It goes without saying that several of the finest musicians in India have had their skills honed at Madras Christian College, Chennai. Now, the 184-year-old institution is gearing up towards providing formal music education, via a four-hour online programme called the Music Creators Mentorship programme where several eminent musicians in the city will walk the students through the basics of music production and music theory.
Principal Dr P Wilson explains, "Madras Christian College has been known for its musically talented students for decades. However, for want of proper grooming to become session artists, they fail to embrace a career in music on completion of their degree programmes. This is an attempt by the School of Continuing Education to scout potential talent, rendering an opportunity to be mentored by the top notch artists from the music industry."
He adds, "Students who possess basic music skills would benefit from the online workshop. MCC has also proposed to extend this privilege to other students. They can register for the first phase that would deliver the basic modules on music production and music theory. This would be followed up by an intensive course on music theory, music production, nuances of background score and vocals for 15 days. Students will be given an opportunity to collaborate between tracks to come up with a music production at the end through offline mode at the campus."
The ultimate goal, however, Dr Wilson says, is to use the learnings from this programme and create a Music Conservatory for MCC which will not only focus on music performance, but also on scholarships. "The concept of a music conservatory is not evolving in India, and the few that exist are not affordable. We hope to create a curriculum that would be affordable and also collaborate with top music institutions across the world," he adds.
The first phase of the programme will have a registration fee of Rs 500. The mentors include Dr Arul Siromoney, an expert in sight-reading who will work on how to increase sight-reading ability in raw musicians so that they can become session artists, Napier Naveen, who will do a lecture demo on music theory, Timothy Madhukar, who will teach the nuances of ad jingles and drummer Vasanth David for music production. The programme will begin at 9 am on July 15 and D Imman, the National Award-winning film composer will inaugurate it.
