KOCHI: Only over an year-old, yet, they have already launched three young music bands. Malayalees Serah John and Sherin Winstent’s music company BlueTimbre Music is treading a unique path and is on a journey, i.e, discovering music talent among school students.
The company, which is based in Whitefield in Bengaluru, is already mentoring 200 students in western classical and contemporary music.
Though they have set their focus in Bengaluru at the moment, the founders hope to bring their venture to Kochi in the near future.Serah John, who was a speaker at the young entrepreneur’s panel at Tiecon in Kochi, says her love for music started at a very young age. And according to her, it comes as no surprise, since her mother Shalet John was the lead singer and guitarist for Kochi’s first female rock band in the 1970’s.
“My mother has always been my inspiration. She was my mentor which exposed me to music shows at a very young age. When I became a teenager, I started dreaming of entering the music business and even owning a company of my own. In 2016, this dream became a reality when I started BlueTimbre Music with my partner Sherin Winstent,” she says.
The project
The company was set up mainly to discover music talents among young students. This is why BlueTimbre Music has its own curriculum for students between 5-7 years. The programme introduces young children to the fundamentals of music and instruments including the piano/keyboard, drums and guitar.
The teachers are certified music trainers from the UK. “Despite the progress seen in western music in India, we found out that even well-off schools only have one music teacher who are required to train students in vocals as well as instruments. Also, there is no set curriculum that these schools follow. We have 10 certified teachers from the UK imparting music education to students throughout the year in the schools we have partnered with,” she said.
Besides giving them training at these schools, the students are also exposed to the music classes at the BlueTimbre Music office where students get first-hand experience of a studio. The Jam room at the office offers state-of-the art facility for new as well as professional bands to carry out their practice sessions in a quiet environment. Bands can rent out this space for practice sessions mainly. Then there is the recording studio. “This is meant mainly for commercial purposes. Recently, we had a tie-up with Flipkart and brought out their ad jingle recently,” she said.
Curriculum
Music classes are treated very seriously at the schools BlueTimbre music has collaborated with. “When growing up, most music classes in my school in Kochi mostly ended up as free periods. However, in our curriculum, music is treated just like any subject. The music courses are designed to construct creativity while having fun that is inherent to music.
It gives students an understanding of melody, rhythm and music notes using a combination of smaller instruments like xylophone, tambourine, shakers, recorder, etc. The students also get to play with backing tracks, jam with fellow classmates and teachers and get to be a part of a band as well, says Serah.