Om Shanti,
As I have said in earlier arts posts, I have listened to Classical Indian music for several or actually (but not all the time) many years, and I compose music on my computer with sitar samples (and files that are set up to 'echo' or sustain or 'resonate' more like a sitar when used in a tracker program)--even once with quarter tones.
However I do not want to spend the rest of my life only making electronic sitar music. How would I go about finding out if there is a sort of sitar that would be good for me to buy--for a beginner, and maybe used (if I can find one to try in person.) My mom (who performed Western Classical music in college) recommended asking also about how I could learn--preferably from a person, or from a book. I doubt anyone near me plays sitar, and I had a friend in another city who was self-taught and his music sounded nice enough at the time. So, I think I will have to be self-taught. I do not know if that seems proper, but it seems more proper than doing electronic arts all the time. I could instead seek equipment for better electronic visual art, but I would like to do something that seems more meditative. In many cultures music is also considered the highest art (maybe along with theatre) even to the point of being science: learning more music would help me as a mathematician. Sitars make my favourite sound of all instruments. I realize that formal learning is important in some Indian arts, but as a Bohemian and spiritual person I think if there is some art that you think is good for your spiritual development and you can only try it on your own, it will be better to have tried than not... and for easier arts it is probably better to just try on your own. Of course sitar is probably quite difficult and it would be great to find a teacher, but I would rather be able to try it before the next time on the computer, or the next time I feel like saying mantras, rather than much later in life or in a next one.
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