MUSIC IN DREAMS

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 16 Jul 2013, 16:12

Many of us we will be having dreams. Some people may roam in a dreamy world even when awake. For me, the moment I go to sleep I used to get dreams. Many times, these dreams will be related to music. Hence I thought it fit to share it in this forum. I have heard concerts of MS, SSI, TNS etc in my dreams. (I do not know if it happens for other music lovers as well). Two recent dreams related to music I would like to share with you.

For better understanding, I give my background- I belong to Trivandrum- grown in the agraharam in front of Padmanabhaswamy temple and Navarathri Mandapam.

Dream No. !. I am learning music under some master. Near me another boy is also learning music from R.S.Ramakanth and he is teaching Karuna cheyvan enthu thamasam to the boy. I am wondering how Ramakanth Sir is teaching a Malayalam song. After the class, I go to the boy and ask him are you singing any concert. He replies that today is my concert in Padmanabhaswamy kovil uthsavam. Next scene is Navarathri Mandapom. For people who are not familiar with the Mandapam,, there is an enclosure where royal family members used to sit and listen to music concert- with a few cushioned chairs and oil lamps. Now I am sitting in the enclosure with some royal family members. I see one girl child of about three years, clad in a silk mundu with lot of jewels. I take the girl, put her on my lap and just ask the child- can you sing any song. I was expecting some nursery rhyme from the child. But the girl child sings Devi Jagajanani full. I heard the full song in the voice of a three year old child. I honestly never expected that from a child. I was fascinated.

Dream No 2. The day of Bangalore Rasikas Meet. I wanted to go to Bangalore and attend this meet. I even told Mr.Nageswaran about that. But for obvious reasons, I did not go. The entire day, I was remembering about that event- meeting many like minded souls in Bangalore.. That day by about 12 noon, I had a nap before lunch. And there came the dream. I am sitting in upstairs of my old house in Trivandrum-. There comes our Mr. Cienu to see me. I am telling this is my old house and there are many things to be sorted. The house is in a mess. I discuss with Cienu about MS concerts.
May be surprising for many. But I enjoy such dreams. Ramakanth Sir ( I learned music under him for a brief period) once remarked- you breathe music.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 16 Jul 2013, 17:01

Interesting! Blessed are you to get such dreams. May be it was Devi Herself who came and sang in your dream!

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 16 Jul 2013, 17:53

CRama
I won't give you any exotic explanation.
Dreams are movies produced by you, directed by you, enacted as you want with the dialogues you wrote.

If you live and breathe music, you have musical dreams. Happens to many (including me.)

You're blessed to dream up music sessions. No tickets, no travel, no power cuts and no mike problems!

Am not sure if I am actually writing this awake or in a dream.... ymwhisle

Sachi R

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 16 Jul 2013, 20:07

Sachi

Rama,
Lovely dreams. As Sachi says, if you live in music, your mind conjures up such musical dreams--and in color too (I've been told that imaginative people dream in color).

As Punarvasu says, dEvi jagajjanani herself sings in your dreams! This, with the power of your love for music...
The psychologists (!) will perhaps add that dreams are the guardians of sleep and so keep us from waking up. They conjure up images which are pleasing to us, to prevent us from waking up. Wish fulfillment is another thing. You wanted so much to be part of the Bengaluru meet, that you could not but see Shrinivasan, the gracious host in your dream

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 16 Jul 2013, 20:32

CRama:
Here is an interesting study on the subject.

"... The status of professional musician doubles up the propensity to dream music, in particular if the musical instruction commenced at an early age. Finally, the occurrence of unknown musical pieces shows that new musical productions could be created in dreams ... ...

http://web.mit.edu/dmalt/Public/9.10/02sdarticle.pdf

priyaram78 · Post by **priyaram78** » 17 Jul 2013, 11:00

After listening to Gayathri Girish's album Shiva Shakti, I was so mesmerised with her rendition of Sadaanandamayi in Hindolam raagam, that i wished I could attend one concert of hers in Chennai. And in that week itself, one night I dreamt of Gayathri giving a concert in Srinivasa Shastri hall and I was enjoying her concert. It was a short dream

But I felt nice.

