Because of the Stick I took up the sitar
. I know it is an odd thing but long before I evergot a Stick I used to belong to a group of Indian music lovers called the "Indian Music Circle" in Los Angles.
Being a donor to this group I was on the list to be invited to to all the Hindustani 'north' Indian
classical music performances, and there were many, usually held in a church and lucky for
me, I guess, the events were under attended by westerners and mostly just local Indians came
to the shows.
Numerous times I got to sit at the feet of Ravi Shankar and one time he played a duet with
Ali Akbar (for those who don't know Ravi Shankar was a sort of step brother to Ali Akbar Khan who played an instrument called a "Sarod")
One time when Ravi Shankar was playing and these concerts were very long, he played
something that was so amazing that I had this insight that both western classical music
and jazz were concentrated inside of the raga he was exploring. I was very young
at the time 21 or 22, and I was stunned, hit by a musical landslide. I am not really sure what I understood but it was something that has lasted.
Years later I had a similar epiphany about the Stick, that so much music and musical power is concentrated into it's design that you can continue discovering new musical ideas forever.
But it was after picking up a sitar and playing it for a while that I fell into the space
that you mention :
Quote:
"...instrument took on a dimension of such a great depth, such as that of guru, disciple and meditation. I wonder how many Stickists out there have experienced that element of total surrender where one becomes one with the instrument."
I am not sure if you meant this or not but for me with the sitar and not having a teacher I realized that the instrument itself becomes the guru. This is true of course with the Stick and
The Stick prepared me for the sitar. So when this "meditation" happens both the
sitar and the person disappear! The "oneness" is just the music and then the
dimension of the story the music is describing. I can't always "make" it happen
but it does happen.
So yes some of us experience this kind of stuff
.jRj
*j*
.~