Love Untold - A musical journey

Music, as perceived by many, is a rhythmic, melodious composition of musical notes. For many years, even I connected with music in the same way. I would listen to a song and I would like it only if the singer qualified for my personal criterion of “My Favorite Singer” and also if the song was catchy. My perception of music changed when I listened to a randomly chosen song at my uncle’s place using his headphones. All I can recollect is that I could hear every musical instrument being played in that song! I was amazed! A new curiosity had emerged in me. I wanted to listen to every song with such detail! I identified several unheeded beats, strums and tunes in a song. Sometimes it occurred just once in the middle of a song! But I waited to hear it (Try it. It’s fun!)

And so a year passed and I developed a lot of interest in music. I even went to a crash course in guitar, (Although I did not master it. Read my blog post "Strings and Frets"). And then I wanted to compose my own song. I know I had started dreaming big without knowing the A, B, C of music. But I badly wanted to compose a song which had a meaning in it. Which is not just catchy, but which can match up with the songs sung by international artists. So then I set of on the task of composing a tune for my first song. I did this while carrying out my daily tasks, humming a tune, trying to find out if it matched with any of the songs that I know of. One day, while washing my clothes, I found a melodious tune(that’s what I think of it). I noted down the tune i.e take a guitar, play the tune and note down on which string and fret of the guitar it is played.  Well this is how I write down my compositions.

So now I had a composition. All I needed is the lyrics for the song and then my song would be complete, or so I thought. I sat down one day and wrote a story. It took me quite a while to convert that story to decent lyrics. I named the song “Love Untold”. Now everything was ready. I had to only record the song and then I would upload it on YouTube, get a million hits, become an international superstar and play golf with Hollywood celebrities. But there was something missing. Something that made me to not record it in a professional studio. It was the zeal to materialize my composition.

Three years passed, I graduated, got 1 year work experience but I had still not recorded the song. The lyrics had undergone several modifications.  My excuse was that I had no musical background and dint know where to record a song. Two of my friends motivated me to record the song. One by saying that it will top the Billboard charts and the other by giving me the push to "google" recording studios at where I reside. So Google searched a recording studio for me. I was a bit hesitant to approach the studio manager. What if he says that he doesn’t cater to such foolish requests like recording just one song. I feared I will be embarrassed if he/she asks me any details about the composition that only trained musicians can explain. I thought they will laugh at the lyrics that I had written.

But then I just wanted to give it a try. Let them laugh or say whatever they like. I did not want to regret not having tried. So I ended up at a recording studio after convincing my family that I was on my way to stardom.  After asking the cost of recording and pretending that I was not actually worried about the cost, I showed a sample composition of my song I had created using a computer software. Unbelievably, he heard the entire  2 minute composition. And then he told me to sing the song with the lyrics. I was ready for him to smile at me when he heard the lyrics. But he did not. He listened intently and carefully. He even gave me some suggestions on how to make the song sound better. He then gave me a date to record the song. And from that day till the day of the recording I persuaded my friend to listen to me singing the song everyday and correct me if I would go wrong in the pronunciation or tune. I practiced the song as much as I could. Then came the day of the recording. I was very nervous. I met the studio manager. He had already composed the background score. Blasting from the speakers in the sound proof room, it sounded fabulous! I stepped into the live room where there was a microphone which looked more like a gadget from the future. I put on the headphones and after the recording manager instructed me by counting 3 on his fingers, I sang the first verse of the song. The first verse was over and then I got to hear myself. I was surprised at the quality of the recording. We had a few more recording rounds and then an hour later we were done with the vocals. In the next 2 hours we mixed the song with the background score and a bit of technical mastering and mixing gave the final touches to the song.

I uploaded it on YouTube and waited for stardom to approach me. Well, it did not. And that was not my intention. I had materialized my dream of composing a song. Music is not just about sounds emanating from a speaker or from musical instruments. It is about emotions being told by someone. It tells you a story, an idea within someone’s mind. From this experience I learned that a simple excuse in life can make you miss a lot of targets. If you dream something, then you better start materializing that dream. Stop giving any excuse. Do not wait for the right time. Every day is a good day to start anything good. I may not have achieved something great. I may have not matched up at all with the songs sung by international artists, but I am content with the smiles that I see on anyone’s face when they listen to my song.  Your dream can be achieved, it can be made real, but not with just your efforts, it needs the efforts from your near and dear ones to motivate you to achieve it.  It needs the help of strangers who are willing to help you in your journey. Be humble, accept that you cannot achieve everything on your own in this world and live your dream.

Listen to Love Untold here.