Along with the drumming of west Africa or the gamelan of Indonesia, the music of India has been on school curriculums in some shape or form for decades. One Leicestershire-based organisation, however, is on a mission to increase its prominence, using technology to bring a crash course in Indian classical music to schools across the UK. In an innovative way, the Darbar Academy is making non-western music accessible to 7- to 15-year-olds.
The Darbar Academy was created by the Darbar Arts Culture and Heritage Trust, an organisation you may remember from its appearance at the 2024 Music and Drama Education Expo. Primarily running Indian classical music festivals in venues such as the Barbican, the team felt inspired to branch out into education and bring this music to the classroom in an affordable way. Acknowledging that teachers lacked time and resources, the Academy created simple, structured videos for teachers – specialist and non-specialist alike – to provide Indian classical music lessons in an interactive way, using keyboards or tablets. The programme, which gives everyone a chance to get to grips with the basics, is suitable for KS2, 3 and 4, and forms a starting point for teaching ragas, talas and the Indian classical style. Crucially, these are taught alongside western diatonic chords, creating a true musical fusion.
Technological gateway
As highlighted in Ben Sellers's article ‘A vision of the future?’ (MT Aug 2024), technology can open doors to new methods of learning – and, subsequently, to a broader range of repertoire. The learning process may also be gamified so that children respond to physical icons moving on a screen – as with Guitar Hero – rather than reading traditional notation.
The Darbar Academy course covers the basics of Indian ragas via an online portal or the Darbar Academy app, both of which house 43 videos for class teachers to present on a whiteboard. Students follow along either on physical keyboards or a virtual iPad keyboard, which is available on GarageBand.
‘We quickly realised that schools lack resources. Initially, the programme was planned to run with just keyboards, but schools just didn't have the equipment,’ explained Harpal Manku, Darbar's digital learning manager.
‘But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had put funding into technology, so schools had iPads. We designed the course for iPads using GarageBand, meaning there's no additional software to invest in, and it ticks the National Curriculum requirement for using IT and Music.’ Manku also emphasised the fact that students and teachers need no prior knowledge of music or this genre to use the software.
Covering all bases
The Academy has been running for just over a year and is supporting 60 schools, most of which were first approached by the Academy. Detailing instances of ‘forgotten passwords’, Manku shared how venturing into education was a learning experience for them all, but they have now found a working model of teachers leading lessons from the smartboard, in front of the class.
According to Manku, the main benefit of the programme is its ability to give students ‘a hands-on approach’ to the genre, with no training or lesson planning required of teachers. Indian classical saxophonist and composer Jesse Bannister leads the video tutorials, leaving classes in safe hands and teachers free to assist.
‘Many teachers, particularly those who teach GCSE Music, say that they spend a lot of time trawling through YouTube for videos on what a raga and tala are’, Manku explained. ‘With our software, teachers don't have to do the extra research, and students get to physically play, which helps them better understand the scale and time cycles.’
Learning scales and time cycles, Manku added, is ‘brilliant’ – but with such a historically rich genre, it's important to teach students what is going on behind the sounds they hear. The course teaches the history of Indian classical music, and, for me, this is what makes the software stand out. Even better, Manku confirmed that students are often left ‘empowered with knowledge’, and better-placed to answer questions in the GCSE exam.
Striking a chord
The programme has been well-received by schools, with one school in Walsall putting 380 students through the programme.
Luke Smith, head of music at a secondary school in Tower Hamlets, is one teacher who has used Darbar with Year 9s and GCSE students in an effort to make his curriculum diverse and allow for more music-making.
‘Darbar has supported our students to be more creative and take responsibility for arranging and crafting music carefully, rather than playing an exact copy of an original song’, Smith explained. ‘Improvisation and arrangement are key skills that can sometimes be overlooked in a curriculum, but are vital for developing musicianship. The videos included have been fantastic in providing an insight into Indian classical music, delivered by an expert. This allowed for more authenticity in how the unit was taught.’
Adding that his pupils now have a ‘better understanding of the development of bhangra and other styles of music used in Bollywood films’, the software seems to have struck a chord with his students.
Lost in translation?
As a harmonium player myself, I questioned how musical traits of traditional Indian classical music are maintained when ragas and so forth are adapted for use on iPads, keyboards or Smartboards. Traditionally, for example, the harmonium keys are played with one hand, and the other is used to produce the sound using the bellows at the back of the instrument – with the Darbar system, students use the left hand to hold chords while the right improvises on the raga.
Manku acknowledged that, when shifting Indian classical instruments to technology, the ‘full immersive experience is lost’. But as an accessible ‘starting point to learn a raga-based piece on a western instrument’, the system works. This also aligns with Darbar's focus to ‘get the course in, regardless of what instruments the school has’.
‘For now, we've just stuck with one raag, to the principles of the taal, and to translating the exact Indian scales into western scales. And we are focusing on the white notes, rather than incorporating sharp or flat keys’. Referring to the pragmatism that's required, ‘How many schools have a harmonium?’, he added.
One key element of Indian classical music that has been kept, I'm happy to say, is improvisation. Growing up, I learnt to improvise around the beat of the tabla and the eight notes of a raga, and that is something which Darbar incorporates.
‘The course is an introduction to the principles of the raga and to time cycles, and gives students the freedom to improvise. The end goal is for them to feel as if they have created something, and to allow them to use their knowledge of western music as a stepping stone to the genre.’
Manku plans to buy keyboards to allow students to learn necessary keyboard-playing techniques, some of which are universal. ‘We have a section of the course covering the correct posture to have when sat at the keyboard, and how to position your fingers and manage co-ordination – something that is hard to replicate on a 9” iPad.’
Future plans
Darbar Academy ultimately plugs a gap for the teaching of Indian classical music in the mainstream curriculum. Furthermore, the software is being used in enrichment clubs to develop the repertoire covered by keyboard groups. Building on this momentum, and on feedback from teachers, the organisation plans to develop singing advice and taal-based rhythm lessons that can be used on any percussion instrument.
On a broader note, Manku wants to see more inclusion in our system of graded music exams. ‘We're trying to have conversations with exam boards to see what we can do content-wise to create a better learning scheme around world music. When I taught tabla, my students couldn't use this for their practical exam because they had to play on a western instrument.
‘It's really important that schools and music hubs understand that music is universal. In certain areas, having Indian classical in the curriculum can be relatable for students – and, nowadays, you hear Indian music everywhere. There's a lot of fusion going on. There might not be many experts, but if we can create digital content that schools can utilise, that's a step forward.’
