My eyes got sparkly as soon as they brought in the musical instruments. I had dabbled into string instruments like tanpura, guitar and ukulele and also a percussion instrument – a drumset. But seeing all this variety made me feel really excited. It would be safe to say that this exercise was, by far, the most exciting one.

We were set free with the instruments to explore its sounds and textures. Various rhythms and sounds were explored asserting a variety of forces. I reached out for the ghungroos, which made such a volume that it curtained the sound by other instruments. When the instruments came together, we realized that some were overpowered while some subdued by others. Through exploration, the group started to figure out the balance and harmony in these sounds and its textures.  Soon various rhythms and tempos started coming in. An exploration at an individual level with individual instruments soon started to be a collaborative effort.

Though the medium of exploration was different, the findings were pretty similar to the findings from exploration through bodies in previous exercise.  The tempos, comforts and ease in connections is different for everybody, every entity.

This exercise was helpful in understanding one’s body’s rhythm and getting familiar with others’ body rhythms. This resonates with what Elon says in session 2 of conversation 3 – that there is a rhythm within the body, between the bodies and the space.