Gaandharva School of Music

Gaandharva School of Music

गांधर्व स्कूल ऑफ म्यूजिक

The Gaandharva School of Music | गांधर्व स्कूल ऑफ म्यूजिक, supported by the 'Mahapatra Foundation', is a school for a group of supportive learners engaged in learning Bansuri, Irish Flute and Whistle. The members of this school, who learn from each other's progress, mistakes, experience and discoveries, help each other in progressing and staying motivated in their journey of learning Bansuri, Irish Flute and Whistle.

More specifically, as a matter of the philosophy of this school, the more experienced learners do their best to ensure that the relatively less experienced members get all the help to become more accomplished than the more experienced learners; and, the more experienced learners take particular pride in that outcome. That outcome is the measure of success of this school in general and the more experienced learners in particular. Music makes the world a better place one note at a time. With music, you can change the world; at least, the way it sounds.

Details

Learning Goals: Understanding the instrument(s), learning how to work with the instrument(s), maintain and take care of the instrument(s), and ultimately, learning the foundational musical notes pertaining to Hindusthani Classical Music or Indian Classical Music = the seven notes of the scale (swaras), and  to play identified song(s), tunes or melodies on the instrument(s).

Primary Learning Strategy: Start with (1) learning the fundamental techniques and then, (2) practise those enough to attain the required ability or abilities to cater to a specific learning goal, for example, playing a specific identified song or tune or melody. (3) Practise that song or tune or melody enough, while application of those fundamental techniques learnt and practised in (1) and (2) continues, till the outcome is refined or likeable enough, before moving on to the next song or tune or melody.

The design of this learning methodology ensures that many of the skills learnt and practised on the Irish Whistle could be transferred to the Bansuri, the Irish Concert Whistle and the Irish Flute.

Primary Learning Support Mechanism: Based on the 'end of the week' demonstrations done by the learners, review of 'progress achieved' is done and feedback is provided, where the learners choose what they demonstrate.

Targeted Age Range: 10 to 60+

Required level of experience: This course is for beginners. No previous experience in or knowledge of music or the instrument is required or expected.

Instrument(s) in Focus: Irish Whistle in Key of D and the slightly bigger Whistle in Key of B♭, Indian Bamboo Fipple Flute. For small hands, Irish Whistle in Key of D is appropriate. For relatively bigger hands, the slightly bigger Whistle in Key of B♭ (B Flat) is more suitable to allow enough space for all the fingers to be position comfortably around the instrument. Note: The lowest note on the Irish Whistle in Key of D is 'D'. And The lowest note on the Irish Whistle in Key of B♭ (B Flat) is 'B♭'.

Why these instruments? These instruments in focus are (a) very capable, (b) extremely low-maintenance, (c) very easily and abundantly available, (d) significantly easier to get started with, (e) very inexpensive, and (f) extremely portable.

Online Session Frequency: Weekly

Group Session Duration: 60 Minutes

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First thing first. This is about getting the absolute fundamentals (Topic 01 to 09) absolutely right. These are the fundamental building blocks that are important for the rest of the journey.

Topic 01: Talent and Effort: Talent leads to a great start, and effort, hard work and practice lead to accomplishment.

Topic 02: Correct Body Posture: Practice the correct posture. Practice (in) the posture that you believe you are typically going to use in the long run. Practising (in) the other postures a bit is beneficial, in case you need to use any of those postures under a certain situation or circumstance (pertaining to health/physical conditions, cultural conventions, dynamics of a group-playing scenario etc.).

o   Standing with a natural relaxed straight/upright posture

o   Sitting on a suitable chair or similar with a natural relaxed straight/upright posture

o   Sitting on the ground in Padmasana (Lotus Position) or similar with a natural relaxed straight/upright posture

Topic 03: Neck, Shoulders, Arms, Forearms and Hands: Keeping neck, shoulders, arms, forearms and hands in a natural relaxed position, while playing or holding the instrument, is significantly important. The correct coordinated positioning of neck, shoulders, arms, forearms and hands helps in ensuring that continuous playing for a longer period of time is possible without causing any neck, shoulders, arms, forearms and hands stress or pain.

Topic 04: Fingers: Keeping the fingers in a naturally straight and relaxed state helps in ensuring that continuous playing for a longer period of time is possible without causing any stress or pain. This practice also prepares the fingers better for playing the faster song or tunes or melodies. Of course, the correct part of the fingers must be used to cover the holes. Keeping the fingers in a naturally straight and relaxed state helps in guiding the correct part of the fingers in covering the holes. Care must be exercised to close a hole correctly and completely when the intention is to close that hole completely.

Topic 05: Which fingers for which holes? For the learners with a right dominant hand, the index, middle and ring fingers on the right hand are used for the bottom 3 holes and the index, middle and ring fingers on the left hand are used for the top 3 holes. For the learners with a left dominant hand, the arrangement could be reversed, of course, after experimenting and examining what works better. However, if someone with a left dominant hand is starting from the scratch for the very first time, the arrangement applicable to the players with a right dominant hand may work equally well.

