The Music learning process
I am often bombarded with questions such as - how do we start learning music, what is the right age, what genre do we start learning and so on. Let me begin by telling you how my journey started.
This is a tale that I often hear my parents and grandparents telling people around. My grandmother Smt.Pitchammal Chandrasekaran is a Carnatic Music Teacher for the past 50 years in Coimbatore. When I was young , I used to be playing around the house in the evening while my grandmother taught music lessons to students. And once the class was over, I was heard singing the Pancharatna krithis (these are supposed to be taught to students in the advanced level). That's when my grandmother identified my interests and abilities to be able to reproduce the swara patterns and the lyrics just by listening. She said "Intha kozhanthaiku kelvi gnanam iruku , paatu solli kuduthaa nanna paaduva" :p
And that's how my music journey started. Not even in the wildest of my dreams did I know that I would end up being a musician! And "touch-wood" I'm enjoying every bit of it.😃
Now, here are some of the things that you have to keep looking for to kick-start your music lessons:
- The ability to be able to listen and absorb the musical content (without being taught) is called - kelvi gnanam (in tamil). So look for instances where you are able to reproduce a song, a swara pattern or a difficult phrase just by listening to it.
- For some people, singing seems a very difficult task. For others, it gives a sense of ease. They consider singing a stress-buster. For those of you who consider singing a stress buster please do not wait. Start your music lessons right away.
- There is no specific age-limit to start learning music. There are people who start learning music after retirement. However, if you are wondering for a right age to enrol your kid for music lessons then 6-7 yrs should be fine.
- I, personally recommend learning the Carnatic or Hindustani. Learning the basics of Carnatic/Hindustani gives you an overall sense of sruthi, talam and helps improves the swara gnanam. Once you are familiar with the basics, you can then shift to your genre of interest.
These are some of the things that you need to look out for in yourself or in your kid to start learning music.
Good luck with your musical pursuits!
