaamam, Narayaneeyam classes  give  one a lot of friends to mingle and interact. 

Some clinics play instrumental music ,even some doctors  play instrumental music in their consulting rooms. Researchers have proved that a pregnant mother listening to music helps the child after birth and while in the womb, the baby reacts and responds to the sound. Music therapy is considered best foe those who commit suicides, in depression .Humming a tune before exams, or when alone boosts one's energykeeps the fear at bay.

It's a common sight  to see with head phones on nowadays oblivious of what's happening around them.People who go on a long drive play music and beating to the rhythm and tapping one's foot to the beats  charges one's brain.Even it has proved to be an excellent therapy for stroke victims who could respond to it even though their speech is affected. 

Such is the power of music.