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 17 Jul 2013, 11:05

I often wake up with a particular raga in mind, or humming a song in my dreams.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 17 Jul 2013, 11:53

What wonderful dreams people have!

ganeshkant · Post by **ganeshkant** » 17 Jul 2013, 17:13

Soon after the demise of MahArajapuram SantAnam my younger sister told she had dream many days where the veteran taking a trisoolam in his hand singing bho sambho also dancing.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 17 Jul 2013, 23:07

Dear CRama,
It was a pleasure to visit your home (albeit in your dream)

Ofcourse you are welcome to visit "Suswaralukshmi" any time.. Rasikas Meet or otherwise, in your dreams or without

On the subject of dreams, I have heard my mother say that she still sometimes dreams occasionally of getting ready to go for a concert along with MS Amma, tuning of Tamburas, getting into the car along with her parents to go to the Kutcheri ! What is surprising is that inspite of her severe physical limitations and being wheelchair bound for so many years, in her dreams she walks, sings and does her work normally. Dreams certainly are a relief for her...

S.NAGESWARAN · Post by **S.NAGESWARAN** » 18 Jul 2013, 13:32

During my college days, I used to attend Sri MSG'S solo Violin concerts.

On that day, I wished that Sri MSG starts with a varnam [say Nattaikurunji] and RTP in Shanmukhapriya
and similarly different varnams and different RTPs in each concert.

ON 90% of the days, my wish will be fulfilled to my happiness.

Though it is not a dream, I used to feel whether any telepathy is happening between us.

S.NAGESWARAN.
18.07.2013.

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 18 Jul 2013, 17:47

C Rama..you are a blessed one.....

It is a wonder to me as to why TNS is not appearing!!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 18 Jul 2013, 23:28

We need Rshankar for his professional reading in this thread

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Jul 2013, 00:14

Mahavishnu,
I could only hint at that earlier--the professionals on Rasikas can have a field day--but this is a field of dreams...where professionals might not want to trespass

MahAvishNu from his yOga nidrA (or should I say, a big move) is back!

Hope the road trip was very agreeable...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 19 Jul 2013, 01:04

mahavishnu wrote:We need Rshankar for his professional reading in this thread

I shall leave this to the doctors that deal with people's psyche - psychiatrists like CML perhaps...all I remember from my Psych rotations is the following "neurotics build castles in the air, and psychotics live in them"! You don't want me interpretting dreams...Now give me a somatic issue to sink my teeth into, and I gladly will!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 19 Jul 2013, 09:56

Yes, Arasi. The road trip was most excellent.
I am dreaming (figuratively) of attending of some good concerts in the SF area soon

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Jul 2013, 10:09

Daydreamer

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 19 Jul 2013, 10:57

Interesting thread.

My dreams have always been disturbing and tragic. My one vivid musical dream, too, involved a profound struggle to identify a particular note that had been unusually sustained in a sahAna alapanai I'd heard recently. I woke up suddenly with the exact note and passage in mind immediately (mandra nishAdam).

I dearly want Sangeet's type of dreams. Since Freud claimed dreams are all about wish fulfillment, perhaps my day (night?) will be soon in coming.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 19 Jul 2013, 11:29

I think that if I* ever dreamed of music it was typical insecurity dreams like being on stage and not knowing what to play --- but then, that's happened in real life anyway.

All of us sometimes dream of people we know, though, and some of my favourite musicians have, once or twice, turned up.

