My Music, My Life [Hardcover]

Ravi Shankar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1969

With stunning new photographs and a new final chapter detailing Ravi Shankar’s hope for the preservation of Indian classical music, this updated edition of My Music, My Life profiles an extraordinary man. In his own words, Shankar describes his transformation from a young traveling dancer to a Grammy Award-winning, internationally known musician. An autobiography, a history of Indian classical music, and a manual on how to play the sitar, this book is about music as a both a lifestyle and an art. It embodies Ravi Shankar’s unique approach to his craft.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (April 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0224616374
• ISBN-13: 978-0224616379
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,057,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NADA BRAHMA - GOD IS SOUND., September 29, 1999

By 

Örn Leifsson (Reykjavik Iceland.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Music, My Life: Complete Manual on How to Play the Sitar (Hardcover)

Ravi Shankars book "My music My life" from 1969 is a great introduction to Indian music and how it is to grow up in India as a music student.

In chapter one "My Heritage" Shankar explains the basic principles of Indian music, the difference between North and South Indian music and the most common musical instruments.Chapter two "My Masters" is about his teachers and chapter three "Myself" is Shankars autobiography. Chapter four is a manual for learning the sitar.

I found this book very enjoyable and a great introduction to one of the best music this planet has to offer and Shankar is one of the greatest musicians of this century. The chapter about his life in India as a music student were very interesting to me because it is so different from being a music student in Iceland.

For those interested I would also recomend the video "Raga" which is a documentary about Shankar (done I think in the late 60's) and of course all his fabulous c.d's.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork from a master, January 13, 2008

By 

R Foose "philognosist" (Quincy, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Music, My Life (Paperback)

I own the first edition of this book. It is probably one of the more accessible introductions to Indian music, the Guru/Shishya relationship, and the sitar itself that you will find. Other books cover each of these areas in more detail, but this one is enough unless you really want to invest a LOT of time...in which case, you'd probably do better to find a guru of your own. The last of the four sections of the book is a pretty thorough introduction to the sitar and its technique, as well a very rudimentary introduction to several ragas. It will take you a long way along the path to mastery if you dedicate yourself to completely assimilating the material provided..but again, a teacher would still do a better job in the same amount of time. So...definitely get this book, in either edition, and begin a relationship with this remarkable man and his even more remarkable music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun, friendly, and informative, August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Music, My Life: Complete Manual on How to Play the Sitar (Hardcover)

I found the chapter on introductory sitar technique particularly captivating and enlightening. I'd spent many hours pouring over explanations of Indian music in Grove's, world music, texts, etc., and this short chapter made it seem real for the first time. (A curiosity: This was edited by one Carly Simon, scion of Simon & Schuster's elder Simon, before she became known in another capacity.) Those interested in East-West musical synthesis will also want to take a look at Jeff Burns's PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST.