Ludwig Pesch speelde piano en orgel voor hij muziek en muziekwetenschap ging studeren, eerst in Freiburg (Duitsland). Belangstelling voor hedendaagse en “niet westerse” muziektradities werd de leidraad voor zijn professionele ontwikkeling tijdens zomercursussen (met name beïnvloed door Simha Arom en Manfred Junius). Hij studeerde Zuid-Indiase muziek aan de Kalakshetra kunstacademie in Chennai, waar hij zich specialiseerde in de bamboe dwarsfluit.
Samen met zijn leraar Ramachandra Shastry en als deel van andere ensembles nam hij deel aan concerten en festivals in en buiten India (Europa, Azië en Amerika); en aan ISME World Conferences for Music Education (International Society for Music Education) samen met collega musici en onderzoekers.
“Fluitist Ludwig Pesch speelde de composities en improvisaties met een grote souplesse, maar deed dat met een innemende vanzelfsprekendheid. … een prachtige introductie op muziek die veel bekender zou mogen zijn.” – Recensie door René van Peer (Eindhovens Dagblad)
In samenwerking met twee universiteiten ontwikkelde hij eLearning cursussen (carnaticstudent.org).
Audio interview & muziek | “Van Gurukulam tot Cyberspace”
Wat is een raga? gepubliceerd in Preludium (Concertgebouw Amsterdam)
Publicaties
“Thinking and learning in South Indian Music” in Integrated Music Education – Challenges of Teaching and Teacher Training by Markus Cslovjecsek, Madeleine Zulauf (eds.) Peter Lang Publishers, Bern, 2018. 418 pp., 29 fig. b/w, 2 tables MOUSIKÆ PAIDEIA Music and Education/Musik und Bildung/Musique et Pédagogie. Vol. 1 pb. ISBN 978-3-0343-0388-0
By the time of Tagore’s 1920 visit to the Netherlands, his favourite play Dakghar had been translated into English and Dutch as The Post Office1 and De brief van den koning, in 1912 and 1916 respectively.2 This play won international acclaim and was soon staged in other countries and different languages. Its theme became even more relevant in the context of peaceful resistance in the face of despotism:
Dakghar is one of many works, including several plays, wherein “Tagore uses the notion of freedom to decry narrow nationalistic boundaries, governed by myopic ambition and greed […] which bring out different facets of his broader abstraction of freedom.”3
In 1920 the very purpose of his lecture tour was to promote education on an ever more ambitious scale, one unheard of in modern history as regards any private citizen’s initiative: to build an institution called “Viswa Bharati”. Unlike any institution Tagore knew first hand – including London University College in his youth, and later Oxford University as guest speaker – its mandate was (and remains) this: to foster a free exchange of knowledge systems that, in his view, belong to all of mankind.4 Similar ideas have since evolved in many places, be they inspired by Tagore as in Dartington Hall5 or otherwise (think of the Wikipedia foundation and demands by scientists, that they be allowed to freely share their research findings rather than seeing them subject to profit oriented patent laws).
So the very name “Viswa Bharati denotes Tagore’s hopes for the success of his most ambitious project, namely to find supporters that would guide its evolution into nothing short of a World University; and at the same time adhere to its uniquely poetic motto: “Where the world makes a home in a single nest”.6
More specifically, the university’s mission statement reiterates Tagore’s vision: “Visva-Bharati represents India where she has her wealth of mind which is for all. Visva-Bharati acknowledges India’s obligation to offer to others the hospitality of her best culture and India’s right to accept from others their best.”7
This context for the 1920 lecture-cum-fundraising tour poses the question what Tagore may have regarded as “best” for the institutions he built and inspired, in terms of knowledge, experience and ethical standards worth sharing and defending, while questioning any assumption in the critical spirit required by academic institutions.
