Management and Music

Can Management be learnt through Music? How can a better understanding and appreciation of different genre of music help one to become a better manager? What are the analogies between management and music? Can the future managers consider music as a career option?

These were some of the questions which I tried to address during a session on 'Management and Music' with students of a management institute in Ahmedabad, India.


This interactive session drew parallels between Management and Music, by illustrating managerial attributes expressed by musicians across different genre of music. Students were exposed to short musical pieces from different genre of music to identify the managerial attributes within those musical pieces. The discussions were blended by various research findings which show that music can help in enhancing various critical abilities which are desirable in a good manager. The session concluded with a short Tabla demonstration.

Exploring Tabla - An interactive demo at Prayaas (IIM-A)

The children at Prayaas (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Prayaas/228852570021), an IIM-Ahmedabad initiative, were quite excited to have a first-hand exposure to Tabla. They could listen, touch and also play the Tabla! It was fascinating to see their keen interest in exploring this instrument, which today is one of the foremost percussion instrument in the world.

Soham giving a demonstration

Children at Prayaas exploring Tabla

Indian Music and Tabla Lecture-Demonstration at SGVP, Gurukul, Ahmedabad

In order to promote Indian Music and Tabla amongst youth and kids, I have intiated voluntary lecture-demos at educational institutes.

We were indeed privileged to have been invited at SGVP, Gurukul, Ahmedabad to give a lecture-demonstration on Indian Music and Tabla. This gave us an opportunity to interact with an enlightened auidience, and to share several research findings on music which show that music has a positive impact on the holistic development of our brain, and on the development of a child.