Last updated 14 July 2009
This note describes the two educational events I like to conduct. It was written for prospective organizers of such events. For forthcoming events please see my home page.
Workshops are for music students. Participants are expected to sing (or occasionally, play an instrument). Some level of skill is needed to fully benefit from the event. Since time must be given to each of the participants, their number needs to be restricted (details below).
Lecture-demonstrations are for listeners. Interest in Hindustani classical music is the only pre-requisite for fruitful participation. There is no limit on how many can attend a lecture-demonstration.
References email me for contacts of latest workshop or lecdem hosts who you can ask about their experience with these types of events.
The purpose of a workshop is to expose the students to my method of teaching, provide an opportunity to discuss with me their individual questions and give them a glimpse of how I present a raga.
I can conduct 3-hour workshops for serious students of Hindustani classical (vocal). Typically 10 to 15 students attend. Upto 20 can be accommodated. The more advanced the student body the more we can cover, but I can work with students with limited training as long as the class is more or less homogeneous.
We begin by discussing and practicing how to train one’s voice for khayal singing. Goals and aspects of riyaz are explained. We next turn to raga rules and the designing of alaps. Basic concepts of laya and tala are covered. One raga and two bandishes in that raga are used as running examples.
Handouts covering the raga and bandishes learned are given out. Students are also encouraged to record the lesson.
Extended workshops – 2 or more sessions over a weekend or spread over a week – are possible if there is interest. I have conducted workshops up to 20 hours long in India. For example I can teach 2-3 different ragas, or several compositions in one raga including vilambit khyal(s).
For children – I can also conduct a workshop for children (age 10 years onward) or teenagers. These have to be shorter, 60 to 90 minutes depending on the age and interest of the participants. The number of participants is also best limited to 15. The content can be one or two simple songs in Hindi, Marathi or Sanskrit – devotional, patriotic or children’s songs.
My lecture-demonstrations are typically of 2 to 2 ˝ hour duration. Their purpose is to educate the listeners about some aspects of my music. Through a mixture of narrative and short examples of singing, I take the audience through a journey towards a better understanding of Hindustani (North Indian) classical Khayal. While a typical lec-dem does include about an hour of singing on the whole, lec-dems are clearly different from concerts, whose purpose is to entertain. In lecdems, Dr. Hari Sahasrabuddhe and I share the speaking part and I give the singing demonstrations. I urge orgainzers not to use the words concert or performance in any announcement of my lecture-demonstration, as that leads to different expectations, which cannot be fulfilled in a lec-dem.
In the following I have listed four possible subjects for a lec-dem. I have given several lec-dems on each of these subjects. Listeners have invariably found them very enjoyable. If there is particular interest in your area on a somewhat different focus, please let me know. I would love to talk about what listeners want to hear.
This is the most general of the lot, and perhaps most suitable for a first lec-dem. In this I begin by introducing the environs of khayal singing – the accompanying instruments and their roles. Basic terminology comes next: swar, laya, tala, sam. I then go into raga and its characteristics: vaadi, samvaadi, aroha, avaroha, varjit swar, pakad etc. We then move on to the structure and importance of a bandish composition in khayal, and its main parts – sthayi, antara and mukhada. In the last part of the discussion we use all those ideas to examine closely the two main parts of a khayal presentation – vilambit (slow) and drut (fast) khayal, and variants of the latter such as tarana, trivat and chaturang. The presentation ends with an actual vilambit and drut khayal for half an hour or so.
In this lec-dem we focus on the type of song composition used in khayal singing known as bandish. We begin by examining exactly what makes a song a bandish – the demands khayal style of singing makes on the song composition and the crucial role of bandish in a khayal presentation. Since I have myself composed many bandishes I take some time to also explain how a bandish is born. We explore the relation of a bandish to raga on the one hand and literature on the other: how a raga presentation is coloured by the bandish selected; and why lyrics matter and how they are pronounced in song. Bandishes by different ancient and modern composers are presented to bring out specialties and preferences of different composers. Naturally, many bandishes will be presented throughout this lec-dem.
In this lec-dem we focus on the type of song composition used in khayal singing known as bandish, with special focus on the wordless type, called tarana. We begin by examining exactly what makes a song a bandish – the demands khayal style of singing makes on the song composition and the crucial role of bandish in a khayal presentation. Since I have myself composed many bandishes, including many taranas, I take some time to also explain how a bandish is born. We explore how taranas become more flexible compositions because of their freedom from literary constraints. Taranas by different ancient and modern composers are presented to bring out specialties and preferences of different composers. Naturally, many taranas will be presented and examined throughout this lec-dem.
In this lec-dem we explore how ragas express different emotions through swars. We begin by familiarizing the listener with the seven swars and their shuddha and vikrit variants. After defining the basic concept of raga, we examine how different ragas may employ even the same swars in different ways and to different effects. Some ragas use both shuddha and vikrit variants of a swar. Through examples we examine the special effect of this phenomenon. We end by looking at combination ragas. In some combinations the two separate ragas dissolve into a new, fused raga personality, while in other combinations individual ingredient ragas remain visible and irreconcilable.