LearnQuest Academy of Music- conference

LearnQuest Music festival 2012 - Boston When I entered Regis College hall, I saw the atmosphere like some music festival in Gwalior, Mumbai or Bangalore, but it was in Waltham, Boston USA. Organizing music festival abroad is not very easy. First thing we are organizing Indian cultural event in different country where the culture differs. The credit goes to learnquest team who are conducting conference since 7 years. Music conferences consist of vocal, instrumental and dance recitals. (Literal meaning of music is combination of vocal, playing instruments and dance) it may vary from festival to festival. In India we have Sawai Gandharva ustav, Gwalior tansen sangeet ustav calcutta doverlane in bangalore gururaodeshpande all night music festival like this, every festival has its unique identity and speciality. LearnQuest is the organisation, which promotes and spreads the essence of Indian classical music in New England area, Boston. It provides formal instructions in Hindustani and carnatic vocal and instrumental music. Once a year, they organize a music conference, which is a new initiative and it is becoming a famous event in Indian cultural arena in USA. Inviting artiste from India in different genre of music and organizing such a big and important event is very difficult. Various types of performances in one event are the key for the success of the conference. As an artiste I enjoyed and participated in this years’ music conference, which gave me a mesmerizing experience. When my guruji gave his performance it was a bit late, around 9 pm, which was concluding concert of the conference. The Fact that the hall was full with audience, when we came to the stage, was such a surprise. People were waiting for the program and until the end they enjoyed the vocal and appreciated the concert. The quality of the audience was also great. Again the credit goes to LearnQuest who have become a pioneer in introducing music conferences in this area and transforming this city into main hub of Indian music.

Changing Time in Music

When I joined Guruji, Pt Vinayk Torvi for learning classical music 20 years back, he used to describe his experience about concert duration. 4-5 hours concerts were very common and that was the minimum time duration of a concert few years back. More the time duration, more was the pride and test for the artiste that he or she can perform. Time has changed, man has also evolved. We have experienced many new tremendous inventions in all the fields including music. Even in musical instruments like tanpura and tabla, we have electronic versions. Along with the growth of music, presentation, instruments and duration of performance has also changed. If we see the present day situation in Indian classical music in India and abroad, maximum duration of a concert is 2-3 hours. 3 hours concert of one artiste is very big( we have few chamber concert which may be longer than this due to keen interest and knowledge about classical music). In Television and Radio we have to present just 30 mins to one hour performances. Present day artiste works and tries to show his mastery in lesser time duration than in the past. If we take classical Hindustani Khyal, singer presents one rag for around 45 mins to one hour, so in one concert he or she can present 2-3 rags considering a concert of 2 hours. Within a given time you have to show your talent. Time limits your creativity and restricts your imagination but whoever does it well within the given time is a good artiste. Conveying the message in the given time limit is the key challenge and basic necessity nowadays. When you are having a performance, within a few minutes after your concert, it may appear in Facebook or YouTube, people get to know about your performance quickly but at the same time you have to keep up the practice and never get over confident. The responsibility of the artiste is much more in this new generation. We have lots of knowledge and information regarding music but presenting it in the right way is the vital part. We can listen to Pt Bhimsen Joshiji’s yaman, Pt Mansurji s yaman and Pt kumar Gandharvji s yaman, but when you present it, it should be your yaman, rather than copying from stalwarts. Time management, deep knowledge and learning the right way to present it from a guru about your subject will take you to a higher level.

ಸಂಗೀತ ಮತ್ತು ಸಂಗೀತ ಕಲಾವಿದರು

Today s generation is more focused and talented, they have more opportunities available than before, but why don’t we have so many great musicians in the present... this is one of the questions which haunt me when I think about music today and yester years...
We heard read so many stories; we saw very closely how genius musicians worked towards their goal or how they achieved it. One goal or one direction music should be pure and ultimate, nothing matters other than that. Always ‘chintan’ about music - thinking about music, thinking about different rag ragini s, thinking about different feels of rag is most important.
Today we are all in advanced technical world we have electronic tanpura, electronic table, we have digital recorder to record our music classes, we have mp3, mp4 and so on and on and on...
When I learnt my first rag from my Guruji, I was told no recording no seeing book for bandish, I use to think – “oh god how its possible to remember aalaps and tans ...!! “, but our traditional music is still growing and growing stronger and stronger without it .. then we can think we can sing without book without electronic equipment. But we are so use to it, that we conclude thinking music is survived with electronics not human feelings.
We are more worried about performance than practise, we are more worried about fame and name than music, we are worried about recognition not Rag or Ragini... it is harsh to tell all the young musicians are like that, there are very few people who really care about music than music concert. Concerts are extension of your musical ability, how to present a beautiful rag with your limited knowledge (or you can say music management) before that you have to prefect yourself with various elements of music like swar, taal, laya and bhava.
Learn from an able guru for a period of 10 to 15 years, and then develop your own thoughts about what you learnt. All this will take few years, now we don’t have patience; we ask guru when we can give performance before starting classes. It may sound funny but this reality.
Try to achieve excellence then the fame and name will follow you.