The pilot tests were successful, but the students did not want to end the sessions. We didn't want people to say ' mera paisa wapis karo ( refund my money),' which we will do if people ask for it." We didn't want to just test for a week and then launch. We didn't want people to say 'This Internet is boring, it is too slow, woh buffer hota rehta hai ( It keeps buffering).' So we conducted class after class for three months. "With the pilot we wanted to check out the smooth functioning of technology vs teaching vs the musical parts. "There was nothing like this being offered anywhere," Mahadevan says. The teachers will then get back to the students with their review.īefore the school went live, the programme was tested with pilot classes offered to 25 students in the US, divided among adults and children in Hindustani, Carnatic and devotional genres. The half-hour class is held once a week and is available in an archived space for students to revisit.īetween classes, students can record their voices and leave it online in a box for teachers to review. Each class consists of a live teacher based somewhere in India in direct and simultaneous contact with five students across the US, who can see and hear each other and the instructor through webcams. Applicants will first be tested with prerequisite exams, just as they were entering any other American school, and based on their level of training and knowledge, they will be placed at the beginners, intermediate or advanced levels. Before classes begin, students will visit an online music book called the OM Book, which features live videos, voice recording, notations, theory slides that talk about influences of Hindustani music and a glossary of the tradition. The academy will provide students of all ages, broken into groups of under and over 15 years, with structured lessons in Hindustani, Carnatic and devotional music.Įach programme has 12 courses - four in the beginners, intermediate and advance levels. The academy was first launched in the US, "because we didn't want any broadband or network issues in India," he adds.
Hence, the "journey of trying to make education fun on a technology platform," Ranganathan says. The first idea was to establish a physical school, but that would have taken a few years. "In the 15 years, I did my bit and he did his, including establishing Yahoo in India," Mahadevan says. It all started last year when Mahadevan, quite by chance, met Sridhar Ranganathan, his engineering school classmate from the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Called the Shankar Mahadevan Academy, the Internet-based music school was launched in the United States on the musician's birthday, March 3.
The multiple award-winning lead singer and musician of Bollywood's Shankar-Ehsan-Loy trio was recently in New York City to promote his new online music academy. Indian singer Shankar Mahadevan wants you to learn music and he is making it easy, fun and accessible.
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