Riyaaz

"Riyaaz" is a term commonly used in Hindustani classical music circles. It loosely translates to “practice”, and is a big part of the guru-shishya parampara of music in India. Expert musicians swear by it and take it very seriously as a means of discipline.

My journey with Riyaaz

Lost in Riyaaz at Hostel 10 Music Room, IIT Bombay (2019)

Overall I’m a spiritual person. I believe in the linkage between the mind, body, soul and the world. Not out of blind belief or religion, but as a matter of experience. As a youngster, whenever I found myself at odds with circumstances, it was the practice of meditation that brought me peace. I was part of several camps at the Chinmaya Mission and the Art of Living, where I learnt some yoga and how to bring my thoughts and breath under my own control. We pay surprisingly little attention to our own breath! The results of meditation surprised me and I practised regularly. As time passed, I found it hard to be consistent and a large part was because it was plain boring to sit for long minutes just breathing and doing nothing else. My practice of meditation fell discarded by the path of life.

Around the same time, I began the study of Indian classical music under my guru Shri Mohan Pendse in Thane. His way of teaching was simple. He would give me a musical piece to study on the guitar, with basic instructions. After I had practised independently, I would have to play it to him. Only if he deemed that I had mastered it, would he allow me to take up a new musical piece.

We met once a week and at first, the pieces were easy to digest and master, given my in-born musicality. Soon I was ahead of my batchmates who had started learning with me. As the months passed, my guru kept ramping up the difficulty level and soon I was grappling with the musical pieces. I was foundering and generally doing poorly, sometimes unable to master some pieces in even three weeks. I took it seriously and decided I had to develop the focus these difficult pieces demanded of me.

I made a pact with my mind. For the duration that I sat down with my guitar to study, I would hold my mind steady. Nothing else was to exist in those moments except my guitar, the sound of the metronome and my book of musical notation. It was hard at first but over a few weeks it showed good results with my music. Along with this, I noticed the queerest thing: Tanvi ceased to exist in those moments of practice. I would lose sense of time and space when I practised guitar with this new technique. The end of the practice session felt like coming up for air from underwater, when all the world above suddenly broke into focus around me. Honestly, the feeling was quite familiar to me, straight out of my old days of meditation and I loved it. My musical performance certainly improved, but more happily, I was calmer and more controlled in non-musical fields too. One fine day, the conscious realisation of this came like a bolt from the blue: I had finally understood what musicians refer to as “riyaaz”.

What is Riyaaz?

Every musician approaches riyaaz in a different way, because different things work for different persons. Over the years, I’ve developed my own style too. Friends who know about my riyaaz sessions ask me how it works, so here it is my version.

Frequency

Happily, I love music, so I do riyaaz as often as I can. I play guitar almost daily, mostly because I like it. There’s no hard and fast rule though. On days when I’m travelling or mentally and physically tired, there’s very little or no riyaaz. On weekend nights, I set up my home studio and do a deep-dive riyaaz session late into the night #saturdaynightriyaaz.

Riyaaz while travelling is a luxury. I loved visiting a musician friend's place in Dubai where she has a home studio (2022)

Duration

There’s no fixed duration for my riyaaz sessions. I do it until I’m comfortable and/or tired. The exhaustion at the end of a riyaaz session refreshes you (not sure if that makes sense, but it is what it is). Sometimes if there’s been a break of a few days, I am only able to do short sessions of ten to fifteen minutes, but as I get more regular, the sessions can last longer up to an hour.

Of course, if you’re serious about your music, this is small change and you should probably practise for way longer. For example, Kishori Amonkar, the juggernaut classical vocalist is said to have done riyaaz for 8 to 10 hours a day. I’m just an amateur musician but since I enjoy my riyaaz, my #saturdaynightriyaaz sessions are MUCH longer than my usual, beginning around midnight and sometimes even going on until just before dawn on Sunday.

My guitar Esmeralda at a #saturdaynightriyaaz in my home studio (2022)

There is a concept of "Brahma-muhurta" in yoga, which is the period that is supposed to be the best time to meditate. It occurs about an hour before dawn, so around 5 am. There are many theories about why this is a powerful time to meditate: theories involving the circadian rhythm, brain wave patterns, hormonal patterns etc. I don’t know if they are true, but it sure is a quiet time with no distractions. I especially love doing riyaaz in this time if I can stay awake until then. Um yes, I’m not an early riser, how did you know?

What to play

Whatever the mind feels like. In my case, it could be anything from Bollywood music to Hindustani classical to avant-garde electronica. Often, I will compose my own music during a riyaaz session (and promptly forget the composition when I end it). Some people prefer guided riyaaz under a teacher.

At a guided riyaaz session with my guru Shri Mohan Pendse (2015)

My favourite riyaaz though is with Hindustani classical music, not just because it was the first kind of riyaaz I experienced, but mostly because raagas also have a set of rules that you need to follow, a little bit like playing hopscotch amid the notes. It’s a lovely mental workout. Besides if you know the musical systems, you can choose a raaga to match your mood fairly easily because the ancients have it all mapped out for you already.

Since I play multiple instruments, I can add another dimension to my riyaaz; something like choosing a language for that riyaaz session. Every instrument has its own specialties and tricks that you can harness, be it the guitar or keyboard or bass or voice or a computer-based synthesiser.

The most important thing is to not judge yourself while playing. The session is supposed to be exploratory, helping you to push your internalised boundaries. Your fingers on the instrument, your foot tapping the beat, and the eyes reading the notation must be in sync, but most of all, your mind must be keyed-in to the emotion or idea that the music needs to express. I am not very good at this part of it, but I try.

There are some physical impacts of a good riyaaz practice too. I’ve noticed that my breath tends to align itself to the beat. This is good discipline and if you’re attentive, you can tangibly notice it making a difference to your overall well-being over time. Needless to say, the guitar is also quite a physical instrument. It requires and maintains posture and muscle tone if you pay attention. I am sure it burns some calories too!

Riyaaz outside music

From the way riyaaz made me feel, my guess was that it was probably not restricted to music. Curious, I talked to non-musicians who might feel the same way about things they are passionate about and a large proportion reported the same feeling of “being in the zone” while they practice their skills. Top examples I heard are gymming, walking, running, writing, journaling, even data analysis! (Nobody reported the same feeling while watching Netflix, reading or studying hah!) Now most of these are solo activities, but I don’t suppose it’s restricted to that. Someone might also associate riyaaz with group activities such as team sports or theatre or playing in a band.

Neeraj Chopra practising balancing with his javelin definitely looks like riyaaz to me

In Conclusion

Overall, riyaaz is a cool concept: highly recommended for building focus, maintaining health and at the same time developing expertise in a skill. It’s all about finding out what works for you. Go give it a try!