*EDIT: typo had made that a "U" --- reversing the meaning!

munirao2001 · Post by **munirao2001** » 19 Jul 2013, 12:12

visualization of memories in subconsciousness and in 'dream state' of sleep is very normal. Dreams with high emotional content and attachment, surfacing in consciousness by self activation, give rise to reality perception, temporarily and falsely. By observation and attention, its true nature gets revealed. One can retain such memory or erase consciously to get repetitive occurrence or not getting with loss of such memory(ies).
munirao2001

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 20 Jul 2013, 05:33

Bilahari,

Sometimes I just wake up with a raga I can't identify. God! Sahana is just a sad raga. When I wake up with it I know what my mind is 'really' feeling.

Nick,

Dreams of performing on the stage are scary. But since I am a listener my nightmares involve not being able to recognize or find in actual life what I just heard in the dream.

S Nageswaran,

Often my friend used to unknowingly hum or play a piece in the raga I used to wake up with. I really feel that at some level we are very much connected to what or who we love.

All rasikas,

I wish to wake up tomorrow to raga mohanam. Such a sweet and pleasing raga. And yes, I would very much want a psychoanalysis of my dream

Regards,
Sangeet

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Jul 2013, 06:26

With many freebie services at Rasikas, hope we are not going to add one more

And, do we like our friends to be called shrinks? I fear not.

There once was among us, a young professional in the field, bright and well-versed in music, making his own music too, and we still miss him. And there were several others whose absence we feel too--from the UK and other far away places...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 20 Jul 2013, 13:38

Must be this thread to thank... I had some musical dream... but I forgot it immediately on waking :ymsigh:

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Jul 2013, 18:37

That's more like it!
"U" said it!

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 20 Jul 2013, 19:29

I will not become a musician in this life, too old, but I am a good listener of music,
daily soliciting the ever increasing concerts of the greats and the Budding which has become a part of my life……
But it is not the only part…there are other parts also which are equally absorbing..
I do remember a vivid dream where I could hear a music on veena and I was following it to know as to where from it is coming and the music led me to a decorated hall where I could find the images
Of deities and sages…

.....and it was the end to the dream to my great disappointment..It lingures in my mind with the traces of disappointment

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 21 Jul 2013, 01:40

Nick H wrote:Must be this thread to thank... I had some musical dream... but I forgot it immediately on waking :ymsigh:

I am sure that in the hands of the immortal Sri Kalki, this sentiment would have morphed into something along the lines of 'kaNvizhittE ezhundEn tuyara kaDalilE vizhundEn'

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Jul 2013, 02:25

Nick,
To translate what this super translator of songs quotes: I woke up and fell in the sea of sorrow...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 21 Jul 2013, 04:14

Wow, what a delightful thread! People seem to have wonderful dreams.

I do not think I have had any dreams related to music but I will start paying attention.

I used to wake up to talk radio and sometimes that topic gets into my dreams. When I woke up, it was quite startling to hear the same topic in real life. I think that happens in that semi-wake state, just before fully waking up.

This thread gave me an idea. I am going to try the above technique with CM. I will set a song as the wake up music
, half an hour or so before my usual time, and set it at low volume. I will see if anything interesting happens.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Jul 2013, 04:26

Always a (re)searcher!

venkatakailasam · Post by **venkatakailasam** » 21 Jul 2013, 06:14

I wrote.."I do remember a vivid dream where I could hear a music on veena and I was following it to know as to where from it is coming and the music led me to a decorated hall where I could find the images
Of deities and sages…"

This happened when I was around 40, while I was in Nasik…I was almost wedded to office and practically had no entertainment..
I dreamt this when I did not have much music…But now , when the intensity of listening to music is at its peak, I am not getting any such dream..funny..