The answer cannot be found without considering his conviction that good education integrates many disciplines and domains; informally for young children, then with proper instruction by trained teachers8 – all this without losing sight of that we now associate with “lifelong education”:
“A most important truth, which we are apt to forget, is that a teacher can never truly teach unless he is still learning himself. A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame.”9
While dealing with practical and funding issues he never tired to remind his listeners and readers of shared values that needed to be inculcated from an early age even in the face of class-based peer pressure: as part of a learning process that does sideline scientific nor overlook personal differences. Beyond the struggle to end injustice, he saw the need for constructive, persistent and peaceful struggles to establish and protect civil liberties and human rights for all world citizens, locally just as internationally:
“When our self is illuminated with the light of love, then the negative aspect of its separateness with others loses its finality, and then our relationship with others is no longer that of competition and conflict, but of sympathy and co-operation.”10
A Dutch press report highlights Tagore’s “silver voice” that conveyed his profound admiration for the songs of Bengal’s village mystics, besides the deep and lasting impression his personality left on listeners who attended his lectures in large numbers.11
He spoke as a private citizen among peers, not as delegate on behalf of any institution or group, and that in a large venue built as meeting ground for a “Free Congregation” (Vrije Gemeente). Like many of us today he had reasons to be alarmed by the policies adopted by the growing trend of nation states to “legitimize” the oppression of large sections of their own populations – not merely “minorities” or “immigrants” – more often than not as to justify self-interested aggression against other states. Then as now this has caused famines, disease and mutual suspicion among populations of different faiths that previously coexisted peacefully be it as states with shared interests like natural resources, trade, or as neighbours whose mutual reliance prevailed over the ideological and theological considerations now used to “divide and rule”.
In Tagore’s younger days this had already resulted in violent confrontations, so for him these were major issues long before and after his 1920 lecture tour. His unwillingness to be coopted by the elite – and thereby to remain a mere onlooker, even beneficiary – when something needed to be done to prevent even greater suffering – is evident from writings that include the lectures first published in 1916 under the title Nationalism.
Given the challenges to human rights even to the world’s largest democracies – in the very year when we should celebrate the foundation of the United Nations 75 years ago, on the ruins of World War II – Tagore’s warnings are worth pondering again:
“And the idea of the Nation is one of the most powerful anaesthetics that man has invented. Under the influence of its fumes the whole people can carry out its systematic programme of the most virulent self-seeking without being in the least aware of its moral perversion – in fact it can feel dangerously resentful if it is pointed out.12
Similar sentiments fuel demands by concerned citizens, to remove monuments of former “national heroes”.13
Going by the difficult choices he faced both in the public and private spheres, “freedom” was more than an ideal or abstract concept for Rabindranath Tagore. As member of the land owning zamindar class he had reminded his son that their privilege was inherited and depended on the exploitation and further marginalization of rural communities under their control. This sounds all too familiar in the context of current debates on “meritocracy” vs. “inherent wealth”. We should hardly be surprised given the frank admission by global trading agencies that profitability for many follows the assumption that there may be “no trade without war, no war without trade.”14
Tagore’s irrepressible sense of freedom in the personal sphere is evident from many of the poems he hand collected and translated for the benefit of foreign friends (whose enthusiasm led to his nomination for the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature), soon published under the title Gitanjali; and even more explicitly in a letter written a few years later, addressed to his friend, the poetess Victoria Ocampo whom he had sought to honour by using her name in the Sanskrit equivalent “Vijaya”:
“Whenever there is the least sign of the nest becoming a jealous rival of the sky [,] my mind, like a migrant bird, tries to take … flight to a distant shore.” 15
Seen in the light of the above, like the successful Dutch staging and illustrated publication of his favourite play “The Post Office”, it hardly surprises that his passionate appeals for greater cooperation caused a sensation. This shows the value ascribed to the range of topics he covered during the 1920 lecture tour. Yet Tagore chose to inaugurate this tour with a talk titled “Some village mystics of Bengal”, on 23 September 1920 in the monumental “free congregation” hall into the prime venue for popular music when the City of Amsterdam bought it in the 1960s, since then known all over the world by its new name Paradiso. This choice can hardly be understood without taking the sister institution for Viswa Bharati into account, the centre for rural reconstruction named “Sriniketan” which is yet to acquire the status he hoped for, and reflected in songs wherein he expresses gratitude for everything he received and learned from local people.
