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Interested in pursuing a course in music? Now, the US and the UK aren't the only places to go to for this.
Now, music schools have begun cropping up in India as well. In the past two months, two new music schools have been launched. The Indian Idol Academy project was launched at the grand finale of Indian Idol Junior. FremantleMedia, 19 Entertainment (a division of Core Media Group) and Karm Yog Media & Arts Education Network are partners in the project.
Anupama Mandloi, managing director (India), FremantleMedia Asia, said, "We have had a fantastic response from the announcement so far, and have received a number of enquiries from partners, and about 15,000 prospective learners' registrations for the first academy in Ahmedabad starting in October." It would start with a six-week learning festival, followed by a nationwide roll-out of learning 'junctions' in cities, including Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Pune and Mumbai.
Also launched was the True School of Music, for professional education in music. The school has international faculty from Manhattan School of Music, New York City for its professional program, international DJs, sound engineering and music production courses authored by The Academy of Contemporary Music, UK.
This school will have two schools within it - foundation school and professional school. The professional school aims to prepare students for all facets of the pro-music business, and actual work and musical situations that they might encounter as professionals in the Indian music industry. They will learn a broad array of musical styles and genres ranging across rock, pop, funk, Latin, electronic dance music, jazz and blues, as well as sound engineering and production.
The school will teach students five music instruments (guitar, drums, keyboards, bass and vocals), as well as DJ-ing, music production and sound engineering. A key emphasis will be to provide an ensemble-based education.
The fees for the professional school is Rs 80,000 plus taxes per module, each lasting for 11 weeks. For a certificate programme, students will require seven to 12 modules depending on their choice of program.
For those who desire to learn an instrument, the institute has the foundation school. The programme is based on the Trinity College of Music, and students will be trained to take the Trinity College's prescribed exams to advance their respective grades. The foundation school has two departments - Western music, where students can choose from guitar, bass, drums, vocals and keyboards; and Indian classical music where students can choose from sitar, tabla, harmonium, flute and vocals.
"Even the foundation school students will have to form a band and perform live at our auditorium," said says Ashutosh Phatak, co-founder & senior managing director. Phatak added that students can also book rehearsal rooms to practice on a regular basis.
The fees for the foundation school program is Rs 6,000 per month plus taxes that will provide four lessons, two band rehearsal sessions, a performance session with a coach plus full access to the facility and library and select access to gigs, master classes and film screenings. Students can also choose to enrol in a fast track programme where they get 8 lessons, two band rehearsal sessions, and a performance session with a coach plus all the other benefits mentioned above for Rs 10,000 a month.
Phatak explained the facility would contain separate classrooms for theory and practical and rehearsal rooms. Individual customised workstations will be provided for DJ and music production students. Additionally, the school will have a dedicated guitar, bass, drums and piano rooms for students. They will also have individual practice rooms for one-on-one sessions with their instructors.
With an increase in interest to pursue a serious career in music, the institutes are looking to differentiate themselves from the others. Mandloi said that the Indian Idol Academy is very different from other music training academies, and includes different levels of courses for initiating new learners, discovery of musical potential, talent development and advanced Learning from the Legends programs.
"Each programme or course will be launched in phases, and the number of students to be enrolled in each location will drop from about 4000 in the Music Discovery course to about 600 for the Learning from the Legends course," she said.
Celebrities and international musicians are being roped in, by these institutes, to give them a feel of the international music market. Indian Idol Academy, is engaging a diverse group of Idol Academy mentors now, including past alumni as well as experts, celebrities and educators, and we're looking forward to announcing some names very soon. Further, they are also starting a campaign to enroll hundreds of music mentors who will be supporting the unique learning program across the various locations.
OmniDEL, an approach to learning pioneered and developed by Sourabh J Sarkar, the founder of KarmYog group of institutions, forms the backbone of the Academy. This approach engages the body, praana, mind and spirit of the learner using both group learning in workshops as well as individual learning and practice using an integrated platform of technology and rich multimedia. The curriculum and expertise is being sourced from legends from the world of music who will also engage with learners along with the tutelage of trained music-mentors on a regular basis. A fully equipped Mega-Junction along with a group of Micro-Junctions in each city will provide the local support to this click-&-mortar education model.
Education sector experts said that this was a shift in the country's academic system. "Students are now opting to go for unconventional courses that would help them earn a career in music. Hence, it is but natural that these music schools will be launched to meet the demand. However, whether or not the students end up with a career in music is something that needs to be seen," said a New Delhi based education consultant.
