Why new students begin on Vijayadashami
The tradition of starting music on the tenth day of Navaratri, and what happens at our school that morning.
What happens at our quarterly concert
Every student plays, from the first-month beginner to the senior batch.
Four times a year, on a Sunday evening, our hall fills with families, folding chairs and nervous students. The quarterly concert is the part of the school year we would never give up.
Every student performs, including those who joined only a month earlier. Beginners play in small groups, often a geetham sung together or a short keyboard piece in unison. Seniors sing or play solo, with a violin student accompanying and a visiting mridangam artist keeping the rhythm. Adult guitar students usually close the evening with a song the audience can sing along to.
We do this because playing for others is a skill of its own. Students learn to start without a second chance, to keep going after a mistake and to listen to the people playing with them. Many children who were unsure about practising come back after their first concert with new interest.
The concerts are free and open to friends and relatives. We record each one and share it with families, and we keep the programmes in a file at the school, now going back to 2009.