“Tagores bezoek maakte diepe indruk en bracht in Nederland een ware rage teweeg.”16
What Are Human Rights? “Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.” Learn more : Human rights | United Nations >>
The six colour plates displayed here are sized 10 by 10 cm in the Utrecht edition. The were created by Rie Cramer (1887-1977), a Dutch writer and prolific illustrator of children’s literature. To help fugitives she joined the resistance against nazi occupation in the 1940s and published anti-German verses in Het Parool, “the largest underground resistance newspaper in the Netherlands”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rie_Cramer [↩]
Referring to Rabindranath Tagore’s speech on the swadeshi idea of the “National University” Debaditya Bhattacharya reminds us that “Tagore opposed colonial pedagogy not because it originated in a foreign context, but because it lacked organic connections with the material lifeworld and socio-cultural experiences of the Indian ‘public’ that it sought to educate. Bhattacharya clarifies and extends the concept of ‘publicness’ of education which should be sustained by, and also sustain, the immediate local environment: a cooperative model, co-partnered by the public and the university. May I underline yet another remarkable imperative which put Tagore at odds with most nationalists of his time? Tagore was an internationalist, in an intellectual, cultural and political sense: keen to be grounded in, and to ground his university in, global cultures and ideas, as well as in Indian ones. The Gandhi-Tagore debates are significant in this context and in this sense Tagore had much in common with Nehru. This is important to recall today when the entire national educational agenda is geared towards keeping the world out of Indian thinking, to confine the universities to navel gazing and self-congratulation.” – Tanika Sarkar in “Tracing the History of India’s Universities” | Book review by Debaditya Bhattacharya (The Wire, 8 September 2025): The Indian University: A Critical History [↩]
Schumacher College, the International Centre for Ecological Studies regarded as “the legacy of the Elmhirts who travelled to India and were deeply influenced by the poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore. ‘In the 1920’s the Elmhirsts had the same concerns as we have today – quality of life, the purpose of existence and the values which transcend mere material prosperity.'” – David Nicholson-Lord in “An Earth Academy” https://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/learning-resources/an-earth-academy [↩]
The international headquarters of Montessori Education AMI has a letter addressed to Dr. Maria Montessori requesting her guidance prompted by their personal meeting in New York. [↩]
Visva-Bharati and its institutions–Santiniketan 1961, p. 28 [↩]
“‘Met zilveren stemgeluid leest dr. Tagore de rede, die hij te voren op papier heeft gebracht. Hij vertelt van de dorpsmystici ginds in Bengalen, van mannen en vrouwen wier godsdienst het Hindoeïsme is en die in religieuze devotie het dagelijksche gebeuren rondom hen vertolken in liederen van zeldzame bekoring.’ Tagores bezoek maakte diepe indruk en bracht in Nederland een ware rage teweeg. https://www.amsterdam.nl/stadsarchief/stukken/immigranten/tagore-amsterdam/ [↩]
Careers in the Dutch VOC trading corporation were certainly not hindered by proclamations by its overseas representatives, as illustrated by the motto flaunted by a particularly notorious 17th century overseas administrator (and national “hero” until quite recently), Jan Pieterszoon Coen who regarded war and trade as inseparable: “No trade without war, no war without trade”; quoted in a book review of Koloniale oorlogen in Indonesië. Vijf eeuwen verzet tegen vreemde overheersing by Piet Hagen: “Jan Pieterszoon Coen vatte dat handzaam samen in zijn devies: ‘Geen handel zonder oorlog en geen oorlog zonder handel.’” (Co Welgraven in Trouw, 24 juni 2018) https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/piet-hagen-schreef-een-indrukwekkend-boek-over-de-koloniale-geschiedenis-van-indonesie~ba1798b9/ [↩]
Rabindranath Tagore quoted by Amartya Sen in The Argumentative Indian (London 2005), p. 103 [↩]
Einleitung zum Beitrag von Ludwig Pesch für die Ouverture Spirituelle im Rahmen der Salzburger Festspiele 2015
Wollen wir die Musik Indiens nur ihrer “exotischen” Reize wegen genießen? Damit täten wir uns keinen Gefallen! Das Zusammenfließen verschiedener Kulturen Religionen und Philosophien hat die dortigen Musiker zu großen Errungenschaften befähigt. Dabei wird die Integration vielfältiger Einflüsse zu einem gerundeten Ganzen besonders geschätzt. Dies legt den Gedanken eines spielerischen Umgangs mit der Musik nahe. Ein “unbefangener Umgang” soll dabei nicht mit “Leichtfertigkeit” verwechselt werden.
