Renowned Mumbai-based technocrat, music composer and vocalist Shankar Mahadevan has invested his unique musical skillsets in new technologies education. Together with friend Sridhar Ranganathan, he has promoted the Shankar Mahadevan Academy of Music (SMAM), an all-ages online music academy for tots to senior citizens. From classical to devotional and popular Hindi film music, the academy trains and mentors aspiring music aficionados through user-friendly media — online teachers, OM digital books and instructional videos.
Launched in end 2010, SMAM has quickly attracted over 1,000 distance education students in the age group five-73 years, and also offers multi-media music learning programmes to schools and corporates including the D.Y. Patil International School, Mumbai and Larsen & Toubro.
Unique selling proposition. “I have used new digital technologies to teach Indian music to anyone aspiring to learn worldwide. This way one can learn music in the privacy of her home and practice at leisure,” says Mahadevan. For classical music learners, the academy has devised a structured music curriculum while a self-study package is offered to Hindi film and devotional music enthusiasts. All students also have access to the Online Music Book, a unique self learning tool featuring instructional videos by well-known artists.
History. An alumnus of the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology, Navi Mumbai, Mahadevan quit a promising career as a software engineer to follow his passion for music. Starting at age three, he received extensive training under the tutelage of expert musicians including Lalita Venkatraman (veena maestro); Smt. T.R. Balamani (carnatic music); Tara Devi (thumri) and Shrikant Kale (bhav-geet) and Ghulam Ali Khan (classical music). In 1997 he began his collaboration with one of Bollywood’s most popular music director duos Ehsaan and Loy, singing and composing for several Hindi films including Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho and Bunty aur Babli. Mahadevan also has many solo albums to his credit and stages carnatic music and fusion concerts.
Direct talk. “The objective of SMAM is to impart high-quality music lessons through multi-media technologies which make learning enjoyable. Whether you are just starting to learn or are an experienced musician, I assure you learning instrumental or vocal music the SMAM way will be rewarding and enjoyable,” promises Mahadevan.
Tuition fees range from Rs.1,000-7,500 per course.
Future plans. Mahadevan believes that the “sky is the limit” for the academy. “We will be reaching out to schools and business houses across India, persua-ding them to enroll their students and employees into our online music academy. We also plan to provide free music education to disadvantaged children. My objective is to make learning of all styles of Indian music easy, accessible and exciting to people worldwide.”
That promise should be music to many ears!
Kalpana Rangan (Mumbai)