Learning from the legends

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is not always that students get the opportunity to learn lessons directly from the exponents in subjects concerned. As part of the ‘Scholar in Residence’ programme going on in the Sri Swathi Thirunal Government College of Music in the city, stalwarts in various performing arts are conducting a three-day programme for the students.   The programme which began on Wednesday is on till Friday. Department of violin, vocal, veena, mridangam and dance are hosting the programme in the departments concerned.    Violin maestro Prof V V Subramaniam, from Chennai, with an experience of more than half-a-century in the field took classes for the students. Hailing from an illustrious family of musicians, he belongs to the lineage of Palakkad Parameswara Bhagavathar who was in the court of Swathi Thirunal. He has accompanied many well-known musicians and has a broad spectrum of noted disciples in music. Vocalist Nagamani Sreenath from Bengaluru who has bagged the Kendra Sahitya Academi Award, also took classes. She is a visiting faculty at Jain University, Bengaluru, and also teaches at the Bengaluru University. Veena exponent Mudikondan Ramesh from Chennai is the grandson of noted vocalist Mudikondan Venkitarama Iyer. Trichy R Thayumanavan, an expert in performing ‘konnakol’ in mridangam, is a former employee of All India Radio, Trichy. Soorya Narayana Moorthy from Chennai is a bharatanatyam exponent of Kalakshetra in Chennai. The previous year, the college had Prof. T N Krishnan in violin, Parassala Ponnammal in vocal, Prof Balambal in Veena, Trichy Sankaran and T K Murthy in Mridangam taking lessons for the students.“Along with receiving an opportunity to meet the stalwarts, it also aims at improving the academic standards of the students,” says Prof M N Moorthy, Head of the Department of Violin. The programme is being conducted as part of ‘Sadhana’, an academic initiative of the Government of Kerala. The programme introduced in 2011 provides an opportunity for the young crop in performing art studies to learn the intricacies associated with each genre. Including the music college in the city, the  programme is conducted in  two more   music colleges in the state at present.  Radha Lakshmi Vilasam (RLV) College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura and Chembai Memorial Government Music College, Palakkad are the others. Yet, this is for the first time that the programme is being simultaneously conducted in all departments concerned of the college.