Rise of Music Education in India

History of Music Schools

India is known for its rich cultural and artistic heritage since time unknown. Our country has produced some of the brightest musicians and composers in the world. Traditionally India has been home to two music schools of Classical Music – Hindustani Classical Music covering the northern, eastern and central region and Carnatic Classical Music covering the peninsular region of India. With changing times and changing music, classical music has lost its influence with the number of students decreasing over the years. The infusion of western sounds has become more prominent today and to keep up with new age music demands, the entire structure of music academics has changed along with the functioning of a music school. Fast forward to 21st century, present day India is still a huge market for Music. The business side of Music Education is at an all-time high due to growing urban population and there has been a sudden sprout in Music Schools all over the country in the past 15 years.

[caption id="attachment_5017" align="alignleft" width="249"] - Vehrnon Ibrahim Pro Music Business Faculty at TSM Mumbai.[/caption] Wholistic music education for pro musicians is what is growing and growing fast. I’ve seen the numbers where I teach and it’s growth growth growth every quarter. Not only that, now we are 4 years old our students are working professionally in every corner of the music industry as performers, composers, engineers, DJs and producers. There is an ever growing need for educated pro musicians in the industry and we are doing our bit to feed that. Maybe in my day 30 years ago it was considered an alternative profession (it was an outrageous profession) but today it’s a serious option for those with passion and talent who want make music their career. India’s entertainment market is exploding especially on the music front and the world is still looking at us to see what we will do next, so yes, I am wholeheartedly optimistic about India becoming a destination for quality professional music education "

Electronic Music Production Courses

Due to the popularity of electronic music, the demand for music production courses has also increased multple folds. The overall quality of Music produced and consumed in various media groups has gone up significantly and this quality is difficult to achieve with untrained professionals. Many students therefore opt for getting professionally trained in music production and this has led to the formation of "Music Production" Institutes all over the country. There are also many courses out there for DJ training, Live Music Engineering and Production etc.

Well I can only speak from experience but I can say that the people in the music education space in India are all passionate and dedicated to the growth of the Indian and International music industry. It’s a new era of the fan based music ecosystem and this gives a lot of power to those artists and specialists who focus on quality and diversity - that’s exciting! " - Vehrnon Ibrahim Pro Music Business Faculty at TSM Mumbai.

Modern Age Music Schools

[caption id="attachment_5030" align="alignleft" width="243"] Studio at TSM Mumbai[/caption] A modern-day music school comes fully equipped with the best technology and infrastructure to house all forms of music under one roof. With Recording studios, acoustic listening rooms and amphitheater they have everything a modern music school should have. The quality in learning experience is far   superior compared to other schools. True School of Music in Mumbai, Global Music Institute in Delhi, KM Music Conservatory in Chennai are some of the top Modern Day Music Schools and have set the bar high in curriculum and academics.

KM Music Conservatory

KM Music Conservatory (Chennai) was founded in the year 2008 by the A. R. Rehman foundation. It is one of the first music school in South East Asia to offer undergraduate diploma courses and a further Degree term in Middlesex University UK. The Intake of students  has doubled over this period and has risen to 85 students out of the targeted 100 students. In October 2017 Apple Music joined hands with KM Music conservatory to form 2 Mac labs in order to create Music using Logic Pro which is Apple's flagship Music Creation Application. Students of the Audio Engineering program are taught by Apple certified faculty with Apple sponsoring the entire equipment. The Audio Engineering program is one of the most sought after program at KM Music Conservatory and is currently hosting its 20th Batch of Students. The Electronic Music Production program has 4 intakes in a year starting in January then April, July and October. The duration is 6 months and the intake has increased considerably in the last 5 years. KM Music Conservatory also has other innovative programs like the Russian Piano Studio program conducted by Surjoit Chatterjee. It follows a different methodology to play the piano and to make it sound more like a vocal element or string instrument. In 2011 Fathima Shekhar, Executive Director of KMMC started the Sufi Qawwali ensemble. Any student of KMMC with a zest for Sufi Music can join the ensemble. Sufi Qawwali Ensemble has performed shows at Dubai, Delhi and Mumbai. Qutub-E-Kripa, an in house composing team of student musicians started by A. R. Rahman himself have worked along with him for background scores of movies like Tamasha, OK Jaanu, Television Series 24 and Netflix show Daughters of Destiny. In December 2017 the Student Ensemble also got shortlisted for the Best Original Score for Lake of Fire.

