CHENNAI: Music has no language and no barriers and just like the famous saying, where words fail, music speaks; a bunch of students from Vidya Sagar came forward to express the tunes within them at an inclusive musical performance ‘Friends over the Oceans’. Organised through a collaboration of Paragon Inclusive Music Company (from Glasgow, Scotland), Exodus and Vidya Sagar, the event saw around 30 students conduct an hour long music performance with vocals and instruments.
“The children learnt this over just two days. They even learnt a little bit about the Scottish history and a Scottish song. There was so much learning through this process,” said Rajul Padmanabhan, director, Vidya Sagar. Paragon came to the city to reach a wider audience with music and dance. They are collaborating with Exodus, which is running an inclusive music programme for people with special needs and training musicians and staff in techniques of inclusive art practice.
The event was conducted after two sessions of training for two hours each with some breathing exercises, some vocal movements and instruments. “We decided to bring the Scottish traditional song and learn about the Vidya Sagar song too. It was very similar and that symbolises our partnership,” explained Charlotte Riley Gibson of Paragon.