This article/blog entry is to bring forth my opinion on the music teaching business in India and particularly New Delhi. Having taught at various music schools in New Delhi and also being the director at School of Symphony, I have come to know of a lot of truths about this business which many parents and students do not know and I would like to take this opportunity to share these with you.

1. The number of music schools in New Delhi has tripled in the last 2 years and this is because of the snowballing effect. Leading a life of a musician is still not that easy as far as financial earnings are concerned. Teaching music is the easiest thing that a musician can do and thus everyone wants to teach or start a music school even if they are not that proficient themselves. In fact I know many of my students who are already teaching to other students.
   
2. Group lessons are meant to teach English, Mathematics and not Piano, Guitar or Drums. But still many schools have group lessons because it makes more sense financially.
   
3. The standard for music lessons is one class per week in UK, Germany, USA, Italy etc. Schools which have high fees on the pretext of taking more lessons per week are just pulling a financial trick.
   
4. To learn music you are 20% dependant on your trainer/school and 80% dependant on your own practice and dedication.
   
5. One must enquire about the qualifications of the trainer as in most of the schools there are unqualified trainers as they charge less. But the qualification is not the only thing required in a good trainer. What a trainer must also have is the ability to convey and communicate efficiently. I have seen many highly qualified musicians who are not half as good when it comes to teaching. So the best way to find out the ability of a trainer is to take one class.
   
6. Check out the instruments that the school is providing you to learn on. 90% of the schools which are teaching piano do not even have a digital piano. I am yet to come across a music school in New Delhi which teaches keyboards on a keyboard which is better than Yamaha PSR 295. I am proud that I teach on Yamaha Motif XS which is the same model used by A.R. Rahman and Stevie Wonder. Similarly for drums, most of the schools teach on a basic Indian made kit to save money on purchase and repair. But take my word for it that it does help a lot to learn on good professional instruments. 
   
7. Music schools should organize regular workshops relating to topics which can be taught in a group and which are do not make sense to be included in normal courses. And there can be hundreds of such topics. Somehow parents and students do not realize this and so most of the schools do not take this initiative.
   
8. It really helps to play with other people as it teaches a completely different set of skills that are not learnt otherwise. So if your music school gives you or your child an opportunity to do the same it is absolutely great.
   
9. At the end of the day the most important thing to be able to learn efficiently is a good trainer with a small room and a good quality instrument. So these should be on your topmost priority while choosing a music school.

 Somehow all the parents who are in their 30’s these days want their children to learn music. And I admit that it is just absolutely amazing for a child to learn music. And in case you do not agree, take my word for it that it even helps the regular school studies. But at the same time I would insist that it is very important to choose a right teacher/school for the student as there are many musician/teacher/school quacks out there. A bad teacher has the ability to ruin music learning forever for the student. Good luck!

Friday morning.. Driving to work.. Radio playing 95.5.. The song -  “Give in to me”.. And I was immediately transported way back to my growing up days..

Michael Jackson was everywhere.. He was the bedrock of music to me and so many of other teenagers all over the globe.. I remember standing in front of the mirror and trying his moves to “Beat it”, “They don’t really care about us”, “Bad”, “Thriller”, and many more.. He was definitely the best performer the world has ever seen after Elvis. A revolutionary, I remember him performing “Black or White” with Slash. I am a rock n roll fan and many people would not admit that they would listen to Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop". And that is why I just hate that phrase. He is just as pop as maybe Bryan Adams. He got Slash to play with him. He got Eddie Van Halen to play with him. Quincy Jones at the zenith of his career collaborated with him. Paul McCartney sang with him. His songs "Beat it" and "Give in to me" have one of the best guitar solos of all time. And you can also listen to his screaming vocals in songs like "Bad" and "Dirty Diana". Let me tell you he has more rock element than many of the bands.

His album “Thriller” is still the highest selling album of all time with over 45 million copies sold worldwide. The video of “Thriller” will always be one of the most cherished video of all time. "Thriller" and "Scream" revolutionized the way videos were made. The song “Heal the world” will always be played in the schools and colleges around the globe.. "We are the world" will always be played on radio on every World children's Day. "Black or white" will always be played on "World Anti Racism day" and so will "Gone too soon" on "World Aids Day". It is just unbelivable what this man has acheiveed so far in his life...

And then the song fades out and the news is broken out to me that this great performer is dead! When Kurt died I was not old enough to realize what had happened. But now I know..

