e-web learning

While online music and art lessons are convenient, they cannot replace the process of one-on-one learning, says Anita Iyer.

In a world where investment advice and even medical opinions are being given on-line, can music or art lessons be far behind?
The proliferation of the Internet, enhanced band widths and falling costs of recording and uploading large files have opened up a whole new way of learning music or art on-line. In a sense this e-learning is putting the traditional Gurukul system of learning on its head.

As Neyveli Santana Gopalan, a prominent vocalist based in Chennai says, “Internet has changed the way music was perceived in older times. Due to the advent of Internet and its influence on our lives, the Gurukul system (Students coming to the Gurus) is replaced by Shishyakul (Gurus going to Shishya)”.

Today, the web world is over flowing with websites offering Carnatic music lessons by renowned vocalists and instrumentalists at nominal prices. Learning music lessons online comes as an advantage for both the learner and teacher as they can access music suiting their busy schedules.

It is mainly the increased interest of westerners and distant learners which has boosted the concept of online music lessons, proclaims Mr. Suresh Vaidyanathan, a Ghatam maestro and a vocal artist who has 25 students varying from USA to Japan learning under him. Elucidating the concept of e- music learning, he says, “I record video clippings of 10 MB each and attach an Excel sheet with notations mentioned in it and mail it to my disciples throughout the world. As music needs to confirm with Taal and Sur, I specify the counts and beats of music in the rows and columns in the excel sheet”. “Normally, all my lessons are recorded with home video camera and are send via mail. But sometimes, the lessons are too big and breaking the continuity is meaningless so in such cases, I send across a CD or a DVD of my recordings via post”.

Talking about the profile of learners, Mr. Suresh says, “It is mainly the westerns who get influenced and fascinated by seeing the Indian classical performances abroad and develop a keen interest to learn the art form. As not many Indian artists are available abroad, they seek online music lessons as a mode to learn our music. Many NRIs learn Indian music because they want to establish themselves and want to prove that they are capable enough to hold a concert abroad”.

The period of learning music via Internet depends on the receptivity, capacity, the time spent by each student for practices and sincerity in his approach while learning.

Anant Padmanaban, a NRI based in United States who takes online lessons for Mandolin instrument says, “It was about four years ago that I got inclined towards the musical instrument Mandolin on my visit to Chennai. I took some basic lessons in mandolin for a week from Guru Gopalakrishnan based in Chennai and on my return to United States, I continued to learn music by taking online lessons”. “The only problem that amateurs face while learning music lessons online is understanding the basics. So if you are clear with the basics, learning further lessons via mail is like distant learning and is not that tedious a job”.

There are many online websites providing lyrics and video clips of bhajans, geetams, Swarajatis, Varnams of Carnatic music, one of them being http://www.karnatik.com/, http://www.indiamusicinfo.com/ and many musical videos are also uploaded on http://www.youtube.com/

Bharat Subramanium, Director, http://www.indiamusicinfo.com/ says, “Here at indiamusicinfo.com, we aim to impart knowledge and to make the learners understand the true values of music and to bring them up to the level of performing”. “Music cannot be learnt by reading the musical notes from website and to achieve excellence, there has to be a backing from a learned Guru. So, on our website we have added video clips by renowned vocalist Neyveli Santana Gopalan and also mentioned the lyrics for the classical songs for easy learning”.

“At the moment, we only have vocal Carnatic music listed up but have not thought about musical instrumental lessons as there are many constraints attached to it. One of it being the bandwidth and the fingering moves involved in playing the instruments”, reasons Mr. Bharat.

Neyveli Santana Gopalan whose videos are uploaded on http://www.indiamusicinfo.com/ says, “My music classes are recorded by the website people and later uploaded on their website -http://www.indiamusicinfo.com/ from where these video clips can be downloaded at nominal prices. One advantage that comes along with online lessons is the learner can listen to it at his own convenience”.

