Studying Music In India

Spine

Hello everyone, long time no post for me,

I am looking at making my return to india. I am hoping to make it longer than the 2 months trip I made 3 years ago, and have a specific interest in mind this time (although I am cautious about having any expectations about what I will find )

Basically I have played music for years, first drums, then guitar and keyboard. I have never really learnt any music theory (or have tried but was not all that interested at the time), but I am interested in expanding my music skills. So I have begun researching studying music in india, which seems like a wonderful idea to me.

Question 1:
Has anyone done this? What was ur experience?

Question 2:
Well this is a part answer part question Question..
Firstly my brief searching has turned up several interesting places that I could study at.

i. http://www.visva-bharati.ac.in/
This is a proper university, and a leading one at that, probably more intense than I'm looking for. But I will still make enquiries.
ii. http://www.guruskoolmusic.com/
This place sounds very interesting. It's on a farm and they seem to hold workshops, jams and recording studios. It seems to be right up my alley, but I'm not so sure that I have the musical background to truly benefit from such an experience...
iii. http://www.thalangu.com/
Now this place seems a little put on for me, but I'm happy to hear otherwise, as it seems to have a good thing hapenning

Secondly, does anyone have any places they could add to this list? It would be great if they could.

I'm researching all of this now so that I can be ready to study next year.

Thanks,

Claude Van Mouse

Mardala

I studied Odissi pakuaj in India.

If you are looking for credit, I'd pick a college/university in the US that would sponsor your trip to India. If you don't care about credit I'd find someone to study with and just take lessons.

My .02

If I can find my buddies email, he studies with a brilliant young tabla player in Delhi. If you wanted to study Odissi music I know quite a few musicians in Orissa. Getting in touch with them is a bit challening! But possible.

__________________
mardala.com

Spine

Hi Mardala,

As I type in odissi Pakuaj your (i'm assuming its yours, www.mardala.com) website comes up first in the google list, heheh funny. Very nice site btw.

Thanks for your .02, hopefully enough people will give theres and I will have enough to get myself to india

Yeah I'm not so interested in credit, as I can come back to melbourne afterwards and take up acredited study, I'm looking for someone who can assist me with discipline and theory... of which there must be many people people like that in india, I guess I'm just exploring my options for now, seeing what the costs are involved so I'm prepared.

Last time I travelled to india, I just found someone who was giving lessons in tabla in Varanassi, and studied with him for a few days.

I am quite happy to do that again, but knowing what options are available is always good.

So how long did you study for mardala? Is there somewhere that I can hear some odissi music online?

Also I should have added that whilst I am quite interested in indian music,I would however like the emphasis of my teaching to be in western music theory, if this is possible...

Thanks again,

Claude

greenchutney

do you want to focus on any particular genre? if so you might want to check into musicindiaonline.com website (one of the few sites that categorizes and has tons of music to listen to in its catalog for free) and research some. there are all kinds, folk, ghazal, tribal, classical[hindustani, carnatic], fusion genres in the indian music scene.

i think after deciding the genre or maybe along with that, you might want to think about which indian instrument you are interested in..percussion, string or maybe you want to be a vocalist. ?

music theory..hmmmm..thats a tough one. there are all kinds of teachers in cities that teach what not instruments like violin, guitar and drum for western music but will the theory teaching be any good..i dont know..? you can look up in the local newspaper classifieds ...i know thats not rather helpful..but if i come across, will post links~

if you can specify the genre you are interested in and the possible instruments..then that might help in the search as well.

Mardala

I studied mardala with Dhanuswar Swain for 6 months in Orissa. That was just long enough to get some fundamentals down. I practiced a lot and had played guitar for about 12 years in a lot of bands previous, so I had a music background. Which it sounds like you do.

The one thing that is tough about the mardala is there are few teachers outside of Orissa. There seems to be fewer Odissi musicans as well. I really like the style of music, but outside of Orissa there is not a lot going on. Most Odissi dance in the western world is performed with canned music or groups of non Odissi musicians, like Tabla, eg. Odissi music is also choreographed and written for a particular dance by one of the dance gurus collaborating with the musicians and is almost impossible to get as a CD. You could get a DVD of an Odissi performance and check out the music from there. There are some of Sujata Mohapatra (she is one of the best Odissi dancers out there as well.)

The young Tabla master I was trying to remember is this person: http://www.pacifictabla.com/Vishal.html

His mom is a well known Kathak dancer in Seattle, USA, so he spends part of his time there. But I know 2 people who have studied with him for quite some time. He might be someone to contact if you wanted to study Tabla? He also lives in Delhi when not in Seattle.

As far as western music goes, not sure where to look. That website greenchutney suggested would probably be a good place to look.