I am most grateful that music has always been part of my life. I think it is one of the most important things in our world. I would like to play as many instruments as I can learn. So far I have gotten a pretty good start. My primary instrument is
piano.
Then comes
singing. After that it gets a bit strange. I
play
panpipes and
tarkas, which are from the Andes mountain
region of South America. I used play in an Andean ensemble at the University of Illinois. I also have had some playing experience both on the
hammered dulcimer and on the
plucked
dulcimer, though I have not played either in some time. I play the
gopichand, from Bengal. It is a neat one string instrument used mainly for rhythm purposes. I also have an Egyptian
ney, which is considered by many
to be the most difficult wind instrument in the world. I am slowly becoming able to play scales on it. Hopefully I will be able to do more soon! I
have played in a Russian Folk Orchestra. I played
alto
domra, which looks a lot like (and is related to) the lute. It is a
great instrument and lots of fun to play. Most recently I have started to play both
alto and soprano recorder. There are other instruments, but I won't go into the gorey detail.
Now for what I like to listen to! Here are the main types of music I am fond of:
- Early music
- Ancient - pre-medieval stuff (hard to come by)
- Medieval music - Gregorian chant, organum, early polyphony, and what-not.
- Renaissance (motets, polyphony, and the rest)
- Classical! -
Most of the stuff I listen to is classical (and this would include Baroque through twentieth century). I am a die-hard fan!
- World
- Middle Eastern music - see my Raqs Sharqi page for these links (at the bottom).
- Andean - music from the Andes Mountains in South America
- Flamenco - this is a style of music from Spain which has some Middle Eastern influence; very choice
- Lots of other ethnic music, i.e. stuff from Africa, Asia, the Americas (like Los Folkloristas), Europe, and Australia (did I leave anyone out??)
- a little New Music (or should that be "eine kleine Neue Musik"...?)
- Lounge & Space Age (Jetsons-ish)
- Techno, Ambient, Jungle, Industrial, and Dance, and all that
- some New Age, like Ray Lynch
- some R & B
- and very little Pop
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As you can see, that is pretty all inclusive. There are very few
genres of music I dislike. Just don't subject me to hours of '80s music
or Country music, or to a few minutes of metal music (I strongly hate to even call some of that music....but I try not to be prejudice). You can check out CDnow, Borders, and Tower Records, which are my favorite online places to buy recordings.
Since I don't have anywhere else to really put this, here are a few Gems of Music Composition, if you are interested.
A few sources online for procuring various instruments: