I want to share it with you . I recommend you spend some time playing as you please . Rest assured you will create and listen to beautiful music, even if you have never played a musical instrument before .
Gift yourself some blissful musical moments. Play on!
I have always been a lover of stringed instruments and their sounds. I wanted to know and learn a bit more about the Bandura.
A bandura is a Ukrainian, plucked string, folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments had 5 to 12 strings and similar to the lute. In the 20th century, the number of strings increased initially to 31 strings, 56 strings – 68 strings on modern ‘concert’ instruments.
Musicians who play the bandura are referred to as bandurists. In the 19th – early 20th century traditional bandura players, often blind, were referred to as kobzars.
A little bit on the lute and zither two instruments whose elements are combined in the music.
Lute is any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. More specifically, the term “lute” can refer to an instrument from the family of European lutes. The lute is plucked or strummed with one hand while the other hand “frets” (presses down) the strings on the neck’s fingerboard. By pressing the strings on different places of the fingerboard, the player can shorten or lengthen the part of the string that is vibrating, thus producing higher or lower pitches (notes).
Zithers are played by strumming or plucking the strings, either with the fingers (sometimes using an accessory called a plectrum or pick), sounding the strings with a bow, or, with varieties of the instrument like the santur or cimbalom, by beating the strings with specially shaped hammers. Like a guitar or lute, a zither’s body serves as a resonating chamber (sound box), but, unlike guitars and lutes, a zither lacks a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty. Ref : Wiki
Today marks a personal milestone in blogging as I publish my 101st post. I have completed my continuous 100 days of writing on WordPress.
On a lark after a challenge to post a few of my favourite songs for three consecutive days came my way from a fellow blogger and friend Dr Sridhar. I decided to take it up and posted my favourite songs for three days. Then I started thinking if I could manage to post for a week and continued to write . The seven days went smooth and easy and then I upped my goal a little further to see if I could write a post everyday for a month.
I had a few ground rules established in my head . First that this was no competition to complete in pressure but simply an effort to see if I would find an inspiration to write on anything that caught my fancy each day . Second would I have the perseverance to continue and be able to dedicate time towards the effort .
Thirdly I wanted to see if I could keep my readers and audiences interested if I happen to post everyday.
And most of all I wanted to test whether my creative instincts are effected in anyway by habit…
A months regular posting on WordPress got me supercharged to aspire some more. Wp would egg me on with reminders of completing a 30th day streak of posting on WordPress.
It was no surprise that once I reached 30 I wanted to try and reach the 50th day.
Seemed then that I could do it if I was smart enough to manage my writing time around the early hours of the day. And that’s what I did.
No one in my family or friends knew much about this plan, but I was pretty clear how to go about it by then and dedicated a bit of time to writing every morning no matter what.
A few learnings.
Have a goal that seems workable, it is easier to focus.
Persevere… and believe you can work towards it.
Push your goal a step ahead as you reach a level.
Manage your time better, to make it happen
Value your goal and be dedicated.
Your creative sense will begin to work for you all the more…
Believe in your self and be passionate
Trust that you will find the way!
And most of all enjoy the journey as much as the destination.😊
Although I have written on WordPress for a few years now and I would have written and posted perhaps continously as well earlier without my own realisation. This was a task that had a goal and hence it is different to me.
The last few months have been personally challenging in terms of health where I was even admitted to the hospital and I am continuing to battle a condition that might require surgery soon. So basically being unwell literally I use the relatively painfree bits of time in the day, I have in my hands for creative enrichment …be it writing or painting and more.
Blogging through I reached my 50th day of posting. And I knew I couldn’t stop it in my heart . The magic figure of 100 floated in my mind and I was sold to the idea of making it happen.
Today it is the 101st day streak of publishing a post everyday and I truly wonder how I managed it all along with my present condition.
My biggest take back has been the loving support and generous comments from my readers which kept me going . But other than that was a learning and affirmation that if we really make up our mind , we can beat the odds and find a way to acheive our goal .
Besides that I realised how my reading others blogs and writing every day would bring up some topic to contemplate creatively for the next day. The best part was I never had to try too hard … every post I wrote and shared I enjoyed with all my heart.
Writing gives me a sense of completion.
A feeling of contentment of a job well done. And if its well received it truly makes my day… and my fellow writers this I am pretty sure you would agree as well.
Thank you my dear readers and friends for staying with me right through. It has been an absolute pleasure to share and learn along the way… on what I can gratefully now call Project 101.
Wishing an awesome year 2019 for us all !
God bless all!
