Is music influenced by the time of the day you play it?
 

Hi guys,

I have a friend who plays Sitar (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitar), a North Indian stringed instrument. I myself play a little bit of Guitar and Piano.

We were having a conversation about Eastern & Western music and he brought up something unusual. He said that the time of the day you play Sitar influences the kind of music that comes out. What he meant was that there are certain music compositions that can only be played well at a certain time of the day. I did not believe an ounce of it and I still don't. Wondering what you guys think..

Hmmm. During certain times of day I'm more likely to listen to certain kinds of music, and maybe if I play my guitar during certain times of day I might be inclined to play one thing over another ... but somehow I don't think my guitar knows what time of day it is, and will make Kathy's Song sound different in the morning than in the afternoon. Unless I happen to play it differently. ;)

Replace "time of day" with "mood" and your friend would have a very valid point. Maybe his mother told him that so he wouldn't be playing sitar at 2 in the morning.

Of course mood matters a lot. It is obvious. The kind of music I listen depend heavily the way I feel, the kind of music I play depends heavily my mood. Also If I'm to write a song (which is what I do sometimes, it is also heavily influenced by the way I feel.
As a whole, our feelings are very important when it comes to music.
And as it is, this is the reason it's great to listen to so different music. I probably don't feel the same when I put Pet Sounds on than when I put Ramones on, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for your comments guys. My friend has sent me this link which provides some traditional rules/guidelines for this specific type of music. But I still don't see how the music that comes out can be affected by the time of the day you play it. I do agree that the environment you are in may influence your mood and thus the type of music that comes out. But the key is that it is your mood.

kumaraditya2210.hubpages.com/hub/Seasons-Timings-of-Ragas-in-Indian-Classical-Music

Apparently time influences mood, so it makes sense that musicians feel like making different types of music at different times of the time of day. The human body - again supposedly - is fitted with a very accurate internal clock which regulates all manner of functions.

I seriously don't play my music as much during the day although I listen to a hell of a lot. This might sound pretentious, but the evening is best suited for creating and also for listening to my occasional listens - through the headphones by the way - to Dark Ambient, Underground Metal, and Prog (I need to keep my place to live, and I'm in an area that will not understand).

There´s a Van Morrison lyric that goes, "...listening to Debussy in the morning when contemplation is best..." and, sure, what I listen to depends on the time of day. I like to start out with something clean and light; Zap Mama, the Beach Boys or something acoustic. After breakfast I´m ready for something that rocks a bit more, but I don´t normally play jazz until the sun has gone down - unless of course I´m in the car, in which case fusion/afrobeat/jambands are essential to pump up that go-get-em adrenaline and drown out the weird rattling noise from the front suspension.

I think your friend was right!

Raga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/...of%2Bsunda.jpg

After the liner notes, on this cd it says the following:-


I once played the CD at 4:30, but that´s the kind of guy I am. Deal with it, Euis! :ar_15s: