An 11-year-old aspiring singer, learning jazz and Western vocals, when told to learn Hindustani classical, was reluctant to do so — she found it boring. I noticed that even the other kids would start yawning the moment they held a tanpura,” says musician-singer-songwriter, Chin2 Bhosle, Asha Bhosle’s grandson, who found his own fame when he became part of the now disbanded Band of Boys.
While dishing out many music albums, with the band and his aunt, he also formed Chin2 Musicworks — a music academy for kids, which he later merged with Furtados School of Music, where he focuses on the curriculum and teacher training.
So, after much thinking on why the children were getting bored with Hindustani Classical, he realised that it is because of the way it is taught. Bhosle then devised a new teaching methodology Sangeet is Fun (Indian Vocal) curriculum. His approach, though non-traditional, inculcates the best of the traditional Indian approach and the proven pedagogy of Western music techniques and styles of teaching.
“For generations, the traditional method of teaching Hindustani vocals has followed the use of the tanpura or harmonium where the guru first introduces the students to the sur (scale), alankar (exercise), bandishs (short musical pieces) and then the raags. The beginners are given a tanpura and told to practice a sur for days on end. The songs come in much later. No wonder kids get bored,” says Bhosle, adding that if we don’t move with the times, we will lose our art and culture.
The idea to have a new teaching methodology germinated seven years ago, but took shape only two years ago, after Tanuja Gomes, co-CEO and co-founder, Furtados School of Music told him to design the course.
It took him about 1.5 years to design it, and this new curriculum has turned the entire teaching methodology on its head. It begins with students learning a song — the knowledge about sur and taal comes later. “This way a student also learns to be a musician and a song-writer,” he says.
During the process, Bhosle held over 40 workshops, involving over 300 music teachers from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, on the new technique, and “was happily shocked to see that it is much appreciated”. Bhosle has now soft-launched two books — Primary Grade and Grade 1.
“More books on taans, murkis and dhamaks, will come up as we move ahead,” he says, adding, “Right now, the objective is to make a student fall in love with music.”
The validation for his method, he says, came from his grandmother Asha Bhosle. “I showed her my two books, and explained my way of teaching music. We discussed notes, song writing and harmonies. She was very happy, and I felt I have passed my test,” says Chin2.