My Marathi friends when I shared the dream with them took me rather forcibly to a Marathi Brahmin who they told was good in interpreting dreams.. He was kind enough to tell to the effect that I will be soon have the fortune of being with them….in the images.. What intrigued
me was the ease with which he told it..without any hesitation..
And, I am here after another 39 years now..!!!

satyabalu · Post by **satyabalu** » 21 Jul 2013, 06:35

* I vaguely remember to have heard that the land in South Chennai owned by a leading musician of yesteryears was donated soon after he had a dream directing him to dedicate the same to Thiagaraja.Good cause!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Jul 2013, 07:04

VKailasam,
What the interpreter of dreams said about you, belongs in the hilarity thread--thank goodness!
With your love for music and for sharing it, I would say the wish fulfillment aspect of dreaming fits right in here! The vINa sounds was the longing in you to surround yourself with music! Now, don't send me to the hilarity thread for saying it!

Satyabala,
''kanavilE vandAr, sonnAr" leads to many good deeds at times, as you say!

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 21 Jul 2013, 09:03

Damn! I didn't wake up to mohanam but with an odd dream of talking with an immigration officer. Anyway, I resumed my balance after listening to an RTP in real life in raga mayamalvagowla. I had never heard this raga before. I found it pleasing, though it is very elevated and serious in nature.
Maybe I will consciously think of mohanam tonight....

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 21 Jul 2013, 15:20

I didn't wake up to mohanam but with an odd dream of talking with an immigration officer.

It is my nightmare that I will, one day, meet an immigration officer who has a file of my internet postings!

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 21 Jul 2013, 17:54

Rasikas,

Good morning! Not with mohonam but I woke up with this nice song in jog :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCmsZbar ... ata_player

The strange thing, I was not thinking of jog yesterday night or the night before. I have not heard jog for more than two months. Why then jog? Why? Why? Maybe my subconscious wishes to hear jog. Strange are the ways of the mind!

Nick,

How was the dhrupad program? Do share your thoughts in that dhrupad thread, if possible.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 21 Jul 2013, 18:09

It was wonderful ...and I posted there a few minutes ago!

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 21 Jul 2013, 19:05

" when the intensity of listening to music is at its peak, I am not getting any such dream" is this not true on all practicing, novice/professional singers? I tend to agree.

chitravina ravikiran · Post by **chitravina ravikiran** » 23 Jul 2013, 16:45

A delightful topic and one that has fascinated me from childhood. My experiences have been quite intriguing at times and I am sharing them with you all (as pure observations only)...

1. Most of my dreams are music-centric. Since the lines of sleep are often almost like a progressive lens, I am at times challenged to distinguish a dream from half-sleep/half-awake thoughts. For instance, I would have started learning a song but barely finished skimming over it before falling asleep. With no conscious effort, the song would almost play non-stop in my sleep (in fact, I'd wake up sometimes consciously wanting to turn it off). By morning the song would be set as though I'd rendered it dozens of times and at least semi-polished it. It'd not be as though I was sleep deprived, I've be relaxed enough. But since this happens with almost every song even in my wakeful state but doing other things, I am unsure if this qualifies as a dream.

2. I generally dream up many of my interesting kalpana-swara themes/patterns/korvais - sometimes even for specific songs - not in concert/practice type of scenarios but just as themselves. If I do not wake up immediately and fine tune it mentally or record it, I lose it forever.

3. My raga, Keshavapriya (S R2 S M1 P D2 N2 S - S N2 S P M1 G3 R2 S) and the swarakshara opening of the song - Sari samanamevarunnaru - were from a dream. So also some sections of a few other krtis/varnams/padams. Again these are not part of any particular scenario in my dream. I eventually finish at least some of them in a wakeful state.

To put things in context, my other dreams are quite ordinary - about trains accidents, tsunamis, criminals chasing me etc - but the good news so far is that I always manage to stay a step ahead

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 23 Jul 2013, 16:56

I started this thread with a little hesitation. But I am delighted at the no of responses and to top it, response from Shri Ravikiran who thought it fit to share his musical dreams amongst us. Thanks to Ravikiran.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Jul 2013, 19:13

Indeed!
Thanks, Chitravina personified, Ravikiran avargaL, for sharing your dreams (which are neither day dreams nor mere dreams--pagaR kanavugaL, veRum kanavugaL).

