Today
I would like to talk about music and technology. I know this topic is like
demonetization now. Everybody talks about it. I would like to give the musicians
a teacher’s perspective on the subject. World has changed drastically after
globalisation and new technology has come to the light. Earlier we used to hear
from our forefathers about how they walked from one place to another. How time
has changed and we adapted many modes of transportation. If Shankaracharya or
Jesus Christ was preaching in different places today, they would have flown in
Air India or Jet Airways. We have to change. If I say, I will also walk 20-30
miles because my grandfather used to walk, people may think I am mad. We have
to use new technology. Nothing wrong in embracing change it when requires. How
much to use and where to use is another topic.
I
would like to classify technology into 4 parts.
1.
Electronic instruments
2.
Recording facility
3.
Microphones
4.
New teaching/learning tools
1.
Electronic instruments: My guruji or grand guruji used to practise with
live
tanpura
and once in a while with live tabla accompaniment. While
teaching
many teachers used to play tabla for the benefit of students.
They
used to learn simple tabla thekas for playing in class. Slowly a few
companies
started to experiment with electronic tanpura and tabla. In
1979
Bangalore based Radel started to manufacture electronic
instruments
for the first time. In the recent years many brands became available to us.
Slowly Gurus and students started using it and now it has become an integral
part of teaching music. Many people think it has replaced real tanpura, which I
don’t agree fully because even today we use real tanpura for our performances.
There is no
doubt
that it helped in music practice and teaching.
2.
Recording facility: Recording started with stone plates, later rpm discs,
cassettes,
compact discs and now we have reached up to live streaming. The journey
from
stone to streaming took many years but it is because of the new technology
that
we are getting newer medium to record, preserve and spread music. Now we can
launch a new album with two artistes. One sitting in India and another sitting
in California. Time has changed now. Artistes also have adapted to newer technology.
We have to. People having knowledge about the upcoming technology who also have
musical knowledge will excel, musicians having technical background can reach
more people. Musicians and people are bridged by technology.
3.
Microphones: Invention of microphones changed the musical dynamics drastically.
I can say that this invention took music to the next level. Concert dynamics
changed. Earlier 150-200 people was considered a big crowd for classical music. Now a days we
witness thousands of people attending musical concerts. I am not talking about
quality of music or the mastery of the musician here; That is altogether a
different matter. In simple words, through microphone, our music can be audible
for more people. How to use a mic; which company is better for vocal; are
minute adaptation we have to adjust to. Singer should learn these things along with
music. I saw one signboard saying
‘we
teach mic techniques’. Wah! I personally feel after few years’ basic talim and
practise students must give some attention to these matters also.
4.
New teaching/learning tools: Finally an important segment. With
technology we are moving towards drastic change in guru shishya parampara. I am
not saying that one to
one
rigorous training will change into skype or video conferencing. But slowly we
are adding that method to spread our student base as well as making it possible
for more people to learn music. We are in a material mechanical mode of life. I
am not discussing it is good or bad, but our life style has changed.
We have to accept and move on. In spite of less available free time
people want to learn music; enjoy music. Urban life is hectic. Kids are more
stressed today than when we compare to our childhood. I meet very few people who
say I have time. Teachers are moving towards class through Skype. Every
technology has advantage and disadvantage. But I am a very optimistic person. We
can handle those disadvantages and we can travel towards reaching our goal;
that is teaching music nicely and effectively.
We
have to learn how to reach our younger students. Artistes express, ‘oh nowadays, less people
attend concert’. If we introspect we may get the answer that we are not
creating audience. We try creating artiste. That also is our illusion. Artistes
are born as an artiste. You can’t create them. You can motivate, you can mould
them to be artistes. Skype is very easy and handy tool for distance learners. I
take classes for a student who stay in Boston or California. Through this my
music is spreading and I can take my guruji s music beyond boundaries.
In
summary, we can’t reject role of technology in music. How much to use is in the
musicians head and heart. I am not saying we have to become technology geeks
leaving music behind. By embracing
technology in our music, we can be more reachable. If we decide we won’t
use technology, it is our personal lose. Music field is unaffected with this
kind of rigidness.
In
my case, if I use technology in my music, my guruji s music will reach to more
people. It is not like I am serving the music field in a big way. Music should
grow with teaching more
people and at least we can create a community with guruji’s music. We will make
use of more innovations and new ideas. Let us make our Indian classical music
more reachable
by adding more technology.
