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Post date: Jun 08, 2012 4:6:10 PM
by Sameer Kotasthane
(512)940 4935
My classical music journey would be meaningless without my Gurus Pt. Vijay Koparkar, Pt. T.D. Janorikar and Smt. Sangeeta Pandharpurkar. Music touched every aspect of their life. Their music was so
inspirational that I often felt torn between music and everything else – friends, career, family, etc.
I was very fortunate to have learnt classical vocal music under the guidance of Late Pt. T.D. Janorikar for three years. Panditji was one of the foremost exponents of the Bhendibazaar gharana. Systematic presentation of the bandish, tremendous breath control (his sonorous meend reminded me of dhrupad-singers) and aesthetically rich rendition of the Raga were hallmarks of his concert performances.
Since childhood, I had known Pt. Janorikar as a great performer. But over the years, through interactions with musicians at Pune’s Gandharva Mahavidyalaya I learnt that he was a great teacher as well. One evening I visited Panditji where he taught music lessons and expressed a desire to learn from him. He said “Let me hear what you have learnt.” I sang “Ali Morey Mana Naahin Chaina Parat” a Bihag bandish set to Teentaal. He listened patiently with his eyes closed. I was very nervous, worried about what he might be thinking. After fifteen minutes, I could no longer focus on my singing. I stopped and set down my tanpura. He opened his eyes. “Do you know who wrote this bandish?” he asked. I was silent. He pointed to the picture behind me on the wall. In awe, I turned around to see the photo of Ustad Aman Ali Khan, his guru and founder of the Bhendibazaar gharana. Panditji recalled with a faint smile that he had learnt this bandish from the Ustad almost fifty years ago. Then he said sternly, “Your voice lacks depth – it is chanchal. It needs rigorous taleem. You will have to unlearn a lot of things that you have picked up. Only then could we move forward.”
He then described how his basic training began with Ustad Aman Ali Khan (Ustadji). Pt. Janorikar had been learning from Pt. Vinayakrao Patwardhan for several years so he was not oblivious to the purity of notes. But when he started learning from Ustadji, Pt. Janorikar realized how imperfect his understanding of tonal accuracy had been. He would need to apply himself fully to achieve accurate intonation (swara-sadhana). His lessons with Ustadji in the morning invariably began with singing Shadja (Sa). Every few seconds, Ustadji would gesture “too low” or “too high”. This went on daily for one year. Ustadji would demonstrate how the note should sound. He only allowed Panditji to sing Sa for the first year. Panditji felt bored with the repetitive exercise, but he saw the beauty of Ustadji’s Sa – it was so enchanting that he too did not want to quit. Occasionally when Panditji produced the exact Sa, Ustadji’s face lit up with joy. Seeing that, Panditji was also thrilled and kept pushing himself further. After a year, he finally realized how beautiful the pure tonic could sound. Thus, Ustadji taught my Guru his most important lessons first - the purity of intonation and constant self-evaluation of vocal production and projection. Ustadji also taught Pt. Janorikar the importance of practicing in the lower octave (Kharja practice). Through several years of this practice, Pt. Janorikar developed remarkable control over his breath, great depth in his meend and a voice that cascaded taans freely over all three octaves. Just listening to his meend and gamak-taans I gasped in awe.
Just as Ustadji groomed him rigorously, Pt. Janorikar in turn imparted his knowledge to me in an undiluted fashion. Classical music is a difficult art form to love; even more difficult one to perform. A lot of things about classical music are counter-intuitive to learn. To free up your voice in the upper octave, you need to practice in the lower octave for hours together. To sing lightning fast improvisations, you need to practice basic melodic structures in slow tempo for several months. The list goes on. You are not given the answer. Rather, the answer comes to you – very slowly, but steadily. For example, when Pt. Janorikar asked me to stop singing and just listen to the tanpura for a while, I felt hurt - even somewhat insulted. But after six months, when I finally started hearing the Re note out of Pa, and the Ga note out of Sa, I was overjoyed. I had found the answer, and had grown my musical acuity in the process. Had I questioned my Guru at the time or not put my heart into this dry and harsh exercise, I might have not reached the next level of musical maturity. Thus, Pt. Janorikar taught me an important life lesson –lifelong pursuit of excellence requires humility and unconditional devotion to the Guru.
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