[caption id="attachment_5018" align="alignright" width="300"] Jyoti Nair - Head of Preparatory Programmes | KMMC[/caption] As we complete 10 years ,under the patronage of Dr. A.R. Rahman founder and principal KMMC and Director Fathima Rafiq, KMMC has moved from strength to strength and is here to stay! It has succeeded in providing a viable professional alternative to existing conventional courses like Medicine ,Engineering Management etc. It is a premier institution in the whole of South East Asia, where the talents are discovered ,cultivated and nurtured which otherwise may never have seen the light of the day ! Our aim to see that each member of the growing KM family is able to explore his creativity and potential to the full and thrive on originality of expression in any genre of music and is finally able to see the realization of his dreams"

For more info on KMMC click here.

True School Of Music - Mumbai

In a short period of time TSM has created a brand name for itself and is now the top choice for all Music Professionals looking to further their skills. TSM was founded by Ashutosh Pathak and Nitin Chandy. The same duo who had also started Blue Frog Mumbai and turned it into the best Live Arena for Music Acts. [caption id="attachment_5031" align="alignleft" width="300"] Shankar Mahadevan conducting a Master Class at TSM Mumbai[/caption] True School has foundation courses along with professional courses in all fields of Music. They also conduct seminars from time to time along with Master Classes by world renowned musicians. The faculty is made up of international level of musicians and technicians. TSM has seen an year by year growth of about 20% in the last 5 years in their student intake and the average age group of students is 18-21 years. They recently tied up with Point Blank Institute London to form a one of a kind Pro DJ/Entrepreneur Crash Course which will help students to develop themselves not only as artists but also to handle the marketing and business side.

TSM has some of the finest musicians from some of the finest conservatories from around the world. The Curriculum is also tailor made keeping in mind the Indian learner with a strong emphasis on industry requirements. We have some amazing collaborations and those wouldn't be possible unless they believed what we are doing. Our Western courses are conducted in association with Conservatorium Van Amsterdam (CVA) - One of the best conservatory in Eurpoe. Our sound courses are certfied by Harman (World biggest Audio giant) & our DJ courses are certified by Point Blank and Pioneer. Whats most fundamental is that we are all about Quality Education and ensuring that the learning experience is fruitful and enjoyable. But more than we talking about it, we will leave it to you to decide. " - Nishant Mody Asst. Manager-Marketing TSM Mumbai

For more info on TSM click here.

Global Music Institute

[caption id="attachment_5034" align="alignleft" width="236"] Aditya and Tarun Balani[/caption] Musician brothers Tarun Balani and Aditya Balani co founded the Global Music Institute in the year 2011.Their goal is to create a community of artists working collaboratively to realize and express their musical vision. They believe in developing all-rounded students with a deep awareness and understanding of musical diversity.   [caption id="attachment_5022" align="alignright" width="357"] GMI Building[/caption] GMI conducts foundation courses along with  1year, 2 year Diploma courses and 3 year graduate diploma programs where students undergo comprehensive training to become a thorough professionals. These full time programs are always in demand as prospects and students seek a structured and comprehensive curriculum that includes western contemporary music, Indian traditional music and a production component. The growth has been incremental over the years and there has been an almost 70% rise in the number of students over the past 5 years across different programs that GMI offers. The average age group of GMI students is 16-23 years and part time programs have kids as young as 7 years and people as old as 45 years. Having shifted to the new campus in Greater Noida, there are new programs being launched in performance and production where rapid growth is expected in the next few months. The campus facility in Greater Noida boasts of  40,000 Sq.ft of academic space and 12000 Sq.ft of student housing. The new campus offers in depth contemporary and Hindustani music curricula with an unparalleled faculty of music educators and industry professionals from India and across the world. GMI is the only institute conducting the Berklee College of Music, USA, Curriculum in India. In addition to this, being Berklee’s Global Partner, their Two Year Diploma is quite popular with students wanting to go to Berklee College of Music to complete a Bachelor’s degree; this diploma enables students to transfer credits from GMI to Berklee and enter into the 3rd year of study directly. GMI has recently launched a 6 week intensive Summer Certificate Program and it is their latest buzz.

Our curriculum is carefully designed keeping the current industry needs in mind and is also reviewed on a regular basis with input from industry professionals and educators. Our popular course categories such as core/primary instrument and performance courses give students the ability to shape their musical understanding and hone their skills thoroughly. Along with this, the interdisciplinary courses enables students to develop piano playing skills and and are exposed to Indian traditional music. The music production and art courses rounds up our curriculum to give the added edge a contemporary musician needs. " - Vinay Prabhakar, GMI

For more info on GMI click here.