Chandresh Kudwa, one of India’s best rock and blue guitarist recently launched India’s first interactive guitar lessons website- http://www.theguitarthing.com/. Talking about his website he says, “In my website I have taken care of basics like how to hold a guitar, anatomy of a guitar etc. The website has a series of lessons varying from beginner’s guide to advanced levels to attain higher proficiency levels”. In www.theguitarthing.com, the guitar lessons are prerecorded in a video clips focusing on the moment of the fingers on the strings for amateurs to learn. These video clips can be downloaded via credit cards at nominal prices of Rs. 10 and Rs. 20 per lesson.

“Learners often clear their concept by mailing me down their queries and I respond in my best possible way. So, there is a one to one interaction between me and subscribers of video in my website”, he says.

http://www.playpianotoday.com/ is an online piano learning website which teaches people to play keyboard by the technique of Rhythmic patterns without the need of a written music sheet. Music is learnt by hearing to the beats and seeing the moments of the fingers on the keyboard in the video available on the website.

Learning online can be a challenging task for freshers, believes Mr. Suresh. Recollecting one such incident, he says, “I remember once a student based in Europe who was interested in taking online lessons in Ghatam. I provided him with all the required materials and also video conferencing but after a span of three months he still insisted that he was not very comfortable with playing Ghatam. I later discovered that he was holding the Ghatam in a wrong position and so I ended up rendering him a half an hour clip on how to hold the clay pot! Any one who has a fair idea of music and have witnessed the concept of music can learn the lessons online”.

In spite of the conveniences offered, one of the grave problems with online teaching is the connectivity. While learning art, any form of distortion is disturbing and many a times connectivity poses a problem while learning online. The second problem is rectification of errors as there is no direct interaction between the learner and the Guru. “I keep sending lessons via mail and rectify their queries and mistakes through chats but to make sure the disciple is moving the right way, I insist that they mail me video or audio file of them performing and give a feedback”, says Mr. Santana Gopalan.

Although, there are many takers to online music, there are some who think otherwise. Anandi Rajan, a Tanjore painter says, “Online lessons shelves to bridge the distance between the Guru and the disciple, but there is nothing like direct learning. Through my online site there are many IT professionals who can learn crafts work. But for traditional art forms like Tanjore paintings it is advisable to learn the fundamentals of the art form to understand the intricacies involved in it. By learning online, it is not always possible to rectify mistakes and provide suggestions. Any traditional art form be it Carnatic music, learning musical instruments or paintings has a set of predetermined rules which cannot be taught online and direct learning is essential. Although, online learning is a boon for people who want to excel any art form after knowing the fundamentals ground rules of it”.

Echoing similar thoughts is Lalgudi Vijaylakshmi, a prominent violinist and a vocalist based in Chennai who says, “Learning lessons online helps only to a certain extent because you cannot learn the nuances properly. It is not possible to learn the finer aspects of music especially instruments and the learner cannot attain a proficiency level by learning online”

“Even I give online music lessons but I believe that it is better that the discipline is familiar with the Guru’s language and communication skills, the medium of knowledge becomes easy. Though studying online is the only tool for many to learn Indian music, it is essential that the learner clears his basics and meets the Guru once in a while for better communication”, she says.

Knowledge can be transferred by any means but there should be a spiritual connection between the disciple and the Guru, believes Santana Gopalan. “Even though, learning online is a convenient way, nothing is comparable to direct interaction between the learner and the Guru. There are secret techniques to enhance any art form, which the Guru may not be willing to share online”, concludes Mr. Santana Gopalan.

It can be undoubtedly said that online music lessons have definitely drawn more music lovers towards Indian music and works as a bridge for Carnatic music admirers abroad. However, it cannot be argued that it is impossible to learn music simply by reading notations, there has to be an understanding of lyrics and nuances can be imbibed only by personal learning. Online learning is a tool of convenience but cannot replace the process of one to one learning