Sri Karaikurichi Subramaniam, a renowned Veena maker, stepped into our TPP premises to create awareness among our students about how various musical instruments are made. The list included Veenai, Tambura and Ghatam. The music room getting adorned with classical instruments was an exciting sight for our students. This session on Veena making for Grade-1 to Grade-5 was part of their music lessons curriculum.

An enticing melodic bliss expanded and spread in our campus as Sri Subramaniam began playing his Veenai. He then began explaining how these instruments are made. Being a maker of these instruments, he further facilitated further questioning from the students for which the students happily obliged.

Grade-5 students did learn that Veena and Tambura are made of jack fruit tree and their inquiry on plants made this fact seemingly interesting. After getting to know that one of the parts of Veena was made of paper, some in Grade-2 were curious to know if it was recycled paper. A brush with effective waste management has induced to pose such a question. Kudos indeed!

By exploring more of these instruments, we are sure to guide our little inquirers to understand the world of music much better. Such sessions definitely exposes young minds to higher levels of learning in a holistic sense.

Below are some of the comments our students and teachers had to say.

” This is the first time when I liked music. I felt like I was locked up in a room of music. I was surprised to hear Sir play ‘Ghatam’ for a western song. I would like to attend more classes like this.” – A Grade-8 student.

“This generation depends completely on tech growth, but Mr. Subramaniam proved nature is superior. He revealed a wondrous blend between music and nature. It was so amazing to see and admire an instrument made from cut jack-fruit tree bringing music to life. The most interesting part was about the wax and how it is used in making the Veena. Sri Subramaniam was patient enough and answered every question raised. Yes, the session was absolutely relevant and we can have more such classes that can showcase the relation between music and nature.” – A teacher

Learners then observed how the instruments were played. Adding to the sweet melody, the kids also sang sarali varisai to the shruthi. The session was an eye opener as it introduced kids to traditional instruments that they were less exposed to.

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