Pravin Godkhindi’s ease with the flute earned him plenty of praise at the end of every concert, both abroad and in India. But he also received queries from many in the audience on whether he could take lessons.
He says, “I observed that whenever I performed abroad or outside Bangalore, people approached me for simple techniques and crash courses in playing the flute. And these people were those who had formally trained and discontinued.”
This keenness inspired him to make training accessible to everyone. A gifted musician, known essentially for his expertise in playing the flute although he plays the harmonium, tabla and sings, Godkhindi went the e-way on February 17. How? With Skype.
In recent times, artistes in the city who are particularly employing the internet to further their art are classical musicians. These musicians employ that the basic components of the internet that aid every day communication to impart training.
Godkhindi’s website www.pravingodkhindi.in clearly spells out the specifications of his classes, and the measures that students need to take when technology threatens to gives way in the form of power outages etc. As an engineer himself, Godkhindi admits that he has always been fascinated by technology but “striking a balance between tradition and modernity is important — music online inspires a lot of people but that shouldn’t be the only way.”
He trains not only students who stay far away from his place in the city but even those who live abroad: “I have about 60-70 students whom I teach online. I also teach students from the US, Indonesia and Canada.” He clarifies that geographical distance and time zones are not a problem, “I post the timings on my website.
” With the advent of technology in training too, is the guru-shishya parampara beginning to wither? “Nothing can substitute the parampara. I don’t expect everyone to become performers. I hope that they at least become good listeners.” By implementing Skype, he believes, “something is better than nothing.” He further clarifies that students don’t completely stay away from the teacher physically. “They come once a month and learn the basic fingering and later on, follow up on Skype, the sub-exercises.” However, if students are really inclined, technology or otherwise, they will make it big, he assures.
But there's no running away from technology. Those who thought they were too old for it decided to educate themselves anyway when they saw it was the communication mode of the future. And now, after online classes from dance instructors, classical musicians form the recent lot who are also picking the trend and embracing the working of the net for the benefit of their art.
Younger musicians like Omkarnath Havaldar too consider the internet their medium for imparting music lessons. “With basic equipments like the magic jack, voice chat, an advanced version of gtalk and a high speed broadband of 512 mbps/sec or more, there will be no time lag between the student and the teacher,”
Havaldar says. All his online students are abroad and according to him, “In India, it has not picked up as fast.” He doesn’t train his students entirely on gtalk or over the phone. “It can’t be done from day one. Only after a strong bond between the teacher and the student has been established, and they develop confidence, do I shift to the online mode.” Does he find it satisfying to teach online? “It’s not that the student can’t see the guru entirely — students can see them online. Teaching online is satisfying. I do keep in touch with them by frequently travelling there too,” Havaldar says.
While music teachers and their students have resorted to the internet for a larger reach, others like Dattatreya L Velankar, a Hindustani vocalist and a music teacher at Aditi Mallya school, released a CD on learning Hindustani classical music. “There has been a great response in the US but it will take more time here,” he says. His motive behind releasing the CD was “to motivate those inclined and expose them to Hindustani classical music, even if they cannot sing.” Velankar says, “It was basically to trigger the love for music across age groups. People can keep listening to it and learn, wherever they are.”
The CD contains alankars, compositions in basic ragas which are sung in such a way that every line can be repeated after him, while listening. “The CD lays the basic foundation, it can train students in basic vocal culture and alankars,” Velankar says. If listeners are inspired to learn further, that is what he counts as his success.
He also plans to release further volumes of such self-learn music CDs. Like every other musician venturing into teaching music online, Velankar too maintains, “When you are with your guru, strong vibrations are passed onto the shishya. Besides, you not only learn music but also valuable lessons of life as part of the guru-shishya parampara.” That, technology certainly cannot promise, he concludes.
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