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Harmonica With No Harmony

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Agatha83, Feb 27, 2017.

  1. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    As a six-year old girl, growing up with my grand parents, I was a constant witness to a steady stream of guests, many of them cousins, nephews and nieces visiting my grandparents. Among them, a young lad, my grand nephew was the star of attraction for my grand parents who were serious movie buffs.This stylish nephew who always carried a professional harmonica in his hip-pocket and would pull it out any time and play film songs requested by my grand parents. In return, he was amply compensated with mouth-watering goodies –steaming Pongal, sooji halwa, bajji and out-of-the-world tasting filter coffee–food I would watch him eat passionately while drooling with my starved tongue, as I never got to taste them even once.

    But listening to my grand nephew play all the film music tunes with great ease and expertise left a deep impact on me. Soon, I was obsessed with the idea of playing a mouth organ and started nagging my grandparents to get me one. Unable to withstand my tantrums, my grandpa gifted me with a cheap mouth organ bought from the pavement vendor.

    My hopes of learning the intricacies of playing the harmonica from him were dashed as he moved to a faraway country and stopped visiting us regularly. Though I happily played it non stop for a month, it left blisters on my lips but not even one-tenth of the competence that my nephew possessed. The discordant, cacophonous sounds that emanated from the harmonica caused a lot of irritation and anger among my family members resulting in a dramatic showdown one day, when they gave me an ultimatum – only one of us, me or my mouth organ, could continue to stay in the house. With great pain, I parted ways with it. I silently shed tears for my faithful companion of one month, which ended up finally in the garbage bin. My obsession with this innocuous little instrument still continues. Now I enjoy those peppy songs where mouth organ plays a dominant role rather than trying too hard to master the skill of playing it, which was far beyond my reach!

     
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  2. creativemumma

    creativemumma Gold IL'ite

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  3. joylokhi

    joylokhi Platinum IL'ite

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    Enjoyed reading your snippet. I think children today certainly do not have all the varied experiences due to
    the big family set up as before. Even if u have not mastered the art, it has ingrained in you the appreciation for it:)
     
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  4. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear @creativemumma,

    When I thought that Violin is the most difficult instrument to learn, the sight of young kids as young as 5 learning violin at the music school near my house left me speechless. To my utter surprise, I also found out that these kids found the learning process easy, when I queried them about it. The only advice I gave these kids is not to abandon learning or their interest in the musical instrument when they reach the plus 2 mania!
    Agatha83
     
  5. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear @joylokhi,

    I can see many young mothers accompanying their kids to the music schools in the evenings. But one has to sustain that interest in learning the instrument till the end. I still love to listen to Srinivas's Mandolin or Pt.Ravishankar's Sitar anytime!

    Agatha83
     
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  6. Rajeni

    Rajeni Moderator Platinum IL'ite

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    Nice snippet Agatha! Nowadays, kids get a lot of exposure and have lot of opportunity to learn what they want.
    But, even ten to fifteen years back it was not the case. There wont be many teachers or it's difficult to find one (without the net) and there would be commute issues, if the place is far from home. Financial issues were predominant in a middle class household and when they struggle to meet the curricular needs of the child extra-curricular skills were waived off as unimportant.
    On the contrary, parents today take pride in their children's extracurricular skills and they force the kids to learn different things - Sing, dance, play, be multi-lingual and also top your exams! Isn't it too much to ask?

    And, thanks to all those reality shows, even before the kid starts talking properly its put into music and dance classes.. Uff!
     
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  7. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Rajeni,

    Thanks for your appreciation. As you have rightly said 2 decades back, there were only a handful of music and dance schools which is not the case now. Parents during those times also were not much enthusiastic about their children indulging in extracurricular activities. Watching those reality shows, I wonder how much of hard work has been put together both by the parents and the kids performing, involving lots of time and money. I agree parents are pushy, but in this competitive world getting a head start at a young age, exposing their talents to the entire world- I cannot even dream about such a thing!

    Agatha83
     
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  8. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    At six you had a grand nephew? Wow the family ties are pretty convoluted! Cheer up, not everybody is musically gifted. My dad used to dabble in morsing, the percussion instrument played by keeping it in the mouth and twanging it with fingers, I tried it and nearly cut my tongue!
     
  9. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Balajee,

    I think you belong to the Nakeerar parambarai. I am not good at explaining relationships, but I knew this fellow was my grandparents siblings son or grandson.
    With faltering memory trying to recollect happenings that occurred 7 decades back is an enormous task and I hope you pardon those senior citizens for those simple follies like mine's. Not a word about the song I posted from anyone! So sad!

    Agatha83
     
  10. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Agatha,
    I enjoyed the video you have posted.
    Perhaps the cheap harmonica your grandfather bought for you had jarring sound. That's why your family members got irritated.
    My mom's choice was always for vocal music. She used to say that we don't have to carry an instrument wherever we go and simply start singing at any family function. My daughter learned vocal music and she had even given performances in temples and Tamil Association before marriage. After marriage there was no encouragement. One of my sons learned violin and other one mridangam and tabla. Now none of them are continuing.
    Now one of my grandsons who is in US had learnt guitar and the other one his younger brother learned piano. The one who learned piano has joined the band group in school. He is playing drum and this month he would be going to Ireland with his group to give few performances there.
    PS
     

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