This is a glimpse into how the mind of a creative genius like you works!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 23 Jul 2013, 22:56

Thanks Ravikiran for giving us an opportunity to take a peek into your inner workings. Quite interesting. Amazed at the extent to which you are immersed in music at all times of the day.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 23 Jul 2013, 23:41

I suppose there are not many people who live a life as close, as is practically possible at least, to being 100% full of something. I guess those people must dream of that thing.

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 24 Jul 2013, 05:58

'We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.' Shakespeare

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 24 Jul 2013, 07:06

Ravikiran experience in simple language - one should dream while fast asleep and one should dream while wide awake!!!

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 24 Jul 2013, 20:38

My son who is a sleep specialist (neurologist) assures me that Dreaming is a normal physiological process beyond conscious control. The current philosophy is in line with those of the Nobel Laurate Francis Crick that dreaming is done "to eliminate cognitive debris".
"In other words, dreams are nothing more than a mechanism for the nervous system to clear the brain of unnecessary, even harmful memories. "
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/21stC/issue- ... echer.html
Most psychiatrists have now discarded Freudian explanations of the Xual context.

So at present we are not aware of any technique to induce or program the kind of dream one would like to have. If so we would all be living a dual life effortlessly dreaming the kind of life we would like to have! Once I saw a write-up for an ayurvedic "potion" which will produce exactly the tailor-made dream you would like to have. Never tried it since the ingerdients were exotic

Yoga vAshiShTam declares that the life we lead is actually a "dream" and we should try to wakeup to realize our "True Self"..

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 24 Jul 2013, 20:52

I had the fortune of attending Navaratri Mandapam concerts in Trivandrum for about twenty years from 1966. Often I used to dream of M D Ramanathan when the great music had literally conquered me in my boyhood. MDR be singing Reetigoula or Kedaram at the mandapam in my dream!

There's a Malayalam film song of the seventies 'nakshatra deepangal thilangi' sung by Yesudas wherein the lyricist would have imagined Chembai singing at the mandapam. In reality Chembai never sang at the mandapam (for reasons unknown to me). Here, the dream would lead me to the mandapam where Chembai's music would be ringing but the great Vidwan couldn't be located!

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 26 Jul 2013, 00:55

I woke up today with a dream in which I was going to hear raga desh played by a little boy on veena. It was an open auditorium, like football or cricket field. The boy's mother was making sure that his veena was tuned well. She was matching the frequency of veena with her voice. Her voice strangely turned out to be very sweet but childish. Anyway, I couldn't hear the child play desh as I was worried about getting caught by the immigration officer. My crime was that I had unknowingly brought fruits from India.

.

God!

So, today I plan to listen to raga desh. Lalgudi's thillana in raga desh....and then I will look for a piece in veena.

If possible, I would like to know what bhavas raga desh evoke in rasikas? I want to be my own psychologist

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 26 Jul 2013, 03:14

Just as well, Sangeet! Otherwise the professional interpreters may get into the act of interpreting them their way

What does Desh do? Because of its name, it signals patriotism, because of its kuzhaivu (mellowness), it brings to mind bhArathi dAsan's tunbam nErgaiyil, and because of him, his hero bhArathi and so his love poetry and patriotic hymns (associative memory here)

Sangeet · Post by **Sangeet** » 26 Jul 2013, 04:33

Thanks Arasi. Indeed, associative memory. And I heard this today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9LXyg1g ... ata_player

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 26 Jul 2013, 13:15

Dreams in Music

Don't we all sometimes doze, or at least pass into a dream-like state, in a concert?

Even though that state can be not sleeping, but a complete immersion in the music, sometimes all kinds of nonsense and rubbish goes through my head. Whilst this is not the ideal way to enjoy music, I accept it as part of the deep therapy that comes with it. Music driving the rubbish away!

Music: in so many ways one of the greatest healers