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Hayden — About 20 band students from Hayden's high school and middle school crowded closely around Indian musician Sandip Burman on Wednesday morning as he played the sitar.

"You liking it?" he asked. "You enjoying it?"

As if in a trance, the students nodded their heads forward as Burman continued to strum the 20-string instrument that looks like, and is played similar to, a guitar. Burman, a native of Durgapur, West Bengal, India, stopped in Hayden as part of a nationwide tour that includes performances and classes with students.

Burman said his school stops allow him to share his Eastern classical music with students, teach them about his instruments and help pique their excitement to become better musicians.

As he played the sitar, and later, a tabla - a percussion instrument for which Burman is best known - he taught the students a variation of the eight-note scale commonly found in Western music that the band students were familiar with.

Intense at times, Burman also encouraged and joked with the students.

"If I can do it, you can do it," Burman told the students who played the guitar as he strummed the sitar. "Just a little practice, a day or two."

Nodding their heads side to side, some students weren't so sure.

"If you don't make mistakes, you won't know what to learn," Burman said. "I don't know anything."

It took Hayden High School senior Jon Lee, who plays trombone and bass guitar, a moment to describe how he felt about Burman's performance.

"It was awesome," he said. "It was indescribable. He (plays) so well."

High school band teacher Derek Hurshman, who coordinated Burman's visit, said he saw some of his students' eyes light up as they watched Burman play. Hurshman said his students sitting with a professional musician, creating music and singing scales, was something he had never participated in, even in college.

"In my 14 years of music, I've never had an experience like this before," he said. "It's pretty rare and very unique."

The students were at the high school at 7:30 a.m., well before the first bell rang at 8 a.m., to see Burman. Some said they came to hear his music or see his instruments. Others said they wanted to experience something that wasn't common in Hayden.

"I think it's pretty awesome for him to come to our small town and perform in front of what he's not used to - a small group," said Neylan Wheat, an eighth-grader who plays the clarinet. "That's pretty awesome."