With Rohan at Interlochen

[RKrishnamurthy]

Not having visited this site for a while, I had to re-register and I see that this site has received a face lift and this new look is refreshing. We are aware of the efforts by various organizations in NA that seek to promote KM in their own specific ways. In certain other ways, individuals are taking their own steps. I am sure there are quite a few out there and it would be nice to know about that which might enable some possible future consolidation. My son Rohan has been active in bringing awareness of South Indian percussion in NA through ensembles, summer institutes, workshops and master classes. His first effort was at his undergraduate institution, Kalamazoo College where he successfully directed an ensemble and Indian Classical Music Conference for four years. After he left, another of Sri Guruvayur Dorai’s student, Kiran Vangipuram who joined the college is continuing the ensemble and at this point there is enough to hope that the ensemble will be a permanent feature. Other institutions that Rohan has focused include Harvard, MIT, Eastman School of Music, Grand Valley State University, Houston College, Hope College as well as my own university.
I had the privilege last weekend to take him to the Interlochen Academy in Northern Michigan and I wanted to share my experience. A few lines about Interlocehn. This is considered the world's best music academy for high school students with special talent in music (read Western Classical Music). The regular school is for students from grades 9-12 who come here to prepare themselves so that they can go on to the Eastman School or Julliard College or similar elite institutions and then go on to become famous musicians. They also do their regular schooling in math and science and some may go on to pursue other career paths. But that is a negligible number. This is a place meant for geniuses and prodigies in music and attracts students from more than forty countries . Nine month fee for studying here is 55000 dollars and so is not cheap if any of you plan to send your kids there!. Interlochen is word famous for its National Summer Camp which attracts 2500 participants (age range 3 and up) from around the world. One has to be there to get a feel for what the ambiance looks like. The entire campus is residential with a number of state of the art performance centers and far away from any cities and towns. All the students and faculty live on campus and eat in the same excellent cafeteria. There are practicing wooden cabins and strict code of conduct. You hear music all the time when you walk around. The campus is surrounded by lakes.
Rohan presented a two hour workshop and it was clear that this is the first time they heard about a system called “Karnatic music”. At the end of his workshop I was amazed to see that all most all of them played the mridangam patterns he explained to them without any blemishes. They had no idea about what is thalam, ragam or anything that we take for granted in Karnatic music. But their genius and talent was clearly evident in the way they grasped what was explained to them and the way they reproduced it so well. Talent and genius make one feel humble, to say the least.

[rrao13]

Excellent post. Best wishes to Rohan and we all hope to get periodic updates about his achievements and progress. Great/Proud to know that Michigan has a world class music school.

[vasanthakokilam]

Sri. Krishnamurthy: Thanks for the write-up about Interlochen and Rohan's participation there as a presenter. I have heard of Interlochen through the bio of other successful musicians who had attended the famous summer camps. I am sure at least some of the kids will take Rohan's presentation and the rhythmical ideas with them and remember/recollect them later on in their musical lives.

I guess just being there and experiencing the high voltage musical atmosphere is great. I wonder if they accept visitors to just be there and observe for a day or it is strictly limited to students and faculty.

[RKrishnamurthy]

Sri. Krishnamurthy: Thanks for the write-up about Interlochen and Rohan's participation there as a presenter. I have heard of Interlochen through the bio of other successful musicians who had attended the famous summer camps. I am sure at least some of the kids will take Rohan's presentation and the rhythmical ideas with them and remember/recollect them later on in their musical lives.

I guess just being there and experiencing the high voltage musical atmosphere is great. I wonder if they accept visitors to just be there and observe for a day or it is strictly limited to students and faculty.

Thanks for the response. In fact a couple of graduating students from there are going to Eastman next year and have expressed interest in taking Rohan's ensemble at Eastman. I do not know if they have any tours at Interlochen. But I am sure if you express interest in what they offer, there might be possible arrangements for a visit. The place is about 3 hrs drive from Kalamazoo. It is a good option to spend a night at Interlochen and then visit Traverse City, which is 13 miles from Interlochen. Traverse City, on Lake Michigan, is regarded the Cherry Capital and is a nice tourist spot. If you plan to drive via Kalamazoo, do drop in our place.
Krishnamurthy

[vasanthakokilam]

Sri. Krishnamurthy, thanks very much.

[rrao13]

Is it possible to upload any videos on Youtube - I am interested in seeing the music school, some of the performances-especially where Rohan was doing a lec-demo or similar - anything that would throw more light on how the Interlochen school appreciated our style of music. Thanks.

[RKrishnamurthy]

Interlochen has its own website of course. I do not know if the workshop/master class was not videotaped. I did not do it. I have still pictures.