Ein musikalisches “Leiterlispiel” entwickelt für eine indische Sommerwoche am Museum Rietberg in Zürich – Ludwig Pesch (concept) & Arun VC (design)
Hermann Hesses Buch Magister Ludi (Das Glasperlenspiel) schildert eine großartige, im Laufe der Jahrhunderte gewachsene Symbiose; ein intuitives wie durchdachtes Zusammenspiel vieler, das die Grenzen von Künsten, Religion und Wissenschaft wenigstens zeitweilig aufzuheben vermag.
Indische Musiker kennen viele ungeschriebene Spielregeln, wodurch beim gemeinsamen Musizieren “innere Partituren” entstehen. Auch ihr Zusammenspiel ist keineswegs flüchtig oder oberflächig, denn sie können ein beliebiges Stück jederzeit präzise wiederholen, bei Bedarf auch in wechselnden Besetzungen. […]
Eine Kombination von Virtuosität, Improvisations- und Rechenkunst stellt die Konzentration von Musikern und Hörern gleichermaßen auf die Probe. Eine Voraussetzung für musikalische Spannungsbögen ist dabei das Maßhalten: die indische Musik beruht teils auf dem “unbewussten Rechnen der Seele”, das wir aus einem berühmten Ausspruch von Leibniz kennen, teils auf perfekt durchkalkulierten Abläufen; und selbstverständlich auch auf der Improvisationskunst der Musiker.
Der Reiz besteht für alle Beteiligten darin, dass man sich zwar auf das “Hier und Jetzt” einlassen muss, zugleich aber auch kombinatorisch mit vorherigen wie zukünftigen Abläufen beschäftigt ist. Dieses Spiel mit dem Zeiterleben bietet Raum für neue Ideen, die an die Errungenschaften der Ahnen anknüpfen statt sie zu verdrängen. Wer dabei gleich an professionelle Darbietungen denkt, wird kaum je die Möglichkeit zum “spielerischen”(sprich “unbefangeneren”) Umgang mit der indischen Musik erwägen. Aber gerade diese Option kann unsere eigene Kultur auf eine zeitgmäße Weise bereichern. Gleichzeitig wird in Indiens Institutionen und Medien seit vielen Generationen recht unbefangen mit den kreativen Möglichkeiten der westlichen Musik “gespielt”. […]
Uralte Bühnenkunst aus Indien präsentiert die “Ouverture spirituelle”, die dieser Tage die Salzburger Festspiele einleitet […]
Dass das Göttliche selbst in der Kunst in Erscheinung tritt, dass die Menschen Gott in Form von Musik und Tanz erfahren können, ist ein zentraler Grundsatz in den darstellenden Künsten Indiens. Man muss weder Sanskrit beherrschen, noch diese enorm elaborierte Sprache der Blicke, der Mimik und Gestik deuten können, um sie genießen zu können – das versichern alle Künstlerinnen und Künstler, die nun vor Salzburger Publikum auftreten. Die starke Emotionalität, die man in Musik und Tanz spürt, wirkt wie eine Mittlerin zwischen den Kulturen. Bei Alarmél Valli etwa, einer berühmten Vertreterin der klassischen indischen Tanzform Bharatanatyam, wirkt alles vollkommen natürlich, wie die spontanen Gesten und Gesichtsausdrücke, die jemand beim angeregten Kommunizieren macht. Und doch handle es sich gleichzeitig göttliche Ausdrucksformen, meint Valli: “Viele Traditionen sehen den Körper als etwas Unheiliges und Fehlbares an, etwas, aus dem man heraus muss, um in die Ewigkeit zu gelangen. Aber wenn man den Körper als Tempel auffasst, wie wir es in unserem Tanz tun, muss man viel mehr in sich hineinschauen. Dieser Tanz ist heilig und sinnlich zugleich, er ist erotisch, aber auch existentiell – ein freudvolles Gebet, wenn Sie so wollen.” […]
“Ich beschäftige mich viel mit Umweltfragen. Ich würde mich auch als Feministin bezeichnen, auch wenn ich solche Labels nicht mag. Aber es entspricht einfach meiner Lebensweise. Ich habe vor einiger Zeit ein fast 2000 Jahre altes Lied entdeckt. Es handelt von einer kleinen Pflanze, einem Sprössling, und von der Zärtlichkeit gegenüber Lebewesen. Ich war so berührt von dem Text, dass ich ihn aufgeführt habe. Das ist etwas anderes, als auf die Straße zu gehen und zu rufen: Fällt keine Bäume! Es beschreibt vielmehr die enge Verbindung zwischen Mensch und Natur.”
