Maestro!

I used to wonder why people would stay up till the wee hours of the morning 'trying' to
work.It is 5.20 AM now, today I truly understand the joy of being up to hear the birds chirp as I prepare to fall asleep.Watching the sun rise in perfect silence,I am smiling.

I attended a concert by Mandolin Srinivas , a child prodigy and indeed a maestro in a true sense.
It was an absolute pleasure to watch the ease with which he churned music out of the Mandolin.
It seemed effortless for him, yet the joy that was shown on his face as he performed was magical.
Humility goes a long way in one's career.
Especially as an artist,it is essential to stay grounded.

From personal experience,I feel performing on stage for a large audience is a heady feeling.The first few performances are nerve racking. All I remember is blinding lights and a few eager faces staring at me. Only after 2-3 stage performances I had control over my senses and knew what I was doing.This is where practice kicks in,only if you can perform a few times without any mistakes during the rehearsals you can dream of having a flawless performance.

As I watched Mandolin Srinivas perform I thought to myself ,having played the mandolin for 35 years a stage performance must be more like a casual practice session.I wondered if he ever got bored of performing the same ragas over and over again.The smile on his face answered this question for me.A little later I was told that he practices for more than 5 hours a day.

I guess as an artist you can never stop learning.