IdentityI have learnt Carnatic music from the age of 6 under the tutelage of my Guru Alamelu Mani (Singer Hariharans mother) in Matunga, Mumbai. I learned for almost 17 years at Bombay and have been teaching for over 20 years. I started taking classes in Chennai after marriage, for children in & around my area and have students who have learnt from me for years, some of them who have moved on to starting their own music school as well. Now, I am settled in Bangalore & take 1:1 online and group classes for beginners (children and adults) at my place in Good Earth Malhar in Kengeri. For 1:1 classes, my approach is to offer a group classes once a month as they work very well for children for better learning and to learn to sing together.
My approach/teaching style:
There is a lot of positive vibes in my class, which I feel is very important for the teacher & for students as well. It should be a powerful engagement between making it a beautiful experience for both the student and the teacher.
I give a lot of importance to repetitive learning with thalam & stress on open voice singing & clear rendering of notes. While teaching a song, I give stress on singing the Sahitya by repetition than singing with notations. (which may sound like prose at times). My style is to ensure that the child can deliver the song in it's pure form with notation at the back of their mind.
Initially, the song is taught with proper rendition & then Thalam is introduced to make it easier for children, to learn better & with ease.
I teach prayer songs & smaller Kritis to make it interesting for the children. This is to break the monotony in the class.
Easy leaning with prompting to do better at every stage, explaining the nuances with examples make a big impact on the students.
Encouraging them at every stage to aim higher is important.
Last but not the least, I encourage and motivate the children/beginners to regularly practice the songs and motivate them so that they can experience the joy in learning. Group classes of 4-5 children is INR 1500/ student per month - 1hr/class (in location)
For 1:1 classes or online classes, you can contact me for more details.
All my classes are an hour per session and in a month we will do 2 classes/week - so 8 classes a month. I offer a free 1 hour trial session. I don't offer pay per class and only do per month, because I believe true learning comes from consistently attending classes and a lot of practice.
