Sankar P. Chowdhury is presently offering online tabla lessons. Sankar has been a visiting teacher at the College for over 20 years and is greatly valued for his skilled and patient teaching.
Please contact Sankar directly for more information about registering and scheduling lessons.
His email address is: terekete12@rediffmail.com, and his phone number is +9830459153, which also works in WhatsApp.
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One of the few “silver linings” of the pandemic was that I (and many of my music teacher colleagues), were forced to immediately switch to online teaching. I was determined to make the best of teaching on Zoom and have found that although it cannot replace “in person” learning, it provides a very useful way of teaching the incredible compositions of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. By providing students with a high quality, latency-free recording of each lesson, the students have been able to continue learning these essential compositions at home, at their own pace and completely in accordance with the age old practice of non-written tradition, the way that Indian classical music has been passed on for thousands of years! This is a huge advantage and a very important supplement to in-person, individual instruction. Therefore as we try to transition back into live classroom learning, I will continue to record all of the lessons so that each student can review the material at home, with their full attention on the teacher presenting the composition and no distraction from the other students in the group trying to simultaneously figure out the material. In addition, there is no tendency to feel shy about making mistakes and distracting the other students, as well as the teacher. In short, these recordings provide a win – win situation! And if these weren’t already enough reasons to embrace this new form of learning, an added benefit is that it isn’t even necessary to attend the live class, because the recording links are sent to everyone, those who live in Basel, other parts of Switzerland or as we have seen, anywhere in the world!
Here are a few brief video clips of the lesson recordings:
Raga Jogiya Kalingra – Alap phrases
Raga Jogiya Kalingra – Instrumental composition
Vocal classes give a general introduction to the classical music of North India through singing. Compositions are learned in the most common ragas and students also learn the basic Talas (rhythmic cycles). Aspects of theory and history are also taught and students become familiar with the major styles and forms of Indian music (dhrupad, khyal, thumri, tarana, etc.).
Vocal classes presently take place on Tuesday evenings from 18.45 to 20.00, both live and online. To visit a class please send us an email or call the College at: 41 78 808 33 05
“Singing is the most important, because, while you play, you are singing through the instrument… actually you are singing inside.”Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
Instrumental classes are conducted in both private and small groups and consist of both technical exercises and compositions in the main ragas and talas.
At present, the instrumental classes take place on Thursdays from 18.30 to 20.00, both live and online. Please contact the College for more information: info@aliakbarcollege.org or tel. 41 78 80833 05
Sankar P. Chowdhury is presently offering online tabla lessons. Sankar has been a visiting teacher at the College for over 20 years and is greatly valued for his skilled and patient teaching.
Please contact Sankar directly for more information about registering and scheduling lessons.
His email address is: terekete12@rediffmail.com, and his phone number is +9830459153, which also works in WhatsApp.