Topic 06: The Lips and the Mouthpiece: Keeping the lips in a naturally closed and relaxed state helps. Introduce the mouthpiece just enough into the closed lips; so that, no air escapes your mouth without getting into the instrument, and you don’t end up biting the mouthpiece ;-).

Important Note 01: Before you play the instrument, please do ensure that your mouth is absolutely clean. Otherwise, you may end up spitting tiny particles of food or other stuff into the instrument; and, that may lead to build up of germs and odour in the instrument. Also, generally it's slightly less comfortable to practise and play immediately after having a large meal.

Topic 07: Breathing in (Taking air): When you need air, make sure to open your mouth and take enough air in quickly without disturbing the intended rhythm and structure of the song or tune or melody being played. Consciously practise taking air during the inherent pauses in the song or tune or melody being played.

Important Note 02: And, this is very important to ensure that you 'don't force yourself to forego an opportunity to take air in' when you know that either (i) you actually already need a bit of air or (ii) you are going to need a bit of air very soon. Gradually, as you learn and practice more, you will become better at doing more with less.

Topic 08: The unique journey: In the course of the journey, every learner will develop and demonstrate a slightly unique combination of posture and playing techniques. And, that’s the beauty of it!

Topic 09: Practise with a purpose: Do you remember little Dre taking off his jacket, dropping it to the ground, picking it up, hanging it up, taking it down, putting it on over and over again in the movie The Karate Kid (2010)? It is really about doing it every single day, and doing it correctly enough number of times every single day.

Topic 10: The instrument deserves respect: Yes, it's just an object. However if you respect the instrument, the instrument will respect you. It's slightly difficult to explain here. Let's leave it at that for now, and let's have a chat about it when we meet :-).

Important Note 03: Please do consider using appropriate equipment, for example suitable earplugs, during practice sessions to protect your hearing. Please follow the guidelines pertaining to the equipment in question. And, please do consider taking breaks to give your ears a bit of rest.

Exercise 01: Producing the lowest note (Low D): This is the lowest note that the instrument can produce. Close all the holes completely and blow very gently to produce that note (D or Pa).

Exercise 02: Producing the High D note: Close all the holes completely and blow a little harder to produce that note (D or Pa).

Exercise 03: Sustaining the lowest note (Low D): Close all the holes completely and continue to blow very gently for the longest span of time possible before you need to take air in. Ensure that the note (D or Pa) remains (i) clear and (ii) consistent.

Exercise 04: Sustaining the High D note: Close all the holes completely and continue to blow a little harder to for the longest span of time possible before you need to take air in. Ensure that the note (D or Pa) remains (i) clear and (ii) consistent.

Important Note 04: It's not very easy to focus on listening to the sound you produce while you focus on and are in the process of producing that sound. But you need a bit of feedback. Please consider using an 'audio recorder' application to record your practice sessions. After every small iteration of practice, please listen to the recording to understand how you did, if the musical note you produces was consistent etc. and learn from that, and improve the next small iteration of practice a little further. Most of the 'audio recorder' applications provide a visual representation of the recorded audio and show that when you play the recording back. That makes it even easier to 'literally see' how you did, if the musical note you produced was consistent etc.

Topic 10: What is an Octave and what is a Saptak? What is a 'Key' and what is a 'Scale'?
Topic 11: How to produce the Shuddha swaras? Please take a look at an illustration here.
Topic 12: How to cover a hole partially? Please take a look at an illustration of 'the three states of a hole' here.

Exercise 05: Repeating the cycle of (i) ‘producing the low D or Pa note, (ii) sustaining that, (iii) taking air quickly, when required, without taking the instrument away from the mouth’. Attention is required to be paid to ensure that the D or Pa note remains precisely clear and consistent throughout this exercise.

Exercise 06: Repeating the cycle of (i) ‘producing the high D or Pa note, (ii) sustaining that, (iii) taking air quickly, when required, without taking the instrument away from the mouth’. Attention is required to be paid to ensure that the D or Pa note remains precisely clear and consistent throughout this exercise.

Exercise 07: Practise Sa for a few minutes; then, Re for a few minutes; and so on till you reach the higher Sa' and then travel back to Sa following the same process (a few minutes on each Swara). Practice Sa as much as possible.

Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa'

Sa', Ni, Dha, Pa, Ma, Ga, Re, Sa

For each of the Swaras, (i) take air as required, (ii) produce the note or Swara, (iii) sustain that Swara precisely clearly and consistently for as many seconds as you can, (iv) take air as required (v) repeat ii and iii for the same Swara before moving over to the next Swara. Play each of the Swaras for the same length of time.

