How I Started Playing the Guitar Anonymous

Growing up, I was always surrounded by the classical Indian music that my parents sang but I could never understand because it was in Hindi. They often encouraged my sister and me to sing along with them but we were more interested in Taylor Swift at the time. However, when we moved to India, I decided to take the opportunity to learn more about this style of music in order to better appreciate our cultural heritage which, of course, also made my parents happy.

Initially, it all sounded like a series of monotonous sounds, making no sense. However, as I got more involved in the class, I began to understand the deeper meaning that each note and individual tune are meant to convey. The most challenging part of the class was not the singing, it was the fact that I had to read the lyrics in Hindi. Later, I realized that Indian classical music is more about comprehending the sentiment of the piece and expressing it in one’s own way, with lots of space for improvisation. Learning to perform this type of music not only increased my admiration of its ancient roots, but also of music all over the world.

Having gained a greater appreciation for this genre of music, when I moved back to the US, I was eager to try something new, so I began...