Customer Reviews

My Music, My Life

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4 star:		(1)
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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.

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.

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.

A GITA ON MUSIC, November 5, 1999

Reviewer: Herman Anderson (handerso@cybersmart.co.za) (KwaZulu Natal, South Africa)

A beautiful offering! It is not just the world of music which is the richer for this account. Music, a system - or - music, a way of life. Devotion, dedication, service, and the universality of this music is Vedanta, lived and written of by Ravi Shankar. This lucid presentation of an exceptional culture is a way open for appreciation and more.

Everything Raviji touches is gold!

This book is really wonderful, both as a personal autobiography of a master musician, and as a technical manual for learning Sitar.

I haven't had a chance to read the entire book yet, but I have tried some of the exercises in the technical section, and they are not only very helpful but quite beautiful in their own right.

Its probably true for every instrument, but practice exercises can tend to be uninteresting or not very melodic. But the material in this book makes even a beginner feel like he is playing "real" Hindustani music.

Ok, you still need personal instruction to learn to play a complete raga, but this is a really good start until you can find a teacher.

UPDATE

I finished reading the "autobiographical" sections and have been practicing the exercises for some time now, so thought this review should be updated.

The entire book is focused on music. By that I mean that even the "autobiographical" sections are focused solely on Ravi's involvement and development in music, as opposed to his personal life.

It starts off giving a brief, but concise history of the historical development of Indian music, and Hindustani music in particular, including development of instruments and styles/schools of playing. Then it shows where Ravi and his Guru fit into this context.

It then discusses Ravi's early years dancing in brother Uday's dance troupe; how he basically learned to play multiple instruments "by ear" and how he eventually focused on Sitar under the teachings of Usted "Baba" Allauddin Khan.

The book is a fascinating chronicle of how Ravi developed musically and began introducing Hindustani Classical music to the West and how he began changing the way even Indians listen to and honor their own music.

The only (very) slight complaint I have is that the book really doesn't touch much on his non-professional life. He barely mentions his relations with women, even though he had a reputation of being a "womanizer." He mentions Norah Jones' mother in passing, and his current wife. But, even though he mentions his first marriage to Baba's daughter, he does not mention what happened with this marriage. Did she die? Did it end in divorce?

However, I am not knocking this book because if you take it for what it is... a book focused on Ravi's professional life, music and teachings it is a truly fascinating read.

And, after working more on the practice exercises, I think you don't need another sitar book. This has everything you need to get started on learning Sitar, other than a live, in-person teacher. (which is critical, actually!)

I absolutely love this book! It has been of more use to me than most any other book. As I read through my inspiration only grew; I just started playing the sitar and I would constantly have to stop reading and practice because I would get so excited about the music! This book is great because it follows through with the inspiration with a great technical manual on the sitar and hindustani music in general. A must read for anyone interested in true musicianship. You will be inspired by pandit ji's relentless devotion to the beauty of his traditional music!!! Few musicians can compare in devotion, creativity and sheer skill!

I bought this book as my own birthday present and it came on time less than one week from the time I ordered it. Many lovers of indian classical music were waiting for the reprinting of this book for more than 20 years. The new printing is so beautiful and the concept of raga is all over the book as if instead of reading one is lstening to the music it conveys thru its colors and the beautiful binding. The book is more or less the same as the original edition with the exception of Panditji's foreword and his epilogue at the end of the book. I would love to have this book translated in Spanish as it is my mother tongue. I even would like to do the translation myself. I remember that I learn to play the sitar when I made photocopies of the sitar lessons on the book from the old Simon and Schuster edition that the local university library had.Thanks to it I not only learned to appreciate the music but also to learn to enjoy one of the most magnificient, heavenly sounding string instruments in the world. I even remember when I met Ravi Shankar at a concert he gave at the Rialto Center in Atlanta in 2001. It was like a dream come true. Also I am very happy for the price Amazon had for such a beautiful book and the good service. Namaste!

After religiously listening to multiple Ravi Shankar recordings and looking at Sitars on Ebay for several months, I finally found an excellent deal on a "R.S. style" Sitar. Even before it arrived, I knew it was missing a few strings. I have been able to apply my experience with the guitar in restringing other stringed instruments (in the case of the chinese Liuqin) but the construction of the Sitar seemed wholly different and far more intimidating.

After finding out that "My Music, My Life" contained a manual for the maintenance and playing of the Sitar, I had no hesitation purchasing it for a chance to receive written instruction from the Pandit himself. The manual portion of the book has detailed information on the construction of the Sitar, the proper way to restring and tune it with Western notational equivalents and photographs of the resplendent Anoushka Shankar illustrating the proper techniques of holding and playing the instrument. At the end of all this is an explanation of the notational symbols used in Indian music that would be unfamiliar to the Western musician and multiple exercises and ragas employing this form of notation.

Of course that is only one half of the book. Chapter one gives a concise history of Hindustani and Karnatic music, drawing parallels and attempting to explain the differences between the Indian tradition and Western music, an explanation of the "Nine Sentiments" or colors of a Raga and a summary of the instruments employed in Indian music. The remaining chapters detail the pioneers of the Hindustani and Karnatic traditions, after which Ravi Shankar gives a short account of his life and experiences with his guru.

This is an excellent introduction to Indian music, and I felt honored to be shown insights into this rich and ancient tradition. The autobiography "Raga Mala" is a more detailed account of Ravi Shankar's life, but "My Music, My Life" will be an invaluable asset to the Westerner drawn to the exotic phrasing and drones of the Sitar.

having read Raga Mala, the autobiography of/by Ravi Shankar first published by Genesis Publications, i expected with this volume titled "My Music, My Life" to be somewhat thicker (that's why only 4 stars applied). on the other side it's a very interesting manual on the actual structure and playing of the indian music on the sitar. at first hearing, the indian music appears disharmonic to our western harmonic music trained ears, however, over the years i fell in love with indian music and this volume allows a closer look inside the making of the disharmonic to make us understand it better and love it even more so.

JohPWilbrand

I find this to be an amazing story of a remarkable musician. He tells of his life, the life of his teacher, the process that young Indian musicians used to learn their instruments-the teacher/mentor to student relationship that is so badly missing from today's music students ( in most cases.) On top of that there is much discourse on the forms of Indian music which, while technical and erudite, gives insight to what an deep and formidable system Karnatic and Hindustani music is.