Josh in Mumbai - 6 - Final Blog

Wow. What a hectic week it’s been.  I’m now back in the UK, wearing two jumpers, hugging my AGA, and looking outside as the rain and winds batter the trees.  But what a pleasure it is, to be able to drink straight out the tap without the concern of where the nearest Imodium packet is.  Probably my biggest achievement was to go to India for over 2 months, immerse myself with their culture, and yet not fall ill once.

The last week has been great.  I’m already missing the foundation and the friends I’ve made over the last 70 days.  There are too many highlights to list.  September 6^th was National Teachers Day, and I was flattered to receive so many presents from students (all directed to ‘Josh Sir’) – it really made me feel appreciated!

Sadly the 2^nd listeners club concert never went ahead either, for exactly the same reason as the first concert getting cancelled.  They were profusely apologetic, and mentioned there and then that “they look forward to hearing me perform next time I come to their Foundation”.

Midori Goto arriving at MMMF on Monday (9^th Sept) was a great experience.  I accompanied the String ensemble, then half a dozen students, then had a private masterclass with her and Mika- playing the 6 Romanian Folk dances by Bartok for Violin and Piano.  It was such an enjoyment it really encouraged the idea of doing a postgraduate in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Welsh.

It’s been a huge experience for me and I’d like to think that while I have learnt a few additional teaching techniques, most of all I feel my current teaching ideas have been assured and validated.

Being invited back to the foundation has been a real honour – I started in July thinking that if I was invited back, I’ll have done a good enough job.  When I can travel back is another question entirely.  If I had a choice I’d like to see India in non-monsoon season.  During September, the rains stopped and you could start to see Mumbai in a new light- something I’d perhaps like to see more of…

Farewell Chennai!

I could not believe that I’m finally back to Leeds, sleeping on my own bed and having home cooked food once again. It has been really fascinating not just for the students and the teachers but for me to see India on my own! Two months have literally flied passed but all the things that I have been through will stay!

During one time, I went to the marine beach in Chennai and there were like four small kids pulling my short and shirt and begging hard for money. The shirt pulling has never happened to me before, not in Bombay, and not in Chennai so far. I was feeling really hopeless as I’m not sure whether to push them away, or surrender some changes or just run. Even though they are just asking for some changes, but the meanings behind this are huge as the children are being used as money makers. Their parents do not love their children and they give birth to as many children as possible in order to maximise income. It is very upsetting seeing that they are born to become beggars in the street and the poverty cycle continues. The issue of poverty has becoming a very important subject matter to the whole of India. In order to reduce poverty, long term investment on primary/secondary education is important but in short term, economic growth will enable to lift millions out of poverty immediately, as seen from the Gujarat state.

Rather than going onto too much detail on fundamental economic issues on here, however, for once, I have been questioning about economic growth in the society. Surely, Indians are getting richer which must be a good thing, but being rich can have a damaging effect to the Indian culture. Some people are solely aiming for the process of making money and the ancient traditional values such as hospitality and being kind to each others are fading away gradually. Even man’s traditional outfit in South India such as the lungi are being replaced by western clothing like short. Hearing about arranged marriage and different religions from Tamilians has been an eye opener for me as the younger generations are more open minded about the Western concepts on dating and marriage, especially when they come from different religious families. I have never really thought about these issues before, but I start to appreciate and respect their distinct viewpoint. And through this way, I’m able to connect with them closer and understand more about the values that they hold within the society.

During these past two months, it has given me a lot to think about and it feels that I have just scratched the surface of India. I am leaving India with more questions than answers. It has been an incredible journey and really satisfying. I have made friends that I will be keeping in touch for life, and I have gained new skills that can be applied to anything that I’ll do in future. Thank you to WAM foundation, Musee Musical and the people that I have met, it has been an unforgettable experience.

Adrian

Goodbye Areeparambu!

Hi everyone,

Apologies for not being update for the past 4 weeks; we had no access to wifi so have been saving our news for now!

Unfortunately the tv broadcast we mentioned in our last blog didn't happen, which was a shame, but we've had lots of other things to fill our time with.

