BENGALURU: As work from home (WFH) culture is forcing employees to work for longer hours, the emotional anguish has only soared. The battle against Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on people’s mental and physical health. Hence, to downplay the side effects of the present situation, such as loneliness, depression or stress, many professionals are turning to music to unwind and de stress from their daily routine.
Coming to their rescue during their low phases are musical trainers who are offering to teach these new music enthusiasts virtually. Music instruments stores in the city are witnessing a surge in demand for instruments like the ukulele, djembe, guitar, mouth organs, drums, that were not very popular during the pre-pandemic times.
Kadence, a music experience store in Bengaluru, is gifting ukuleles to working professionals and music enthusiasts who want to take time off to unwind. The starting price of a ukulele is R2,000. Yash Gupta, entrepreneur-in-residence, Kadence, believes that ukuleles are selling like hot cakes followed by the guitar.
“The pandemic gave a heavy blow to many employees causing depression, stress and fear. We are identifying employees in different sectors based on interest in learning the instrument. We have gifted over 30 ukuleles in the last three months, and are also in the process of conducting individual or group sessions to train them in playing the instrument,” says Gupta.
Sameet Keshari Pati, an architect and music enthusiast, who started playing the ukulele two months ago, says, “Music is an escape from the daily work stress. When I get a headache or get tense during the work hours, the only getaway is by playing the ukulele. It helps me to calm down,” he says.
Aliasger Saiger, an emcee and event facilitator, has been engaging with top multinational companies (MNCs) in the city, conducting music sessions since November 2020. “I organise five online musical events in a week for corporates. This time, we introduced something called ‘synchronised stress-buster drumming activities’ using the African instrument, the djembe,” he says. Saiger and his team have added a new twist which they call the “kitchen drumming sessions.” During these sessions, the musicians use spoons, plates, and bowls which are filled with 25% pulse or water to create uplifting and interesting tunes.
On August 15, the group conducted one of the largest kitchen drumming activities with over 9,000 participants across India, including Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, Satya Prakash Bhatnagar, singer and director of Voice of Bangalore, believes that online engagement through music, especially during the pandemic, urged employees to groove and enjoy music from the comfort of their homes.
“We conducted over 16 musical sessions with Bengaluru-based IT companies. We engaged the employees with antakshari, karaoke, musical tambola and other musical games. Although setting up the virtual platform was difficult in the beginning, we managed to get a hang of it in the next session,” says Bhatnagar.
Sidhharth Patwa, the owner of Soundglitz is of the opinion that virtual musical sessions for corporates have picked up after the pandemic with music facilitators and trainers teaching working professionals. “Djembe is one of the fastest moving instruments and we regularly give 300 djembes to facilitators for musical sessions,” Patwa adds.