Many Musicians are forgetting this!

This is from my archive. I thought of making a video on this tweet I posted a while ago. I may or may not film that video, but I wanted to get it out and convey it to you as soon as possible, so here it is.

I think it has become our natural tendency. As Humans, we tend to forget why we even got into something. People get into music or any art, but forget it’s about the experience and deviates themselves to what’s trending or gets trapped in the competitive world of its own. Gets into earning money and forgets it’s about freedom to do whatever and whenever you like to do and gets deviated by overworking, hoarding, and greed for more. Gets into spirituality and forgets it’s about the journey, instead gets confused with words like attainment. Gets into religion and forgets it’s about faith, hope, surrendering, and other values to align your life, instead gets into delusion and superstition. In fact, Humans get into this world with a purpose of their own, aligned with the consciousness but wanders distracted towards everything his horse minds race towards.

This trait has helped us evolve and innovate, true because we end up mixing thoughts and ideas of different genres when we no longer remember the purpose of its use. Like how Coca-Cola’s original purpose was to combat anxiety, headaches, and drug dependence. But at least we must be aware that we are entrapped by this trait. If we are aware, we can choose not to be entrapped.

Music is the effect and cause of expression. Notes, ragas, etc are just the science of music. And music is way expansive than these parameters of it, right? We use notes just to perceive and convey the working of music. But this awareness of the working has very little to no effect on the expression, the music itself.

That is why there are people without knowledge of music theory who can make and play music similar to those learned. And of course, the opposite is also true. Learning the science may help you a little bit, but it is not the way to approach it at all because the basis of music is entirely different. It is that of experience.

I repeat – ” Music is not about Intelligence, It’s about Experience”

The experience then of course leads to the ultimate spiritual destiny, but let’s talk that some other time. For now, all I am saying is intelligence adds very little to experience and in fact, sometimes it can take away the experience after knowing. And moreover, we must not get entangled with a parameter of something so divine and expansive as music, right? We must not be entangled with mere tools like math in music, right?  We must not forget why we are listening, practicing, playing, singing, and making music, right? If we focus on what music is truly based on, that is experience, we can do better at it, right?

Thank You,

Yours Loving Artist,

Sanath Kumar Naibhi