Nithya Rajendran

CLASSICAL MUSIC IS AND SHOULD BE FOR EVERYONE

July 10, 2021

This incident happened many years ago when I used to have a small teaching practice for children at home. As a side occupation to my music education, I would take classes for adults and children alike who wanted to learn classical music. Most of the time, the children didn’t quite...

A guru is always an eager student of music and life

June 26, 2021

For a classical musician, this is a challenging topic to talk about. But I am here to speak about some deep realisations that I have had, and I will stay true to that. Over the many centuries that classical music has been around in India, it has been passed on...

INCLUSIVENESS IN CLASSICAL MUSIC

June 12, 2021

I smiled and looked affectionately at the video of a little girl of five, one of the students of my music academy. She was doing some ‘Sargam’ patterns, which are patterns of musical notes taught in the early stages of classical music learning. The video was to be part of...

THE COMPLETE MUSICIAN

May 29, 2021

When I started out as a musician many years ago, I had only one principle that I went by. Practice my music every day, commit myself to rigorous Riyaaz, and everything else is a given; I will go on to become a great musician and the world will remember me...

Emptiness is crucial for creativity

May 15, 2021

This is a pattern that started years ago. During my musical journey, I would hit phases of complete apathy and even aversion to musical activities. I would sit for hours trying to start my riyaaz, but to no avail. I would stare at my music notes as if they were...

MUSIC MUSINGS NITHYA RAJENDRAN A TINY PIECE OF GOD

May 1, 2021

I woke up today to a forwarded video on WhatsApp featuring some doctors at a hospital in Andhra Pradesh cheering up their terminally ill Covid patients in intensive care with song and dance. It was a confusing sight. There are some pains, I thought, that even music cannot alleviate. The...

Creativity is not spontaneous

April 17, 2021

As a child, I was often asked if I practised hours on end to be able to sing well, or was it something I was naturally gifted with. Today, looking back, I would say that this was a profound question with an even more profound answer. And certainly not a...

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD SING

April 3, 2021

I often get asked this question by a gamut of people. Audiences at concerts, participants at lecture demonstrations, parents of young students of Music Vruksh, friends, acquaintances and even strangers who hear that I am a classical musician. Since singing has been an intrinsic part of my growing up and...

WHAT’S THE FUNDA?

March 23, 2021

It was during one of my music-appreciation workshops that I came across this question, “What’s the funda?” It cropped up time and again in response to musical pieces that were played for the participants. Reflecting on it, this is a question that I have encountered in some form or the...

ICHAK DAANA BICHAK DAANA

March 6, 2021

MUSIC MUSINGS ‘DAANEDAAR!’ boomed a voice from inside me during one of my Riyaaz sessions while I was practising ‘Taans’ (a form of improvisation in Indian classical music where many notes are arranged in fast patterns). Was this a voice possibly of one of my gurus from the past, or...

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