Over the past 9 weeks we got to know our students really well and it was really sad saying goodbye. We covered huge amounts of material in class, starting from the very beginning for most of them, and it was so rewarding knowing that so much of their theoretical musical knowledge came from us. We even got onto Bach Chorales with the 2nd years, and I began to introduce them to ideas about musical aesthetics. We wrote some exams for them along the way and saw a huge improvement. At the end of our time there we put on a concert and asked each student to perform a piece of their choice. They were really excited as they don't often get a chance to perform and two of them, Steve and Priyanka, performed two pieces that they had written themselves. A lot of them are really enthused by songwriting and Rebecca has given regular songwriting workshops to help improve the technical side of their composition. We even heard a rap performance from the new student who came one week before we left, James. He's been a really quick and keen learner, and went from no theoretical knowledge to a secure understanding of how to read music in a week. We said goodbye to our students when they took us out for lunch on the last day which was a really nice surprise, and we really enjoyed getting to know them outside the classroom.

Outside of ACCM, we've been doing more and more work with PCH (precious children's home), and have taught the children lots and lots of english children's hymns. We've organised lots of programmes for them including an elaborate treasure hunt through the grounds and games afternoons (we discovered musical chairs and limbo were a hit!). We had to say a really emotional goodbye to 143 children on Thursday.

All in all we've really enjoyed our time in Areeparambu.

Bye!

Rosie and Rebecca

Josh in Mumbai - 5

With all the other WAMers having left on a homebound flight, I sit here in a practice room coming to terms that the current ‘tourist’ population of Mumbai has probably just dropped about 40%.

I am fully accustomed to the usual questions I get asked when I walk down the street, get a taxi, or practically encounter anyone in this cement jungle…  “Where are you from?!”…  “Married?!”…   Or just general queries as to why I’m here. (Admittedly alarm bells did start ringing when the first question one taxi driver asked me was “What religion are you?”).  However these questions usually result in a happy exchange of information and then asking for money. Lovely.

Work at the MMMF is going well.  As I presume is the case with other WAMers, I’ve been well and truly in the routine now, and have admittedly forgotten about this website for a couple of weeks.  Work-wise not much has changed, Mika – the Japanese violin teacher and I are trying to encourage chamber music playing.  We’ve divided the more able pianists into several groups and I am teaching them different movements of the Seitz Student Violin Concerto No.5, along with other violin and piano works.  I’m now also taking more students than normal because one of the main piano teachers has gone on holiday to London.  All the piano lessons are going well, I’ve also started aural training lessons for the piano and violin students that will be having ABRSM/Trinity exams in November.

The String Ensemble will be ready for their performance on the 11^th September, and, provided the students work hard, the choir will also be ready.  The String Ensemble are so ready in fact, that they will be able to perform the Kinder-Sinfonie by Edmind Angerer by memory (!) The Choir are learning Suscepit Israel by J.S.Bach, John Rutter’s ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’ and an A Capella version of the Nutcracker March by Tchaikovsky.

Sadly my first Listeners’ Club Concert was canceled on account of internet/email difficulties which in turn meant problems inviting people.. But that’s another story.. I had been spending a fair amount of time practicing for it so it was a mild disappointment to find it canceled just the day before.  I am supposed to be doing my second concert, with Mika, on Wednesday (4^th September), though I foresee the same problem of the administration inviting people. I’ll keep you posted, if you pardon the pun.

I am however busy enough learning new music; A professional Indian tenor (who studied both an undergraduate and postgraduate at the Guildhall School of Music) has asked me to accompany him for a private audition with Zubin Mehta.  The program will include two Mozart Arias – “Così Fan Tutte - Un’ aura amorosa” and “Don Giovanni - Il mio Tesoro intanto”, along with Gaetano Donizetti’ “L’elisir D’amore Una Furtiva lagrima”.  I’ll also be the accompanist for everyone at the Foundation when Midori Goto will provide a string masterclass on the 9^th September.  I’ve already listed a lot composers and titles of works so I won’t bore the minority of people who have probably made it this far into my 5^th blog.

My trip to Goa was interesting – when people told me it wasn’t the season to go, I didn’t expect it to be empty.  On the second day I walked up Morjim beach by myself, and I only saw a couple of fishermen in the 90 minutes I walked north.  There were actual ghost towns, where people had retreated, leaving their businesses and huts neatly gift-wrapped in blue tarpaulins.  Nevertheless it was nice to get away from the pollution and chaos of Mumbai just for a couple of nights.  The Konkan Kanya Express* train was a great experience and something I really do hope to relive sometime in the future.

*’Express’ definition in India: A 13 hour overnight train journey, travelling over 700kilometres from Madgoan to Mumbai.

Enjoying The Fresh Air
Konkan Kayna Express