A visit to Rahman’s music school

A R Rahman’s career

may be rooted in the film industry, but his musical roots are diverse.

He has a sound grounding in classical Carnatic music and a phenomenal grasp of the Western tradition. His dream – that India creates its own symphony is being given life in his music conservatory in Chennai.

Nobody really knows, why A R. Rahman calls his music school, K M Music Conservatory.

“I was trying for this for 5 years and because all the instrumental players, the violin players, the trumpet players are all from my father’s generation, were very good. But then after them the kids never took their father’s instruments. They were all more interested in other things. There were no young violin players or trumpet players or brass players. So the idea was to put an orchestra where they would feel proud to play music in an acoustic way,” says A R Rahman, winner of Oscar 2009.

To record symphony orchestra, Rahman has always travelled either to London or Prague. In this conservatory, he sees the beginning of an Indian symphony orchestra that will experiment and introduce into it our own musical genres

“Orchestra is just a systematic approach to music where 100 people can play together a piece. They could play any piece, they could play a kirtana, they could play a thumri. So it’s not just about playing a Bach or Bertov or Mozart. It’s about playing your own piece,” adds Rahman

This conservatory is a place where music cultures of different hues come together. Here one can find Indian melody mixing with Western harmony and it is tough to be not enchanted by the musical magic.

The line of study spans from centuries-old kirtanas to the latest in acoustic design.

According to Shasta Ellenbogen, Student, “I thought my Western background and my Carnatic training will help each other. There is so much shifting in Carnatic violin. With it, my shifting in my Western has also improved.”