Priti Paintal discusses her experiences of planning and running music workshops with ShivaNova.
Though schools have been quick to pick up on African and Latin Music, they have been slower to pick up on traditional Asian Music, and many teachers have told us that one of the reasons for this is that they have found it hard to make it enjoyable and accessible to pupils. It?s true that Asian Music is a highly developed musical form with musicians spending many years learning its traditions. However it is quite easy to break it down to it basic principles and simplify it for the purposes of teaching so that even the youngest of students can get some fun out of it and learn something about Asian music at the same time. This is where the cross-cultural training we give to our workshops leaders and musicians is so crucial. The trick is to make sure that the students are engaged in a creative process at all times while still picking up the basic techniques of the musical styles as they go along.
One of the main aims of ShivaNova has always been that, besides the delivery of high-quality cross-cultural music, we should be able to promote a picture of racial harmony (not necessarily integration, which we do not espouse) that encourages living and working side by side with different cultures, religions and races. Pupils learn more than just about the music when they see a group of musicians from different cultures interacting and performing together music that they have specially created. This is even more important now when fear seems to be dictating the way we behave to others.
Priti Paintal is Artistic Director of ShivaNova
e: shivanova@aol.com;
w: http://www.shivanova.com