The Alto Sax Diva..

That is my darling daughter, posing with an attitude when I requested a photo of her playing Saxophone.. 

We then switched gears from the Carlos Santana mode to Carnatic Sangeeham mode and here is the result..

She is getting better with more practice. Have to say a heartfelt thanks to Candida Connolly and Kadri Gopalnath for publishing a book that brings these almost 400 year old tunes to Western notation. Initially she was playing it staccatto and now that she heard the CD that came with the book, has figured out that the notes are to be played slurred and there are tie'd notes where she lips only the first note! 

It is an interesting experience for me watching her figure this out as well as helping her figure this out! 

A funny conversation after we listened to the amazing Kadri play Nagumomu..

me : you see how he just floats that note for a fraction of a second? can you do that?

Jr. : how long has he been playing the saxophone?

me : 30-35 years?

Jr. : Let me guess. That is what he does for a living?

me : yes. I think he is a full time saxophone musician.. not some part time bank employee playing saxophone on the side.

Jr. : I AM A BEGINNER! I DON'T FLOAT NOTES LIKE THAT APPA!

Well, that came out of nowhere! If I had only captured that dialogue on video, it would have made the videoblog even better..

Here's to my diva! 

RaRa VeNu Gopala - An Alto Saxophone performance

Jr. has been practicing RaRa VeNu Gopala on her Alto Sax on and off now. It started first week of October as an attempt to peform at Navarathri golus, but she got busy and never got past the first half.

Today she practised the whole thing and did it after 35 minutes of takes and retakes. 

She made me very proud today because she stuck to it and got it done. She had first given up on this because she learns Carnatic music (south Indian classical) with the Indian notation and all her Saxophone lessons are in sheet music and western notation! There is a big conflict in her head when she reads the notation because even the Indian notation is written in the English alphabet for her. When I was a kid used to learn with the notes written in Tamil alphabet.

So what happens? 

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa gets written in her book as S R G M P D N S

When I translate the carnatic notes for her to Western, I have to go with a G to G scale and write it as 

G A B C D E F G and the problem is G and D are there is both the representations.. poor thing had to practice it many times to get things going.

Now she is on a roll. Going to get some of her other favorite Tamil Songs converted to her notation so she can play it. 

For what it is worth see the pics of the notes made for her. 

 

We will definitely have a few songs ready by next Golu! 

ps. On a side note, this is part of the basic Carnatic music lessons. Some guy is trying to claim Copyright to Raravenu Gopala and is claiming this is infringing on his copyright! Have filed a dispute. These days it is getting ridiculous.

Some things never change...

Jr. and the little one cannot be left alone for more than 60 seconds before a fight breaks out.

Somehow this has become the norm in the house these days. They go to different schools now and interact a lot less on a daily basis, but when they do.. all hell breaks in the house.. well, physically things are breaking during their fights.

There is also a competition of sorts for anything and everything.. 

Was wondering if things were always like this and got the answer during our bedtime "baby photos" session..

Yes! 

Some things have not changed much!