Register  |  Login
 
 
Revitalizing Music

‘Music is a therapy, music is de-stressing, music is infectious, music helps face challenges’ spreads Brhaddhvani, a vision established in the year 1989 to help people dwell into the realms of carnatic music. It was founded by Dr. Karaikudi S. Subramanian (Dr. KSS) who is a veena exponent and the grandson of the legendary Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer.



Dr. KSS has done extensive research in carnatic music analyzing and understanding it in the global context and enriching it with his own experiences, he has extracted the essence and offered it to the world through Brhaddhvani.

The organization is working with zeal to ensure that carnatic music does not lose its place of prime importance in our Indian society by provoking the interest and intelligence of the students and stimulating their creativity by adapting innovative teaching techniques.   Artistes from other fields of fine arts are also attracted to improve their knowledge of carnatic music. People touched by this cause range from the illiterate in our rural areas, to stalwarts in carnatic music and eager students from around the globe.

Dr. V V Subramanian who is currently the Director of Brhaddhvani and the retired Principal of R.K.M.Vivekananda College, Chennai explained the various programs of Brhaddhvani. COMET methodology, a brainchild of the founder stands for Correlated Objective Music Education and Training. This goes into the depths of understanding the basics of carnatic music and is imparted to all the students by trained faculty members.


     Outreach class at Vilvarani             Dr. Karaikudi S Subramanian


Voice culture plays an important role to all musicians and here they are taught to optimise the usage of their voice to give it a long and sustained life.  Music is used as a therapy to help several ‘special’ children to overcome their deficiencies and their focus and concentration developed by practising music.  There are several out reach programs organized by Brhaddhvani catering to the students in the rural areas. Here languages are taught presenting it in a musical format and the children enjoy learning their lessons by humming tunes.  Other artistes like dancers are taught to appreciate the nuances of the lyrics. Yoga practices and vedic chanting forms an integral part of the disciplinary curriculum of Brhaddhvani. Understanding and writing the notations which can be prescriptive or descriptive is another important aspect of Brhaddhvani’s training developed by Dr. KSS. They have a privileged collection of songs for this purpose, specially sung for them by doyens like Dr M S Subbulakshmi, Palghat Sri K.V.Narayanaswami and played by Maestros like Lalgudi Sri G. Jayaraman.

School and College Students interested in music can volunteer their services for ‘Brahadsiksha’, a concept to spread carnatic music by teaching children in the schools across the city after receiving training from Brhaddhvani. On the cards are two new ventures of Brhaddhvani, PROMISE an acronym for Program of Musical Intervention for  Skill Enhancement, a capsule structured for the corporates and teaching carnatic music through the internet so that physical distance is no longer a constraint to learning. 

Celebrities like vocalist Bombay Jayasree, Folk Singer Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy and Koothu-P-Pattarai Founder Director Na Muthuswami have applauded the commendable efforts of Brhaddvani after taking the training personally.   It is supported in its endeavours by the Ford Foundation, the Indian Foundation for the Arts (IFA) and the Sangeet Natak Academy. ‘Brhaddhvani’ which literally means ‘universal sound’ is truly globalizing carnatic music, functioning as a rich center for Research and Training in the Musics of the World.

Contact   +91 44 2432 9878, 93810 44470
Visit www.brhaddhvani.org

Click here to give your feedback on this issue


Written By: Mala
Date Posted: 8/23/2007
Number of Views: 221

Return