Welcome to my page! Music has become a wonderful way for me to relax and develop my creativity. I have posted some of the stuff that I have recorded in the hopes that you might respond with helpful comments and suggestions. I intend to rotate in new tracks (and take out the old) every 3 weeks to a month.
Most of what I have written has been inspired by rock and folk music. However, my training is exclusively in North Indian classical music. I studied for 5 year at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA. My focus there was on the sarode – a 25 stringed fretless lute with a metal fingerboard and a skin head. I also studied a little tabla. For more info on these instruments, you can find them at the Ali Akbar College’s site here on MySpace or aacm.org or on wikipedia.
At the Ali Akbar College, I had the fortune to study under Maestro Ali Akbar Khansahib. For those who do not know who he is, please look him up. He is still teaching both master and beginning classes. I also received private instruction from with Steve Oda (you can hear some of his music on his MySpace account). Steve’s training developed my ear and great appreciation for the subtle ornamentation which is so essential to Hindustani music.
Though I would never consider myself a tabla player, I did study under Brad van Cleave and later under Maestro Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College. This greatly developed my understanding of rhythm in Hindustani music.
Most of my music is based on sarode and its technique. I am able to expand its environment with my electric sarode. This beautiful instrument was made by Kazem (see Zia on MySpace) in Oakland, Ca. Technique for the traditional sarode transfers over almost perfectly. But by playing directly into pickups, I can use effects of allow it to fit into many more contexts than a traditional sarode could.
Thank you for visiting. Please let me know what you think, and check back in a while to hear new tracks!
Tivrama
Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
