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Revisioning Music Education A Workshop With Music Teachers Organized by Underscore Records Pvt Ltd Delhi Public School • Varanasi • July 27, 2010

Supported by the Ford Foundation

BACKGROUND

Music education in the Indian school system occupies an insignificant position, with many

educational institutions preferring to do away with arts and music education altogether.

Some of these schools retain such subjects, but merely as hobby activities. There is therefore

an urgent need to review teaching methods, syllabi and content. This workshop with music

teachers from several branches of the prestigious Delhi Public School discussed several

important issues in an effort to understand and address the following points:

1. Ways of enhancing the quality of cultural awareness among school going children;

2. Ways of ensuring that the diversity of Indian music is given due importance in the teaching

of music,

3. Ways of helping the students to appreciate the world of arts, music and literature

4. Ways of introducing a capsule on the appreciation of music in the curriculum of teacher

education;

5. Help understand the status of art and music schools and colleges in the country.

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS DPS Varanasi, Surat, Patna, Pune, Ludhiyana, Sonipat, Bilaspur,

Bangalore (North), Jalandhar, Gandhi Nagar, Panipat, Agra

MAIN POINTS OF DISCUSSION

• The workshop primarily focused on expanding the scope of music education in schools

to project the diversity of musical traditions. Special emphasis was given to studying marginalized forms from folk repertoire that reflects India's plural culture. Teachers were encouraged to adopt an interdisciplinary approach while teaching, in order for students to make tangible connections between music and other subjects of learning.

• The teachers spoke about common problems that they faced and the strategies that

they had evolved to address the same. Some of the problems across the board pertained to the restricted time given to music lessons in school timetables, the lack of interest in students with regard to Indian classical music and the difficulty in assessing the impact of lessons on the students.

• The workshop focused on methods of collecting resource material towards building an

audio-visual library and a library for books and periodicals.

• Teachers were acquainted with information available on the net that could be used as a teaching aid in the classroom situation. Teachers were also informed about podcasts and video-casts prepared by Underscore Records and available on www.UnderscoreRecords.com and on the Youtube channel for Underscore Records, which could be freely accessed by teachers and students. Such material is of vital importance since information about folk forms and other traditional genres is not easily available.

• Teachers were made aware of the necessity to protect and respect Intellectual Property

Rights while downloading and copying material. The exemption of such restrictions in an educational situation was also discussed briefly. It was hoped that such knowledge would percolate to the student community and would prepare them as responsible listeners.

• The workshop addressed the issue of promoting alternate careers for students

interested in pursuing the study of music, in a manner that would not only reduce the strain of live performance but would also direct the students' attention to writing about, and documenting and cataloguing information about diverse musical forms from India.

• The workshop also addressed the need to create a syllabus and adopt pedagogical methods, which would concentrate on articulating and explaining concepts related to Indian music with clarity rather than laying emphasis on performance abilities alone.