By profession I am a Software Engineer and I love my engineering job for living. To fulfill the life and have meaning of it, I practice music as worship. Music does not have a barrier of language and also does not have a geographical boundary. I learned music from different parts of the world and in all music around the world I found an inherent beauty. I did not find it right that only Indian music, only Arabian music, only African or only western music is great; the beauty of music is beyond race and nationality. But all the music are not same. As poetry and story are reflection of the circumstances the author live in, the same applies with music. Composer, singer and other contributors work on a music piece and cannot be isolated from their environment. If they cannot be isolated from the environment then they are bound to use matching note pattern and matching musical instruments. This explains why music in India is different than music in Africa or different from other countries. The music of rural or countryside is different than that of urban places. Even though all music (including screaming/yelling and conversation part of music) can be sang and played with the help of twelve musical notes, different style of music have characteristic differences, such as number of beats used in the music, note intervals selected for a particular music. If listened carefully, all music has a message and impacts our mind. I am not referring to the music that is well designed for wrong purposes such that promoting violence, promoting hatred, promoting drugs, promoting disrespect, etc. Healthy music fulfills our life and gives a universal meaning. Broader exposure of international music has always given me better perspective to render Indian music.
I did my Engineering from BIT Sindri, India; Advance Project Management from Stanford University, USA; PMP from Project Management Institute (PMI).Got additional music training from Stanford University (Music at Stanford, http:\\music.stanford.edu). Learned western dance at DeAnza community college.
I learned Indian Classical Music (Hindustani) from Guru Jagdish Singh, a very talented and well known Hindustani Classical Singer. While working in Indian Broadcasting Service (All India Radio and Doordarshan) in India, it was my privilege to work with legend musicians such as Pandit Jasraj, Kumar Lal Mishra, Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, Mrs Girija Devi, Rajan-Sajan Mishra, Pandit Shiv Sharma, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
For those who really like music and have passion for it, I enjoy to guide them. I teach music only to selected individuals who are really serious for this art form. My method of teaching is not traditional. When I was learning music, there was no internet. People use to hide their knowledge. The teacher used to decorate himself/herself with big pomp and show, many times by using vague and misleading information. As soul of Indian music is based on improvisation, there is a lot possibility for exploitation in the name of secret knowledge of so called big name teacher. Music is not a secret; specially in present age when a wealth of information is available for free. So many software and engineering techniques are available to analyze the musical pieces. If someone is hiding information, it is not difficult to find that from other sources. There is a well known principle about books, that books are to be read; and so is the music. Music is to be sang/played and to be enjoyed. My method is simple and is based on respect to the students. Music is not a rocket science that is difficult to master; it has a lot to do with sincere practice with patience ... a teacher just facilitates the learning process. Somewhere I heard that whoever can talk, they can sing. I strongly believe it. One may not be able to copy someone (whom one admires), but definitely one can establish his/her own way of singing or playing musical instruments.
I teach North Indian Classical (Hindustani) Vocal, light film music, tabla, harmonium, Keyboard, piano. Also prepare students for Indian Music competition shows such as Indian idol, and for Bollywood singing.The students are given opportunity to participate in concerts and public performances.
I live and teach in San Jose, close to Cupertino (Highway 85 North and De Anza Blvd), California, zip-95129.
Contact: dummyrain@sbcglobal.net
