Strings

There is something about string instruments that cannot be explained. One has to experience them. I love music; as eluded in earlier posts. The drums and wind/reeds are nice to hear and allow you to get with a rhythm but the strings are something else. A cello, a violin, a guitar , a sitar, a harp, an Ektara. The sound of these instruments is something else and it would not matter what the composition is or the genre is. 

Listen to the cello on pirates of the Caribbean or the guitar on zeppelins stair way to heaven or anything from queen, AC/DC, Roxy, the sitar by Ravi Shankar or his daughter and god knows how many more artists. Strings will move you. Rapture. Stings pluck at your heart and soul and you wouldn’t know that it is happening, all of a sudden you will be in tears or in an emotional state that cannot be explained by mere words.  I guess one can easily critique a certain musical composition by directing it into its various passages and evaluate it from the perspective of the genre; but then you loose the emotion and an insight into the expression of the artist. The interesting bit here is that the same composition performed by two different individuals with the same skill level will and can invoke very different emotions; this is due to the personal interpretation the individual has for that particular piece. 

I am always amazed with how works by Queen or Iron Maiden sound when interpreted in a classical orchestral manner; it just tells me that the artistes of these two bands are a a genius level or higher. The string component of these works as interpreted in an orchestral manner will send you on a roller coaster ride. 

Fundamentally, I like strings because they are strings.  The engineer in me understands and appreciates the beauty of exciting a string to get a particular sound that is governed by the length of the string, the weight of the string and how it is excited. The kid in me is always amazed at the number of notes that a single instrument could create. I am not sure but reeds and the like have a limited octave, and the drums are limited by the volume of air they will move. There is the additional theatre that a virtuoso also adds in the manner they play their specific instrument. A Angus Young could only do that with an Guitar or an Anushka Shankar only that with the sitar. 

It’s not to late for me to pick up a string instrument and my guess is I will pick the guitar. 

C