On Non-Indians Learning Indian Classical Music

Shen Flindell recently wrote about the obstacles faced by non-Indians in learning Indian Classical Music. He graciously gave us permission to re-blog the most interesting portions of his post here

1. What made you learn Indian Classical Music or the specific classical instrument that you are learning or you play proficiently? Why did you get attract to the particular instrument that you are master of?

Chance and fate. I was interested in world music and was doing weekly African drumming workshops. I decided to buy a drum via the Trading Post (second-hand goods newspaper), but instead found sitar and tabla which looked interesting. My African drumming teacher recommended my tabla teacher, whose father in India turned out to be an old master. Had I found a sitar teacher first I may have become a sitar player.

At the time my thinking in learning tabla was that it contains so many sounds and rhythms, that if I studied this instrument I would be able to play any percussion instrument. To some small extent that may be true but in fact tabla’s technique is so unique and specialised that has so much depth that there’s now no question of me playing other instruments. The more I’ve studied tabla the more I’ve fallen in love with it and derived greater and greater satisfaction.

At the same time, circumstances all along the way have always encouraged me to continue with tabla. For example, after first returning from India, even though I had only a few months’ experience on an instrument which takes years to master, I was invited to join several bands and soon became quite busy performing music. This encouraged me to give up my “other life” (postgrad engineering studies) to devote myself entirely to tabla.

2. A very few non-Indians are Indian classical vocalists. Why is it so? Can you speculate on this?

The main reason is probably language. Learning vocal requires the study of Hindi, Sanskrit and/or other languages, which are not necessary when learning instrumental music. Vocal music is generally less appealing to non-Indian listeners, mostly due to language difficulties but also due to the fact that vocal music spends much more time in the slower stages of rendering a raga. Vocal music often uses very slow taals (such as vilambit ektaal) which are not so easy to understand as even vilambit teentaal in instrumental music. Instrumental music is much more exciting and spans a wider range of speeds and notes. Indian instruments are also visually very appealing and exotic, whereas people sing all around the world. For all these reasons, most non-Indian listeners enjoy instrumental music more. As most non-Indian students of ICM are first listeners, this explains why there are fewer non-Indian students of vocal music than instrumental music.

3. Is it hard to find a guru in Australia? What did you do to find a guru in Australia?

I think that it is not so hard to find Indian music teachers in Australia, but it can be very difficult to find a teacher one would consider a guru. The standard of musicianship in Australia is nothing like that in India, so while there are plenty of teachers who can give initial training, I think there are few who are of such a high level that they could successfully guide a devoted student through many years of development and continue to inspire their student.

4. They great Indian Masters of music learned music at their guru’s home; they lived with the guru and devoted their whole life for the music. Do you feel it is essential to live with a guru for learning Indian classical music? If yes, then why?

I never lived with my guru, although I did live nearby and visit him every afternoon. So I don’t think it’s essential to live with your guru, but it’s certainly essential to devote oneself to the music and to one’s guru. It is such vast music, there’s so much to learn, that it’s only possible with strong devotion and continued practice. The music has to be internalised like a language. As long as it remains a hobby which only gets a fraction of one’s energy, this will never happen.

5. It is said that Music has no language. But even then, every music form has its technical language which may not be necessary for listening but it may be necessary for learning. Indian Classical music has jargons like Sam, Tal, Laya, Raga, Bandish, Khayal, Vilambit, Kal, Drut, Vadi, Sanvadi, Rishabha etc. How do you co-relate such jargons and their meaning with your culture?

They are just words. I speak English, some Hindi and some Japanese, tabla language and some Indian music theory language. The words represent concepts and when we are playing music we are conceptualising, not thinking in words. Words may arise in our consciousness eg “Aha, he’s starting the drut gat” but they are just manifestations of the deeper concept which is beyond language. Rather than say “Music has no language” I would say “Music transcends language”.

6. Indian classical music has close relation is related Indian culture. Do you think it is essential to understand Indian culture for the better understanding of Indian classical music?

ICM is bound up with Indian culture in tradition, especially with regard to Guru-Shishya Parampara. As this music is transmitted person-to-person, and it has until recently been exclusively “Indian”, Indian culture and music are intertwined and to learn ICM one must naturally engage and revel in Indian culture. Aspects such as devotion, humility, mysticism and connection to the divine are an integral part of ICM but those same concepts are not limited to Indian culture. So we can understand the music and its broader characteristics with reference to Indian culture, but ultimately the musician will have to integrate the music into their own being and practise it within their own culture reference points.

Once again the parallel with a language is illuminating – Hindi is spoken by Indian people all around the world, but some of those people are very Westernised in all other aspects of their life. You don’t need to know about Krishna or Apsaras to speak Hindi, just as you don’t need to know about Jesus or fairies to speak English. It is definitely enriching to know the myths and culture associated with the roots of a language, but by the same token it’s nice for us non-native Hindi speakers to hear and understand Hindu mythology in English! By this analogy, hearing a non-Indian perform a raga can also be an interesting and enjoyable experience – it may have an unusual accent but you can’t discount the validity of the music only based on that.

The post in its entirety may be found here.