How to Play Flute & Shehnai

Preface

Flute is a divine instrument of music. Scriptures of India reveal its enchanting influence on all the animate and inanimate objects when Lord Krishna played it on the banks of the river Yamuna. Shehnai also belongs to the same genre of musical instruments. In fact, both the Sushir Vadyas (the instruments played with blowing air into them) cast their supernatural impact upon the listeners. And, despite this spellbinding effect, both flute and Shehnai don’t have much complexities in their playing. They don’t need intricate system of frets and keys and the elaborate tuning. Just lift them and start playing. What matters most is the player’s virtuosity to produce the divine notes. Perhaps their simplicity seemingly has prevented the availability of good books to learn about playing these instruments. It is to fill up this lacuna that this book has been prepared, keeping in mind the requirement and the range of comprehension of the young learners. A part from giving enough hints about the theoretical aspects or North Indian music and elaborate Raga delineation, many filmi and non-filmi songs- along with their full text and notations- have been include in this book to help the young learners play their choicest songs as well. It is hoped that this volume will be accorded as warm a welcome as has been accorded to the other books of this series by the publishers.

Mamta chaturvedi