Savvy
THE DANCER An Excerpt From The Wanderer by Khalil Gibran
Once there came to the court of the Prince of Birkasha a dancer and her musicians. And she was admitted to the court. And she danced to the music of the flute, the lute, and the zither.
She danced the dance of flames and fire, and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind.
When she had finished, she approached the prince and bowed her body before him. The prince bade her to come nearer, and said unto her, “Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? And how is it that you command all the elements in your rhythms and your rhymes?”
And the dancer came near and bowed her body again and said, “Gracious majesty, I know not the answer to your questionings. Only this I know: The philosopher soul dwells within his head, the poets soul dwells within his heart, the singers soul dwells about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body.
A few lines I had written on similar thoughts… on the Dance and the Dancer.
To dance is to acknowledge the living you at this moment
In every move, the heart and mind is looped in joyousness
In every flight is the beauty of lightness.
Have you felt wronged or slighted in life… don’t despair.
For nature will make it right!
There is always a system of check and balance
For the law of nature aligns it all.
Simply know it may not always be the way you may plan…
For there is a truth beyond yours
That takes much more into account
You could simply be a piece in that puzzle.
So as you face destiny in the eye
As each trying moment unfolds
As you shed those countless tears
Simply know deliverance is near.
Allay your fears
Unfetter your spirit
Bring on the trust
That better lies ahead.
There is much in this self arranging world
We are yet to understand
Endless night wakes up to the light of dawn.
And Hope springs in with the sunshine
Your worst nightmare becomes a distant memory
For times change the order of things
Life moves on as the clocks tick
For Life is circle of days and nights
Despair not my friend
Sense hope by your side
In the darkest moments
Light is just a while away.
Savvy
Written for a dear friend in dire need of trust and hope right now.
Keep the faith my friend …for faith is all there is.
WordPress certainly has its unique ways
Of appreciation and encouragement
To support the writers on this platform
There are stats that show up on screen.
So I am told one morning by WordPress
That I am on a three-day posting streak
At first, I was amused and a tad bit confused
For hadn’t I been posting literally every day… for so long…
But guess WordPress took its own sweet time
To catch up to my blog amongst the millions
So I too decided to play along…
Every day since then I have been publishing
A poem written afresh, simply inspired
A continuation from my previous post
In creatives emerging in thoughts.
Perhaps from a readers comment
Or better still in its contemplation.
Today as I complete a 10-day streak
I want to share these published posts
Here together in an attempt to string
These beads of thoughts together
Poetry can be the jewellery of language.
Pearls of fresh thoughts bonded into words.
Creativity strung together in a form.
Like a necklace that is adorned in appreciation.
Creativity is there within
Us all for the taking
And all it needs is a step in
In reflection and action…
It was a joy to play along
Connecting the dots,
Stringing the words,
As they came along.
Kudos to WordPress
Stats for the supportive inputs And my amazing blogger friends
For inspirations along my way.
Savvy
Here are the links of the last 10 day Post streak that I will simply call Creative Enrichments
A few observations …
These ten days I had a purpose steeped in creative enrichment. The idea was to be receptive and responsive to whatever that these posts brought forth.
And I sensed how these Inspirations came my way on its own.
A special thanks to a few WordPress writers who are involved without their own knowledge… that I want to thank here.
for being there with words of encouragement and sharing apt and brilliant quotes in goodwill every step of the way. They are truly thoughtful insights. Do keep them coming.
Words, we all have in our thoughts
But a trigger of senses in life and living
Brings it out in its own unique way
At times it’s a trickle
And other times a shower
As it springs forth a million thoughts and streams it’s way in a flow.
Poetry emerges from life in the living
The writer ought not to hold back
For it is powered by its own purpose
To be born and shared.
All it needs is a trigger
Of emotions in the sensing
Of feeling and witnessing
Of pain and of pleasure
Of being and doings
In life and living.
The poet is born in the expressions in eloquence.
As much as a painter waltzes with his brush on canvas
And like Photographers tango through the light and dark
Poets dance through the heart with words…
Art births itself in breathing in life
A little deeper every time…
And leaves imprints in exhaling from the heart
For Art is a matter of connecting hearts.
Wouldn’t you agree?
An Expression is full of intent
Full of focus and determination
Seems far removed from submission
Let alone the letting go.
And yet in the juxtaposition…
To flow with the eloquence of grace
Exists the enigma of the elusive
The surrealism of subtlety
Of approach & demeanour
Of action and intention.
For in the wisdom of every movement
Is the potential of the now…
To capture or to connect
To be bound or to blend
All is a choice within us.
Savvy Raj 
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