Yesterday, I was toying with the idea of starting a music school. And phew. What an exhausive routine it was, just working out the details. A lot of demographic and logistical issues peculiar to the current state of music in India, (Tamil Nadu) make this worthy of writing.
My exposure to music comes from lsitening to carnatic music. As a kid, I ran away at the first possible opportunity to escape from sitting through a kutcheri. But as I grew up, the hallowed principles of carnatic music struck me. So my first preference was to start a carnatic music school. But let’s face it - carnatic music and anything associated with it is terribly under-valued. People don't mind paying Rs 200 per class for learning Guitar, but hesitate to pay the same for learning Veena.
So I decided that in order to be commercially successful, I had to start a session for Western Music also. But the logistics for such a venture would puzzle most. People coming to learning carnatic expect to see photos of the Trinity hanging over their heads. It makes no improvement to their singing, but still they want it. But teaching Western in such an ambience would be like asking the Queen of England to have Idly for breakfast. It's like mixing chalk and cheese.
But it is this ambitious venture that I have decided to embark upon. No, I don't have any clue as to how to make it work. But may be if I think it through, I will get an idea. Maybe. (Am I just pleasing the optimist in me?)
A final word, before I sign off: Music has become so common today and it is totally unstructured. Ad-hoc center's are mushrooming all over town and reality singing shows are driving parents to force children to attend such classes. Combine this with the fact that carnatic music is woefully anachronistic and you have the perfect recipe for commotion. And that's the state of music.
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