Gesellschaftliche Relevanz der Musik
Die Suche nach einer Ausdrucksform, die der Flötist und Musikwissenschaftler Ludwig Pesch er in der abendländischen Musik nicht finden konnte, ließ ihn in den 1970er Jahren nach Indien reisen. Er studierte karnatische Musik in Madras und legte später ein vielbeachtetes Handbuch über südindische Musik auf. In Salzburg hat er nun über das musikalische Zusammenspiel referiert, das zwischen strenger Regelhaftigkeit und individuellem Ausdruck den Spieltrieb des Menschen beflügelt – und die stark fragmentierte Gesellschaft des Subkontinents zusammenhält.
Ludwig Pesch, der heute in Amsterdam lebt, lehrt an Universitäten, vermittelt indische Musik aber auch im nicht-akademischen Bereich – und da vor allem das unbefangene Spiel. Zudem engagiert er sich in einer Stiftung für indigene Völker Indiens, die Adivasis, die zu den Verlierern der Industrialisierung und Urbanisierung zählen, da sie aus ihren Lebensräumen verdrängt werden.
Musik habe gesellschaftliche Relevanz, ist Pesch überzeugt, da sie die Achtsamkeit stärke und Problembewusstsein schaffe. Und so sind auch etliche Künstlerinnen Teil der weiblichen Protestbewegung, die sich nach den Mordfällen an Frauen in Neu Delhi gebildet hat. Doch an indischen Schulen lege man trotzdem wenig Wert auf humanistische Fächer, sagt die Tänzerin Alarmél Valli. Ein Thema, mit dem Valli auch mit österreichischen Bildungspolitikern trefflich diskutieren könnte.
Whatever we understand and enjoy in human products instantly becomes ours, wherever they might have their origin – Rabindranath Tagore*
During this presentation, musical figures from several distinct traditions were explored in a practice-oriented manner. The figures selected are appealing beyond South Asia where they originated many centuries ago and continue to play a key role in classical and applied music.
Our shared goal was to enable young and old to collaborate in a memorable learning process that blends seemlessly into any chosen subject, academic and otherwise.
The criteria for selecting a particular figure were (1) its flexibility as for combining it with another subject, for instance mathematics, geography or history; (2) its appeal going by prior experience with learners from different age groups; and (3) its scope for variation, movement, visualisation and analysis in accordance with learners’ specific needs and abilities.
View or download this lesson for free (PDF with mp3 audio and other links)
As part of integrated music education, Indian music enables even complete strangers to share a useful learning process. This calls for a natural and playful approach to melody, rhythm, hand signs and body movement. In this manner we are prepared to include newcomers – children and adults lacking a common language – to instantly participate in music.
Indian music is valued for fostering memory, analytical thinking, concentration, and cooperation among peers. Its basic concepts are exhilarating and liberating whether or not there is scope for studying Indian culture in its own right. This is a boon in circumstances where verbal or written instructions fail to engage learners. Rather than resigning in the face of such formidable challenges, educators are free to experiment and spread solidarity through instant inclusion – the essential joy of “creating” music oneself. This aspect addresses a common fear among learners, namely to be left behind (again!), be it in music or other subjects – a fear that is all too often justified in competitive modern society.
To help educators to overcome such fears, we build lessons around simple figures that bind tunes, rhythms and movements together into a rounded whole. Some of these may appear familiar enough to “break the ice” if needed; and others are so fresh and mind-boggling as to trigger further experimentation among peers in informal settings – anywhere and anytime. For this to happen, we dispense with technical resources of any kind.
