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영어

Little research has been done on the history and styles of Carnatic music pedagogy and its impact on the performance practices of this tradition. Traditionally, the method of gurukulam was the dominant form of music education. In this form of musical pedagogy, the student lives with the teacher in order to gain optimum exposure to the music by constantly listening and being surrounded by the art, and observing the teacher’s teaching and performance activities in the context of the everyday. In contemporary India, the concept of gurukulam has been modified into formal instruction. In this method, students do not live with or directly observe the teacher’s everyday activities. Rather, they sit in time-allotted classes to learn to perform specific pieces, thereby giving them less exposure to the processes and contexts of music-making.
The progression from gurukulam to modern-day teaching methods raises different opinions and controversies as to the “correct” way of teaching Carnatic vocal music. In this essay, I show that these views are peculiar to individuals based on their own learning experience. More broadly, it is not the type of teaching method that distinguishes a performer from a non-performer, but the ideology that the artist has fostered, either the aesthetic assets to gain audience approval and recognition in the industry, or a sound base of knowledge and grammar as an academic and scholarly approach to Carnatic music.