Promoting Music at IIT and Schools

Lecture-Demonstration at the Foundation Program at IIT - August 2013

An interesting interaction on Tabla with the freshers at IIT-Gandhinagar. Was glad to see the 'right' side of our future engineers! I commend IIT for including this session in their Freshers Induction program. Students had fun learning the basics of Teentaal and some of the compositions set to Teentaal. The lec-demo included discussions around evolution of Tabla, various gharanas (schools) of Tabla, Art and Science of Tabla playing, demo of compositions such as Uthan, Peshkar, Kaidas, Tukdas, Chakradaars, Gats, and Relas.The Tabla lec-demo was followed by a Sitar-Tabla duet with Srini.

Tabla demo at IIT - April 2013

Juganbandhi (Duet)

 Tabla and Piano Demonstration

Appreciating Indian Music and Tabla: Session for Children and Parents

Indian Music comprises of various genres such as Classical, Semi-classical, folk, bhajans, film, popular, rock etc. While the popular, rock and other modern forms of music have been greatly influenced by Western music, the traditional Indian forms of music – classical, folk, bhajans, semi-classical (thumris, tappa, ghazals) etc continue to demonstrate the uniqueness and originality of Indian music and are today appreciated by musicians and audiences across the globe. Indian classical music, which can be broadly divided into Hindustani and Carnatic music, has a rich tradition dating back to more than 4000-5000 years.


Research has shown that music, particularly classical music, has a positive impact on the holistic development of a child. Children who start learning music at an early age tend to excel in academic, are generally more intelligent, more confident, and less disruptive.

Session highlights:

Objective: Sensitization to some of the facets and benefits of Indian Classical Music, including Tabla

o It will highlight the benefits of music on a child’s development as well as how music can help in developing a holistic personality.

o Children would be made aware of different forms of music, musical instruments and musicians

o There would be a short Tabla demonstration explaining the history, anatomy, language of Tabla, various Gharanas, role of Tabla in today’s music, and a typical Tabla solo progression.   Session conductors: Rajiv Bhatt and Soham Bhatt

Tabla lecture-demonstration at Nirma Institute of Management Studies (Aug 2012)

It was an enjoyable Tabla lecture-demo. Thanks to the Fiesta club at NIMS for inviting and organizing this event. Am impressed by the co-ordination and management skills of these 1st and 2nd year MBA students at NIMS who manage the Fiesta club. It was also fun to jam up with two guitarist amongst the management students.

Music is a great way to connect!

Tabla Workshop for International Students

August 2012

It was a pleasure to conduct a half-day Tabla workshop for a diverse mix of international students at the PDPU, Gandhinagar. My son, Soham (8 years) and my guru's son, Dhyanesh (12 years) were my able assistants. Indeed, music transcends cultural and geographical barriers. Sound and Rhythm are universal, and Tabla is one of the prominent means of presenting sound and rhythm in an interesting and universally-appealing manner.

View photos at: International Tabla Workshop Photos

Management and Music session to the management team of a corporate

Lecture-demonstration at School of Interior Design, CEPT, Ahmedabad

A lecture-demonstration to a group of German and Indian students at SID, Ahmedabad.

Explained and demonstrated some of the nuances of differents gharanas of Tabla, and different compositions (peshkar, kaidas, tukdas, paran, gat, rela etc).

Tabla solo on Doordarshan (DD-Girnar) - An Experience!

The journey of Tabla playing leads to interesting and memorable experiences, one of which has been a Television performance on Doordarshan channel (DD-11, popularly known as DD-Girnar). This 14 min (approx) Tabla solo was telecast on 9th February 2011, under the youth programe of the channel. I remembered the DD studio from my recordings done about two decades ago.

This would remain a memorable experience! Vaibhav rendered the lehra in raag Charukeshi on the Harmonium.

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.