The Real Education: Music Education

While medicine & engineering are sought after professions, they may not always fulfil all human creative needs. That may be why many eminent people of those professions, also cultivated their interest in music.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer was a doctor who practiced tropical medicine in Africa with his wife Helene serving as his anaesthesiologist when he performed surgery. He was also an authority on Bach & wrote books on Bach & also on the art of building Organs.

Albert Einstein was an excellent violinist, who used his violin playing as a brain storming tool when he had problems with physics.

Homi Bhabha, the nuclear physicist was a Western classical music enthusiast who felt that music was as important as maths & physics & made life worth living.

Raja Ramanna, the nuclear physicist, had passed a Trinity College exam & was an accomplished pianist. He also authored a book on Western & Karnatic music.

Dr. Abdul Kalam was playing the Veena & his ambition was to play "Endaro Mahanubhavulu" on it.

The high school students in western countries are encouraged to learn to play a musical instrument of their choice. During their "Cultural Revolution", the Chinese foolishly destroyed many musical instruments but they quickly realised their mistake & now there are many Chinese virtuosi on the international stage.

Pandit Ravi Shankar's last creation

Oliver Craske in his book "Indian Sun" writes that Pandit Ravi Shankar was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra to compose his first (& only one, as it turned out) Symphony. He writes that Panditji wanted to look at Western Symphony through the prism of Indian music, like Prokofiev did in his "Classical Symphony", looking at 18th century music through the prism of the twentieth.  

The work contains four movements.

1. Allegro (in Sonata form) Raga Zila Kafi
2. Lento in Raga Ahir Bhairav
3. Scherzo in Raga Do Ga Kalyan
4. Finale in Raga Banjara (Folk melody)

The highlight of the work is the third movement, a scherzo. The Raga here is Do Ga Kalyan, Panditji's own creation. The conductor, David Murphy writes that this Raga omits the second note of the Kalyan scale, but had both the thirds & an augmented fourth. So if C is the tonic, the scale would be C, Eb, E, F#, G, A, & B.

This last work is not only his first Symphony but also contains his last created Raga, Do Ga Kalyan. It was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall on 1st July 2010 with Anoushka Shankar as the solo sitarist. It was also recorded live & issued as a CD.

The Book which rejuvenated a Record

Vikram Seth's novel "An Equal Music" (1999) deals with the fictional Maggiore Quartet & especially with its second violinist Michael Holme. One of his students tells him about Beethoven's String Quintet in C minor Op.104, of which he was unaware. The work has an additional viola added to the standard string quartet.

He starts a frantic but futile search through London record stores. Crestfallen, he orders a printed score from a music library. Then he starts again to search in record shops. Finally, in a store basement, an old man pulls out an East European pressing of the record for him. Delighted, he heads home with his treasured possession. This section of the book is a sheer delight to seasoned record hunters.

The Beethoven Quintet, which was all but forgotten, was given a second lease of life after the publication of the book & the LP & CD sold well. Also a record set was brought out containing all the music pieces mentioned in the book.