Members of the Australian World Orchestra (AWO), who are currently touring India with music maestro Zubin Mehta, on Saturday held a workshop for underprivileged children in the Capital.
Four musicians from AWO introduced themselves, their instruments, and played music with the children at Kanak Durga Slum in South Delhi’s R.K. Puram. The event was facilitated by Asha Society, which primarily works for the betterment of slum dwellers in the city.
The children, aged between 6-14 years, who participated in the workshop are part of R.K. Puram slum’s children’s association. The workshop began with an introduction to instruments and rhythm, and went on to teach the difference between various instruments through a song. In the second half of the workshop, the story behind Diwali was brought to life with narration and snippets from western classical music.
AWO outreach programme creator and violinist Belinda McFarlane, violinist Monica Curro, clarinetist Paul Dean and percussionist Troy Greatz weaved the story of Ram and Sita into the workshop to engage the participants with the music they heard and created. It was an interactive storytelling that engaged the children and involved them with songs, movement and percussion instruments.
Twelve-year old Aksh, who played the protagonist Ram, said: “I play a lot of instruments in schools and love percussion instruments. The number of small and simple instruments I saw today really got me thinking of many ways go produce music. I just loved how Troy played the drums.”
“They taught me how to be a conductor. I loved singing along and controlling the sounds with my hands. It was so fascinating!” said 12-year-old Muskan.
“We were in India last year and learnt a lot about the work Asha has been doing in slums of Delhi. We planned this trip and got in touch with them immediately to organise this workshop. I visited the slums earlier and met a student from one of the slums who interned with the Australian Embassy. The way their lives have been transformed is phenomenal,” said AWO CEO Gabrielle Thompson.
