Abstract
In November 2015, I had a serendipitous opportunity to spend twenty-three days in Mumbai, India. Before leaving, I contacted André de Quadros, my former music education professor at Boston University, and requested any contacts in the music education world in his home city of Mumbai. By the time I left the United States, I was cyber-friendly with five organizations (see sidebar with URLs). I learned something of the history of India and Mumbai through Times of India articles, YouTube videos, and the infinitesimally small amount of literature written about music education in India. Equipped with an iPhone, iPad, video camera, clarinet, thank you gifts, and lesson plans, I was ready for my research adventure.
Websites of Some Indian Music Organizations
Mehli Mehta Music Foundation: http://www.mmmfindia.org/
The Cathedral & John Connon School: http://www.cathedral-school.com/
Furtados School of Music: http://www.furtadosschoolofmusic.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/furtadosschoolofmusic
Muktangan: http://muktanganedu.org/
Child’s Play (India) Foundation: http://www.childsplayindia.org
As I gathered video footage, conducted in-person interviews, taught teacher workshops, and gave clarinet demonstrations, I noted a number of similarities between American music education and the Western music education I experienced in India. Reviewing the top-read and most-cited articles on the website of the National Association for Music Education (nafme.org), I found that student and teacher retention was a hot topic in both the United States and the institutions I observed in Mumbai.
The first organization I visited in India was Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, a not-for-profit music group in Mumbai. Its music school teaches students as young as age one. There are waiting lists for the classes for younger children due to the high quality of classical Western music education offered. (Mehli Mehta also has an outreach department that serves low-income families.) As the students get older, however, attendance declines, and some students drop out altogether. In a choral rehearsal for teenage students, I saw that the students were very attentive but obviously tired and stressed—exams were right around the corner. They expressed as much during their break while the choir mistress listened. At the end of the rehearsal, she and I discussed many things about the choir, but the topic she emphasized most was the students’ stress and their lack of time to enjoy activities other than test preparation, such as simply spending time with their peers. She said that the students are talented (confirmed by my observation!) but could reach an even higher level musically if they had the time.
Photo courtesy of the author
College-bound students in India, like many in the United States, have very tight schedules. For some, it is the stress of the material to learn; for others, there are not enough hours in the day to complete everything. In Mumbai, exams at the end of high school determine your future—not only where you go to college but also what you can major in. Most exams test fluency in at least two languages and include sections in calculus, chemistry, physics, history, and other subjects. It’s no wonder that the students preparing for this ordeal wish they had a forty-hour day.
The staff of the Furtados School of Music, a private music organization in Mumbai that has 10,000 students, empathizes with their colleagues at Mehli Mehta about student retention issues. They too hire excellent faculty and foster relationships to keep older students. At Furtados, I was able to see music lessons in action and listen in on calls to collaborate with other music organizations and schools, including requests to provide instrumental music instruction to mainstream schools such as the Cathedral school.
André de Quadros’s alma mater, the Cathedral & John Connon School in Mumbai, has a long tradition of Western classical music due to its British colonial roots. Christian music has been performed at the school since its inception. I spent time with one of the music teachers, observing his choirs and classes and performing for one of the choir rehearsals. Virgil Sequeira, who has a degree in liberal arts, is working toward an online certification in music through Trinity College in London. He has an amazing ear, expert improvisational skills, and composes some of the music his students sing. He is hungry to learn new methods and music and to share his successes.
There is no college in India where one can get a degree in Western classical music—only Indian classical music. Most music teachers either have music degrees from the West, took lessons from a private music organization like Mehli Mehta or Furtados, or learned through a unique teacher training program I describe later.
Many of the students who attend the Cathedral School are India’s future leaders, and the school consistently ranks in the top two co-ed schools in the country. These students are destined for the top universities around the globe. A private school, it has a number of scholarships for students who excel academically but need financial assistance. Surprisingly, the students are quite relaxed talking about the latest Bollywood movie or cricket match. In a region where triple-digit temperatures and stifling humidity are common, the only air-conditioned room in the school is the headmistress’s office.
In the Cathedral School, music is compulsory up to the equivalent of eighth grade in the United States. After that, it becomes an elective. It is up to the teacher to keep the student’s interest in music and make it a large social event, which Sequeira has been successful in doing, including recruiting male students into the high school choir. Sports, studies, and limited time can prevent students from adding music to their schedules, but the choir has solid support.
Sequeira teaches a variety of courses to a variety of age levels. As with most music organizations I visited in Mumbai, singing is the focus. Instrumental music—mainly piano, violin, and viola—is offered in the private music school. Western classical instruments have to be imported and are expensive. Repairs are difficult, as there are few shops that fix instruments; most people send their instruments away for repair. My clarinet was a great novelty to all of the students, even the ones at the Cathedral school.
The one nongovernmental organization that does not have retention problems at the high school level is Muktangan. Music is not taught past eighth grade but is compulsory up until then. Muktangan is the rough equivalent of a U.S. charter school. I was impressed with the teacher preparation—all teachers are taught music, and the music teachers are taught on a daily basis during their prep periods. Some of the other subject material is taught through songs. I had the honor of training the music teachers on recorders that I brought from the United States and gave the school a few class sets as gifts. This organization caters to the children in the slums and to their mothers, who are trained to become teachers in the school. The teacher training and support never stops. I experienced the training internally where the lead music teacher, Sydney Furtados (no relation to the music school), led the training seminars. The organizations I met with are quite interconnected; as an outreach activity, Mehli Mehta participates in Muktangan’s music teacher training.
Last, I flew to Goa and met Luis Diaz, who created the not-for-profit Child’s Play (India) Foundation. He does not have the luxury of the amenities of a major city and therefore has to draw on his own talents and networking to create a music organization that reaches out to the neediest of children in the area. He uses his own funds to fund his programs and travel to speak at conferences. I also visited an orphanage where some of the students receive music instruction.
What do all of the organizations want from Americans? Your time and/or expertise! Fly to India and spend time with one of these organizations to develop their program. You may be able to help train music teachers and later provide your expertise virtually.
Please visit my blog for videos, interviews, perspectives about my experiences in India, and other music topics not discussed here. Feel free to contact me at http://blog.melissachalmer.com/.