BENGALURU: Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is just around the corner and in celebration of the occasion, Bangalore International Centre is organising a special musical session, taking music enthusiasts on an enjoyable journey through the evolution of contemporary music and answering burning questions such as “Why does a melody ‘stick’ in your head?”, “Can anyone write a hit tune?”.
How Music Works: From Bach to Ed Sheeran is led by city-based jazz composer and guitarist Abhijit Nath, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA. Through the one-and-half-hour session, Nath will ‘demystify’ contemporary pop music, with fun examples. “The main focus of the session will be about chords, and how they function – the basis for all music.
Their use in different forms of music and how they all follow a similar route. The session goes into how different kinds of music have developed over the last 400 years. It ends up in pop music, but it traces its way to the destination, all the way back from the roots, starting with Bach.
One is the Western classical tradition and the second is the original music that African-Americans brought that evolved into forms that we recognise, such as rock, pop music and so on. And also how these two kinds of music interact to make modern pop music what it is today,” Nath shares, adding that the session doesn’t require attendees to have any knowledge of music.
“It’s supposed to be for people who are curious about what makes a particular song catchy or why a particular song sounds good and that kind of stuff. It’s open to children as well, not just adults. It’s a fun session where you get to learn a bit of the history of music, a bit of the process that goes into making a song and more. I give examples to break down the concepts I’m talking about and, in the end, audiences will be encouraged to write their own songs based on what they learnt from the session,” he shares.
Given the permeation of Western contemporary music’s influence on the majority of mainstream music in recent years, Nath says that the session gives music lovers in the city a better understanding of the music they enjoy. “I think the audience will have a greater appreciation and understanding of whatever music they love. Often, people don’t know why they like a particular piece of music, they just know they like it. With this session, they’ll be able to understand the former. It’ll sort of encourage people to go down the path and learn about their favourite music a little bit more,” he adds.
(How Music Works: From Bach to Ed Sheeran will be held on June 21, 7.30pm. Details at bangaloreinternationalcentre.org)