Note: Sa' = The Sa note on the next higher Saptak

Important Note 05: While 'ascending', for example, while playing Sa, Re, Ga, ..., every subsequent note or Swara is going to take a little faster air. And, while 'descending', for example, while playing Sa', Ni, Dha, ..., every subsequent note or Swara is going to take a little slower air.

Exercise 08: Producing each of the Shuddha Swaras in an ascending and a descending order:

Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa'

Sa', Ni, Dha, Pa, Ma, Ga, Re, Sa

(i) Take air as required, (ii) produce the note or Swara, (iii) sustain that Swara precisely clearly and consistently, (iv) move to the next note and repeat the process. Play each of the Swaras for the same length of time. That is, the length of the notes must be the same.

Important Note 06: Ensure that the fingers don’t move too much away from the instrument when an attempt is made to keep some holes open, while playing. If the fingers move too much away from the instrument, (i) it takes more time to bring the fingers back to close the holes when needed and (ii) it becomes slightly trickier to bring the fingers back exactly into the required position to close the holes when needed.

Topic 13: The three Saptaks – Mandra Saptak (The low one), Madhya Saptak (The middle one) and Taar Saptak (The high one)

Exercise 09: Rigorous practice of transition between Ma and Pa

Topic 14: Blowing variations:

(i) ‘Too, Too, …’ (This is with application of tongue)
(ii) ‘Ooo, Ooo, …’ (This is without application of tongue)

Topic 15: Tempo, Rhythm and Pitch

Topic 16: Here is the sequence of the Shuddha Swaras, in an ascending order, on the instrument:

Mandra Saptak: 'Pa, 'Dha, 'Ni, 
Madhya Saptak: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, 
Taar Saptak: Sa', Re', Ga', Ma'

Note: It may also be possible to produce the Pa' by blowing significantly harder.

Note: If you are now comfortable with and confident about all the topics and exercises so far, it's probably time for you to take a look at Topic 17 and Exercise 10. 

Topic 17: A little more about Rhythm.

Exercise 10: Practice of Shuddha Swaras with Rhythm and speed variations. A Metronome Application, for example, the Metronome Beats app for Android, is required for this exercise.

Metronome App Configuration:
Beats per bar = 4
Clicks per beat = 1
Tempo = 60

Familiarise yourself well with the 'first beat' of the bar. So that, you are able to listen and distinguish the 'first beat' from the rest of the 3 beats. Start the Metronome app.

10.A: At the beginning of the first beat of the bar, start playing Sa. Continue playing Sa for 4 beats (the first beat + the subsequent 3 beats). Play Re for 4 beats. Play Ga for 4 beats and so on till you play Sa' for 4 beats. Then, play Sa' for 4 beats. Play Ni for 4 beats. Play Dha for for 4 beats and so on till you play Sa for 4 beats. Repeat this process for a few minutes.

10.B: Now, let's increase the speed by 100%. At the beginning of the first beat of the bar, start playing Sa. Continue playing Sa for 2 beats (the first beat + the second beat). Play Re for 2 beats. Play Ga for 2 beats and so on till you play Sa' for 2 beats. Then, play Sa' for 2 beats. Play Ni for 2 beats. Play Dha for for 2 beats and so on till you play Sa for 2 beats. Repeat this process for a few minutes.

Exercise 11: Repeating each of the Swaras twice with tongue application (‘Too, Too, …’)

Sa Sa, Re Re, Ga Ga, Ma Ma, Pa Pa, Dha Dha, Ni Ni, Sa' Sa'; 
Sa' Sa', Ni Ni, Dha Dha, Pa Pa, Ma Ma, Ga Ga, Re Re, Sa Sa.

Notes:

(i) Repeat the above exercise multiple times during each of your practice sessions.
(ii) Play each of the Swaras for the same length of time. That is, the length of the notes must be the same. Illustrations:

Correct: Sa.......... Sa.........., Re.......... Re.........., ...
Incorrect: Sa.......... Sa....., Re.......... Re....., ...
Incorrect: Sa..... Sa.........., Re..... Re.........., ...
Incorrect: Sa.......... Sa..., Re............... Re.., ...

Mary had a little lamb

Prerequisites: Please take a look at Topics 11 and 16 first! 

Lesson details are available here! A video representation of the application of the notation (Method 01) described in the lesson details is available here. In all the video examples, please pay attention to how the 'Too Too' and 'Ooo Ooo' 'blowing variations' have been used; and how the very last note of the tune has been played.

In this video example, please pay attention to the targeted fingering and breathing pattern when the tune is played at a regular tempo. 

And, in this video example, please pay attention to the targeted fingering and breathing pattern when multiple cycles of the tune is played at a regular tempo. 

In this particular video example, please pay attention to the targeted fingering and breathing pattern when the tune is played at a slower tempo.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Prerequisites: Please take a look at Topics 11 and 16 first! 
Lesson details are available here!

Happy Birth Day to You

Prerequisites: Please take a look at Topics 11 and 16 first! 
Lesson details are available here! And here is an example, just an example :-).