News
Gandhi Ashram School, Kalimpong is a free school with a musical twist in the Eastern Himalayas. 300+ children from low-income communities and child care institutions learn to read music, play orchestral instruments and sing during the school day. With the My Classroom Library, the school would like to inculcate a
Mine is falling onstage. Now, I’ve never had a major wipeout, and I’ve never fallen off a stage. But still, I can’t shake this feeling that I’m one step away from my foot giving out and doing an ass-plant in front of a captive audience. It
Music Education
An exponent of the classical tradition and champion of contemporary music, the Hungarian-born musician’s oeuvre bears the stamp of his individuality and formidable technique. By Cavas Bilimoria By the mid 1920s it seemed as if the zenith in bewitching sound, charm, elegance, suavity and virtuosity spearheaded by Ysaye and
Music Education
Pupils always find it perplexing that their teachers should ever need to do any actual practise. ‘You’re a professional– you don’t need to practise!’ And we may think, ‘I’ve taught that piece a hundred times – I don’t need to practise it.’ If you do play professionally
News
The inseparability of art and human existence, the civilising impact of the visual and performing arts, and the humaneness that they nurture were themes Dr. Farokh E. Udwadia addressed with great eloquence and erudition, sprinkling them with poetic interludes, at the 2021 edition of the Jamshed Bhabha Memorial Lectures. We
Music Education
If you play the piano, you’ve probably played the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Beginners can’t wait to play all three pages, and advanced learners can’t wait to get into the last movement. Many can play the first movement, but the third movement is somewhat
Know Your Composer
The life of Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682) was characterised by turbulence, adventure and amorous escapades. In fact, in 1677 an attempt was made to murder him for reasons unknown, although it was believed to be at the instigation of a Venetian senator with whose fiancée Stradella had eloped. That attempt on
A sonata is a type of musical composition, usually written for a solo instrument like the piano or violin. It typically has three or four movements and is characterized by its use of musical development, form, and contrasting sections. Sonatas have a rich history in Western classical music and conti
Opinion
India’s classical music legend Maestro Zubin Mehta turned 85 this year, on 29 April. A grand concert was organized by his long-time friend, pianist Daniel Barenboim, featuring the orchestra of the Staatskapelle Berlin (of which Mehta in honorary conductor) at Staatsoper Unten den Linden. It was conducted by Mehta
Know Your Composer
When I was a young man, just out of my initial degree in the US and suddenly accepted as student at the prestigious Paris Conservatory, I found myself confronted with the cultural enigma that was the French system of Solfeggio. As a player of a transposing instrument, I definitely did
Know Your Composer
Recently, I had a chat with a young colleague who suggested that the writing of biographies of great composers was a boring myth-making exercise practiced in a cultural galaxy far away and two centuries removed. She had a point about the myth making, of course, but I really couldn’t
Music Education
In the final part of the series on the NCPA’s collection of musical instruments, we take you through the ins and outs of a prized pipe organ gifted to the NCPA circa 1988. We also bring to the fore top-notch pianos that light up many a recital across our
