Music e-learning hits the right note in Bengaluru; Shankar Mahadevan, others use tech to teach tunes

BENGALURU: E-learning platforms such as Coursera, Khan Academy and eDX have enabled millions to take digital courses on subjects like blockchain, communication and psychology and music is not far behind. Leading musicians, including the likes of Shankar Mahadevan, are facilitating the use of technology to encourage e-learning of music in Bengaluru.

“In this day of fast-moving internet and extremely clogged roads of Bengaluru, we see a good number of people learning from us via the online medium,” said Mahadevan, a leading Bollywood music director.

After taking the curriculum of the city-headquartered Shankar Mahadevan Academy to 77 countries, he partnered with Taaqademy—a music school set up here by the band Thermal And A Quarter—two weeks ago to launch a music school in Halasuru. The school allows students to access online music books and assessments for every course, offers digital maintenance of grades and student records and mobile apps for pitching, learning and listening to music.


“Music education in the 21st century has to be cognizant of all the changes that technology evolution and adoption has introduced in our lives,” said musician Bruce Lee Mani, co-founder of Taaqademy.

“It is important to find the right balance between the rigour and the discipline required to excel at music and the inspiration and fun that comes from tech-facilitated approaches.”

The Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa), which teaches about 25,000 children across 50 schools, is also exploring the use of software-enabled learning for the next academic year.

“A software exists that allows students to sing into their phones and they are given feedback on pitch and rhythm (based on analysis of waveforms). Apps allow children to experiment with composition by using different sounds and instruments. This helps them understand layers and patterns of music to unlock their creativity,” said Bindu Subramaniam, dean, SaPa.


While the vocalist believes the soul of music education lies in the bond between the teacher and the student, technology, she said, helps in creating cultural literacy.

For all this, thou gh, digital platforms can get a bit overwhelming for students.

Siddharth Soni, 18, who started self-learning the guitar through YouTube and other websites before combining it with an offline course, said, “There is an overload of content in online platforms and it is not properly structured. So if you do not know what exactly you are looking for, you might end up consuming a lot of information but not really learning anything concrete.”

According to guitarist Konarak Reddy, technology might isolate youngsters to an extent that they would rather stay in their rooms playing what they know, rather than being part of a community and learning new things.

“While technology has its benefits, it offers no idea about the history, background and culture of genres and musicians,” he said. “Learning something without context often results in people not knowing where to put that knowledge to good use.”