Pt. Bhatkhande had designed and formulated notations so
that the various compositions in classical music could be put down in writing;
he travelled widely and documented the styles and compositions of various Gharanas[1]
and recorded them for posterity. Yet, the art is such that it cannot be learnt
from reading a few notations from a book – the mood, flavour and nuances can
only be learnt from one who is a master.
Imagine a trough with a semi-permeable membrane placed
vertically such that the trough is divided into two parts, one part containing
a supersaturated solution and the other, an unsaturated solution. This causes
the process of osmosis until both the solutions are equally saturated. Compare
that to the learning process in Indian classical music - the super saturated
solution is the Guru[2]
and the other, the sishya[3].
Traditionally, the process of learning-teaching in India has been aural and by the precess of demonstration. And this has been practised for hundreds of centuries, long
before the acknowledgment of the ‘Suzuki’ model of teaching/learning as an
effective tool in the process.
The system does, however, come with its quirks; many of
my musician friends believe that the customary ‘touching of the Guru’s feet’
should be done away with, opining that this skews the relationship between the two.
I am of the opinion that learning can happen in totality only if the sishya
admits that the Guru knows more than her/him and has utmost and complete reverence
for the Guru. The sishya does not have the right to judge the Guru personally
and the Guru on her/his part does not pass on her/his biases (musical or
otherwise) to the student. The ‘touching of the Guru’s feet’ symbolises and
reinstates that relationship.
Capatured in our films - fiction:
‘Alaap’,
raga-mala
‘Chashme
Baddoor’, raga Kafi
And fact:
Smt.
Vidushi Girija Devi and disciple, Piyu Mukherjee, Raga Bilaskhani Todi
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