You may want to go into all the controversies surrounding him. But the fact is that he has been a legend, one of the finest musician and performer the world saw in the past century and there is no denying the fact that he has influenced all of us. We all have tried on the tight pants, the white socks, and the moon walk. But it is not over. We can still celebrate the fact that his music will always be there with us. He will always be alive in our hearts.

 In his words:

 You and I must make a pact
We must bring salvation back
Where there is love, I'll be there
I'll reach out my hand to you
I'll have faith in all you do
Just call my name and I'll be there

My 20 most favorite Michael Jackson's songs:

20. Don't stop till you get enough
19. The girl is mine
18. The way you make me feel
17. Man in the mirror
16. Remember the time
15. I just can't stop loving you
14. Will you be there
13. Smooth Criminal
12. Billie Jean
11. Who is it?
10. I'll be there
9. Heal the world
8. Dangerous
7. Bad
6. Thriller
5. Dirty Diana
4. Black or white
3. They don't really care about us
2. Give in to me
1. Beat it

I remember listening to “Scorpions” at the ‘Are you nuts’ volume level on my tape recorder (Oh I feel so old!) and my mom screaming at me – “Turn down the volume right now… Do you even understand what they scream?” Frankly speaking I don’t think I understood the lyrics at that time. And I just wondered… Why do I need to?

Recently I got invitation to play at a Spanish bar where we were asked to perform some Spanish songs. So my friend gave me a list of 15 Spanish songs that he thought we could play. And I had to listen to all of them. And that’s when I realized what people mean by “Music knows no language”. They all were so beautiful. I did not understand a word of what they spoke about. But I understood the language of music. And they spoke so much. So here I present to my top 7 favorite Spanish songs that any music lover must listen to:

7. Quizzas Quizzas Quizzas – Nat King Cole

6. Historia De Un Amor - Unknown

5. Balance – Sara Tavares

4. No Me Vayas A Enganar - Omara Portuondo

3. Volare – Gipsy Kings

2. Que Sera – Jairo (con Ana Belen)

1. Nadio El Mundo - Buika

P.S. Don’t be surprised if you see a fresh take of one of these songs in the next movie for which Pritam composes the music J I’m sure he would have become tired of ‘getting inspired’ from Japanese, Chinese, American and Pakistani music.

All right! So here I start my blogging career... And what better thing to write about than the most wonderful thing in this world called – Music! Let me tell you that I always have hundreds of opinions about every sort of music out of which many are controversial. But I still love to give them anyways. That is why when I was given the chance to write for School of Symphony I took it hands down. Now it comes to the subject. My first blog is about my favorite band - Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam is the best band that this planet earth has ever seen (Caution: I am choosing to ignore consistency as a criterion for deciding the best band ever). They are no Dream Theatre when it comes to musical technicality (although technically also they are right up in the top 50 bands of all time) but definitely they are the best when it comes to playing original compositions in a very original way. Sounds absurd? I guess what I am trying to say is that they have a very unique style (Nope! it is not like Nirvana or Alice in Chains) and their original compositions are one of the best - musically and lyrically.

If god had a voice it would be like Eddie Vedder's "Release". (Sidebar - I do not believe in god but we can come to that later). The way he starts singing "Om"! I wish I could keep listening to it forever. He may not sing as high as Freddie or his competitor (may be) Chris Cornell. But nonetheless whatever he sings it sounds as if it is the voice from heaven. So calm, composed, mature and soothing. And if you think he is just about that then you are completely mistaken. Listen to "Blood" (one of the less popular Pearl Jam songs, but what is popularity anyway). It has the best scream of all time. Yes, even better than "Cochise" and "Since I've been loving you".  Some other must listen Eddie's vocals - "Jeremy", "Wash", "Alive", "Black", Porch", "Gone", "Arc" (Sidebar - You will be amazed at this 1 minute track), "All or none" and "Wishlist".

 They have one of the best lyrics ever written. Eddie Vedder has himself written most of the songs and nobody does it better than him. He uses some brilliant metaphors which may be sometimes open to interpretation and he does it really artistically. One of his most memorable lines – “Heart and thoughts they fade, fade away”. A simple sentence says so much. Some other absolutely outstanding works are – “Jeremy” (Arms raised in a ‘V’), “Off he goes”, Elderly woman behind a counter in a small town” (I changed by not changing at all), “I am mine” (I know that I’d been living and I know that I’ll die, the in between is mine), “Wash” (What she don’t know today might kill us both tomorrow), “Nothingman” (Once divided nothing left to subtract), “Black” (I know she gave me all that she wore), “Wishlist” (I wish I was the messenger and all the news was good), “Betterman” and so many more that to mention all I would have to miss my lunch as well as dinner.