Down the artiste’s avenue

Nitin Amin, B E (mechanical) and Sameer Dublay, M A (politics) met while pursuing their common passion - music - doing their MA (music) f...

Nitin Amin, B E (mechanical) and Sameer Dublay, M A (politics) met while pursuing their common passion – music – doing their MA (music) from the University of Pune. This materialised into a thesis – Music literacy’, which went on to fulfill a common dream, that of creating a knowledgeable audience, that sit for hours together appreciating the finer qualities of Indian classical Music.

Whilst chalking out the concept of music literacy’ (wherein the audience is made familiar with the basic terminology of music), they took a cross-section of people on the basis of sex, age, educational stream, degree of education, interest in classical music, preference in music, awareness of gharanas… After intensive mathematical evaluation, they concluded that the audience comprised those who are generally aware of the music but ignorant about raag, taal…and those who do not have any formal training in music, but who have been listening to music over such a protracted period that their knowledge of music is nearly on par with people who have received formal training.

Realising that this discrepancy resulted in a small audience, the two took it upon themselves to fill the vacuum in their understanding. This would also help build a response (whether critical or appreciative) for the performing artistes that would aid them in self-evaluation.

Thus was born an organisation, SPECTRUM (Society for Performing Entrepreneurs and Conscious Training towards Understanding Music), whose motto – Come learn to listen, make friends with music’ – clearly defines its objective. And the workshops held under its aegis have generated tremendous response.

The target pupils are those who listen to and enjoy Indian classical music but feel that knowing the nuances of raag, taal would enhance their outlook. Dublay and Amin make it very clear that at no stage do they wish to teach the audience to evaluate music. Their aim is to merely educate the listeners on the concepts and terminologies (not definitions) to help develop an ear for music.

These workshops have been designed in a most meticulous fashion, with four to six sessions that encompass concepts like swar, saptak (octave), harmony, raag, taal, laya, awartan, sum, bandish, the actual performance from the view point of the artiste and listener, styles and gharanas, instrumental music. Aids such as computer pictorials, overhead screen projectors, audio-video systems, and active live demonstrations are used for better assimilation. And the entire programme is conducted in Marathi, English and Hindi.

The objective of SPECTRUM is thus to help artists find avenues for their talent through self-evaluation concerts (in the presence of a knowledgeable audience), provide a database of organisations that coordinate programmes for artistes and train towards understanding music. The work which has been put in over the year seems to have borne fruit.

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In the final analysis, this is an endeavour to bridge the gap between the artiste and the audience, to make listening to music an enjoyable and wholesome experience.