Man With Sign, March 13, 02026
Friday and it's actually cold again, below freezing. I dawdle over coffee and get out of the house prepared to be late, but I take a shortcut (up the hill and over the rail) and reach Roosevelt Circle at 7:31. Set up sign & speaker, hold up the end-of-week message: MOTHER NATURE DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE.
1/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLNAwbBc-Ms
#ClimateChaos #GlobalWarming #HindustaniMusic #CitizenActivism
Traffic is light and in consequence moving rapidly enough that I'm not the subject of much interaction from the drivers. Which is fine as I'm just sitting on the guardrail, focused on my practice. I get off a couple of waves and return a few salutes, but for the most part, well, they leave me be and I'll leave them be.
2/
With the tabla set at 117 bpm, I push the improvisational constraints of "bansi bat jamuna tata," building increasingly intricate variations on each line of the asthai (and to a lesser extent of the various antaras as well). While (as I've noted elsewhere in these chronicles) the dadra form doesn't really support lengthy improvised strings, grander elaborations can be integrated, with sufficient care.
3/
I do syllable counting, working out different types of subdivision to fit with the steady 6-pulse. While in some cases complex additive strings are necessary to make things fit, these lines aren't really idiomatic and fit the occasion only as training material to enable relaxed interpretive singing, going forward.
4/
Taking up each antara in turn, I apply more extensive melismata to each of the long vowels, building bol-alaps and short bol-taans in different rhythmic combinations. There are a few eight-syllable text sequences and I amuse myself by singing 4:3 polymetric strings, then find ten-syllable groups and do the same with 5:3 and 5:6 strings, which are *really* not idiomatic to the lighter form...
5/
...analogous, perhaps, to introducing elaborate quinternary-dominant harmony in an arrangement of a folk song. Possible, sure...but why? In my case it's because I've done enough polymetric practice that if I want to execute one of these things I can do it without needing to think, and it's fun to flex. The more I explore, the more I have explored, and the more I know.
6/
John Gallagher arrives at 8:17, and shortly afterward Bob (a neighbor/colleague who's been threatening to come and visit for some time) arrives, sits down next to me, and comments appreciatively on my singing. I make a video at 8:25, then finish the hour and introduce the two: John, Bob. Bob, John.
7/
We chat while I pack up, walk to the intersection, and go our separate ways. The two of them are still conversing as I head across the road and back home to get my day started. Students, a podcast interview (with an authority on the history of American environmentalism), and the usual resistance tasks. These are difficult days and I'm grateful for the balance and clarity every morning brings.
See you Monday.
Man With Sign
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Warren Senders