Music hour in school is moving away from being just another conventional ‘paatu class’.
Words such as ‘pedagogy’ and ‘lesson plans’ are making inroads, and the latest trend seems to be the introduction of a structured music curriculum into classrooms.
On Monday, Brhaddhvani, a music research and training centre launched four music textbooks for kindergarten students and classes I and II. The Chennai Corporation too, has introduced a structured music curriculum in 10 of its schools this academic year.
Brhaddhvani’ textbooks are based on a concept called COMET (Correlated Objective Music Education and Training) developed by Veena exponent and founder of Brhaddhvani, Karaikudi S. Subramanian, after several years of research.
“As a university professor teaching music, I sensed a disconnect between what was being taught at institutes of higher education and what children were being taught. So I started to research methods to bridge this divide,” he said.
The textbooks and curriculum, said Sowmiya Muralidharan, author, kids COMET I and II, are designed to engage all students in a heterogeneous classroom irrespective of their ‘musical giftedness’.
“The idea is to sensitise students to the basics of Indian music using visual elements extensively. There are Japanese and Nigerian songs too,” she said.
Sadhna Rao and Sudhir Rao, directors of Art Links which is taking the curriculum to schools, said they had already worked with close to 1,000 children in city schools over the past two-and-a-half years.
The new textbooks, which are an upgraded version, aim at being age-appropriate.
Leela Samson, chairperson, Sangeet Natak Academi and Central Board of Film Certification, released the books.
