The December music season for young students

From the first week of December to mid-January, Chennai holds hundreds of Carnatic music and dance concerts in sabhas across Mylapore, T. Nagar, Alwarpet and Adyar. For a music student it is the best classroom in the world, and many of the concerts are free.

Start with the morning and afternoon slots. Many sabhas hold free concerts by young and upcoming artists before the evening ticketed programmes. These are shorter, the halls are less crowded, and the musicians are often only a little older than our senior students, which children find inspiring.

Prepare a little. Before a concert, look up one or two of the ragas the artist is likely to sing, and listen to a recording at home. In the concert, children love spotting a raga they know from class. Give younger children a notebook to write the names of ragas and talas as the artist announces them.

Keep it short for small children. An hour is enough for an eight-year-old; leave quietly between pieces rather than during one. Sit near the side aisle so you can step out without disturbing anyone. And do not miss the canteens. The sabha canteens serve filter coffee, dosai and sweets, and for many children the morning tiffin is part of the memory. We run three group outings to Margazhi concerts each season for students and parents, on Saturday mornings, with a teacher explaining what to listen for before each one.