Of Holidays, Classes..

#sareespeak #womenofsareespeak #artsilk #SS 27/2021 #97

Went away on a short vacation to a quaint quiet beach town.
Great family time.
Too cold to swim.
Lots of walks.
Beautiful waterfall, aptly named Bridal Veil. A small creek, too small to be a river, a massive drop off a cliff, and glorious veils of water cascading down, onto the river below with full force. Photo in comments.
Packed a cotton saree.
But..
Chickened out.
Cold, wet, windy.
Ended up in culottes, raincoat, the works.
Will take a ‘rain’check on draping of said saree.
Got home a day early.
Back to work,  classes.
During the week,
Had classes with my Guru. Internet issues, video delays, class wasn’t as good as it should have been. Felt quite sad, inadequate. As she was hearing something quite different to what I was playing.
Had classes with students. A pick me up. The enthusiasm of the young.
Taught them their second varnam. Went through simple gamakams/nuances in the pallavi/first verse.
Demonstrated how as they progress, they would incorporate more gamakas, to sound like a vocalist. More than one note on a fret, sliding, shaking, pulling the strings. Then, went through some scales/alankarams in that raga in 3 speeds.
A joy to see them lapping it up. I could see they were floored, in a great way. I must have raised my voice here and there, because the parents looked sombre when they walked in to carry the instruments after class. Said they were eavesdropping outside, worried, as they thought I was telling the children off for not practising. Told them I had probably got carried away with the excitement of the lesson. And that the children had been practising and had played well.
What a comparison, contrast.
One over cyberspace.
One face to face.
Different lesson scenarios.
Different outcomes.
Anyway, felt pretty ‘adequate’ after the children’s lesson.
The Power of Music
And..
A Good Class.
Draped this brightest of pinks art silk Saree, with brown, blue, white flowers on borders and pallu. Blouse is saree’s, brown, blue, white flowers.
An easy, flowing drape, like the class.