At the age of nine, John Marthand fell in love. As days rolled by, his love became an obsession. History repeated when his son too was feeling drawn to the same obsession. Music, Western Classical, is what they live for, debate about.
At their home in Banjara Hills, this love is evident. The pride of place in the living room is for the Steinway Grand, one of the few in the country. The sound every connoisseur wants to hear and the magic every pianist wants to create with his fingers.
“We need the air conditioner on all the time for this baby. The air from this room overflows into the other and so the pleasant experience.” The living room also has neatly stacked music collection, “This is my collection and don't ask me how many, I have stopped counting,” smiles Binothi John indulgently.
Musical journey
The love affair with music began for John Marthand when he was nine. The second world war was about to end and this was when he heard Beethoven again. “It was the sixth symphony,” and John's determination to learn the piano got stronger. He managed with a couple of books and making those books his teacher, he set out on the musical journey of a lifetime.
“I didn't find it very hard. Very soon I started playing the piano often, practiced more of Beethoven's pieces. I started to get greedy for music, from just being able to learn the piano I started seeing myself as a conductor,” recollects John.
Now, years down the line, if it is Western Classical music it's got to be at the Marthands; and parents who are keen on making their children learn the art, leave no stone unturned to see that their kids get a slot in the music school –– Academia, International Music Foundation.
“I want to play and teach music till I can. When I heard a piece of Beethoven's played on the piano by my brother, I was spellbound. Every part of me said ‘this is what I want to learn.' I went up to my brother to request him to teach me the piano but my brother insisted I learn the violin instead.”
Learning to play the piano the way it was to be played didn't stop John from learning other instruments. As his brother wished, he learnt the violin, the cello and all that goes in creating the magic of an orchestra. It was for this love that this technical engineer with the Indian Airlines kept refusing promotions, “I don't regret that decision. I decided so to be able to pursue my first love,” he smiles.
Binothi, his wife, a dentist by profession, was a student of John. After learning to play the piano for 11 years from John, the two fell in love and soon Binothi started assisting John in his school after marriage.
Their son Timothy discovered his passion in a different way. “I was not keen on music when I grew up. They tried getting me to learn but I was a little rebellious. I liked to sketch,” he says.
“He is a very good artiste and is passionate about photography. When he was 16 he took us by surprise when he played one of Beethoven's advanced pieces. It was flawless and as I sat upstairs in my room, tears rolled down my cheeks,” recollects Binothi.
Timothy then understood deep within he too wanted to play the piano. “I have to say I opened my eyes very late to the piano but that's because my childhood dream was to become a pilot. However, after I started playing I was confident that I knew a lot about music until I went abroad. I had to unlearn and start all over again. It has been 15 years and I am still learning and will continue doing it until I am satisfied with myself,” says Timothy.
Timothy shuttles between India and Italy and also has a couple of students learning from him. Though the family is musically bonded there are issues where the father-son begto differ from each other.
“I mostly disagree with him and he never seems to agree with me. Except for the time when I got the Steinway in the house,” he laughs. He quickly adds, “but both of us learnt music from Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.”
Binothi adds, “But they make a wonderful pair when they play together. When the two play as a couple at home it is the most wonderful experience.” But the three agree to the changing Western Classical Music scene in the city, “There is more awareness, more materials and better instruments,” they say.
“When I began to learn I hardly had enough. My constant search to find better material made me decide on learning Western Classical Music full time and give back to society what I felt deprived of,” says Timothy.
Timothy reveals another secret of his parents, “if they are not playing music or reading or teaching, the only place to find them is the kitchen. They are wonderful cooks and consider cooking an art. My friends say, a visit to my house means food for the soul and the stomach.”
