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Classic connectivity
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Music buffs can enter the virtual world of Carnatic music through a new portal, www.carnaticstudent.org, which is being maintained by a German flautist, Ludwig Pesch.
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MUSIC LOVERS, students, musicians and teachers can now interact and keep abreast of various aspects of South Indian classical music through a new educational website — www.carnaticstudent.org.
Its objective is to encourage a meaningful exchange of ideas, expertise and resources in the field of South Indian classical music through e-learning.
The exchange can now be facilitated anywhere in the world by means of a "virtual classroom".
To achieve this objective, participants from different cultural backgrounds are being encouraged to explore various aspects of Indian music, its traditions and present role in world music.
As part of this joint learning process, no opinion or theory is taken for granted; instead, queries about specific aspects of the music will be put to renowned musicians, scholars and educationists who will share their expertise.
The site is maintained by Ludwig Pesch in collaboration with the Chair of Indology of the University of Würzburg and the Distance Education Center of the University of Lüneburg in Germany.
Ludwig Pesch, a flautist, spent years at Kalakshetra in Chennai, learning to play Carnatic music.
He now lives in Amsterdam and teaches Carnatic music at different universities in the Netherlands and Germany.
He has authored several books on Carnatic music. "The idea for the Net course started with some workshops and my homepage. I have named the homepage "sampurna" because the word has a beautiful meaning and sound."
The Sanskrit word "sampurna" refers to a series of seven notes from which many scales and countless melodic entities (ragas) can be formed.
"In this sense, we can experience an astonishing interplay of unity and universality amidst cultural diversity. In another sense, the words "sampurna" and "purna" refer to that which is complete, whole, and sonorous.
Thus, "sampurna" denotes something that human beings of all times and in any culture have experienced as contributing to their sense of inner harmony and fulfilment.
"In this context, sampurna is understood to signify a musical as well as communicative experience."
Ludwig says he has always sought to convey this experience through workshops, concerts and lectures.
He explains, "The director of the Distance Education Center of the University of Lueneburg, Johann Wellendorf, has been a lover of Indian culture for many years.
He has travelled to India several times with his wife Hildegart.
"We first met in conjunction with my workshops and performances in northern Germany, which he enjoyed and, therefore, promoted among the students of the Department of Cultural Sciences. Seeing my website taking shape and developing into a vehicle for intercultural communication, he approached me with the idea of developing a course for the Distance Education Center, growing under his institution's guidance.
"We both feel that there is tremendous scope in creating awareness through a professionally supported internet-educational programme (e-learning).
"And this requires effort in terms of teamwork, willingness to learn from one another, and being open-minded to different viewpoints."
V.R. DEVIKA
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