A many-stringed path to spiritual enlightenment floated through Thomas Dale High School on Tuesday morning.
Indian musician Sandip Burman played for and offered inspiration to students in two workshop sessions at Dale's Specialty Center for the Visual and Performing Arts.
"He can just speak to you with his music," said junior Shamus Hogan, who plays violin. "He can say things with music that most people can't say with words."
The musical approach to answering came in handy with the finicky, fidgety Burman. He kept the students waiting in the hall as he tuned his sitar. Once they were seated on the floor in front of him, the slightest of noises in the room caught his attention. The occasional person coming or going from the room would prompt a brief stop in his playing. Questions from the students were often met with questions from Burman.
Hogan asked why the curved frets on Burman's sitar were set at odd intervals as opposed to the set pattern on a guitar.
Burman listened intently, then stared blankly for a moment. Hogan responded by rewording his query.
"I see you quickly understand that I'm not understanding," Burman said.
On the third try, Hogan came up with a version of the question Burman could answer.
The fret alignment was as it was just because.
"That's the way it works better for this instrument," Burman said.
No matter what Burman was doing — strumming on the sitar, plunking away on drums or just talking — it inspired junior Maggie Tuite.
"The whole thing was inspiring," said the singer. "Just listening to him, it made me want to be a better performer. His passion rubbed off on me."
The performance was part of a yearlong series of guest performances and lectures from professional musicians, said Pam Barton, the director of the specialty center.
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