Adaptation is the key to rapidly changing learning scenarios wherein cultural stereotyping, a known stumbling block for educators all over the world, must be overcome. This is easily achieved by integrating Indian music into discussions of academic concepts, or by letting its rhythms enrich social and outdoor activities. Such activities are by definition location specific and all-inclusive.
Educators from Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, India, Singapore and Switzerland were among the eleven participants in this one-hour session. They explored a time proven method suited to the needs of a wide range of abilities and learning goals; and this irrespective of participants’ cultural roots.
Date: 28 July 2016 | photos by courtesy of Dr. Tony Makarome, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Singapore
Abstract ISME World Conference (Glasgow)
“Yours figuratively: Indian music in intercultural education””Yours figuratively: Indian music in intercultural education”
Music counts among the proverbial “64 arts and skills” of ancient India where it became synonymous with “leading a fulfilled life”. Thus, having evolved along with other pursuits, Indian music is an interdisciplinary concept that connects people irrespective of age and cultural background. It is in this context that we explore the world of musical figures: figures that convey subtle meaning while symbolizing the very joy of participating in music making of a high order. Rather than borrowing sounds from a supposedly exotic culture, we apply the building blocks of Indian music for several good reasons: for their accessibility in the context of intercultural education and, of course, for their intrinsic value and beauty.
Learners tap into the mind-boggling world of India’s musical ideas. Tiny musical figures are adapted in a manner that has stood the test of time. While being fun on first hearing they also lend themselves to being visualized and analyzed for non-musical purposes.
This teaching method lends itself to classroom and lifelong learning across the entire social spectrum: it adds colour to other school subjects like maths, languages, geography or physical fitness; and requiring no more than voices, hands and open-mindedness, it kindles communication where there is a lack of time and resources, or even a common language. Figuratively yours, ours truly!
Ludwig Pesch studied at Freiburg University from where he went to India in order to be trained and perform as bamboo flautist. Since then he develops intercultural activities that suit the needs of children, music students and teachers; and also for museum education (e.g. family programmes for Museum Rietberg Zurich in conjunction with Indian art exhibitions).
He authored The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music and among other writings, contributed to the journal of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung (Goettingen University “Music | Musics. Structures and Processes“) and to Integrated Music Education. Challenges for Teaching and Teacher Training by M. Cslovjecsek and M. Zulauf, forthcoming). Among his research projects are “Sam, Reflection, Gathering Together!” (Bern University of the Arts in collaboration with Natanakairali, Research and Performing Center for Traditional Arts in Kerala). His ideas on collaborative work are summarized by the acronym AIUME for “Adapting Indian Universals in Music Education“.
Find publications by Ludwig Pesch on worldcat.org >>
A Musical Lotus Pond – ISME World Conference (Thessaloniki)
Purpose Probing the depths of Indian sounds and symbols both for their interdisciplinary potential and intrinsic value.
Content We pool musical, visual and numerical motifs. Sounds, hand gestures and movements link two school subjects within a single session; and more subjects wherever this approach lends itself to being integrated into a curriculum.
Method The “Musical Lotus Pond” is a biotope where beauty flourishes in unexpected ways. Each participant embellishes a sheet of paper containing numbers and shapes. These form the basis for musical activities. At the conclusion, the sheets are folded into small cones resembling the “school cones” traditionally used to entice European children to attend school. Children will spontaneously share their experiences with peers and family members.
Application for integrated education Analytical thinking, self-expression and teamwork are cultivated. For this purpose, motifs derived from Indian music are combined with those belonging to subjects as diverse as visual arts, geography, biology, physical education and maths.
Pure maths is a religion and in the East, valued for more than merely its technical application – Novalis (1799)
Background information Indian culture is permeated by synesthetic associations that make learning both enjoyable and (cost) effective. Moreover it fosters concentration and teamwork. It is therefore no coincidence that the ubiquitous lotus motif symbolizes the aspiration to rise above the ordinary and beyond predictability.
The presenters work with the motto “Adapting Indian Universals in Music Education”; and this in response to the needs of children and music students. Contributions to exhibitions (e.g. Museum Rietberg Zürich and Royal Tropical Museum Amsterdam) complement their artistic and scholarly pursuits: one is a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist; the other trained and performed as flautist in India, and authored The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music.
I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared. – from Gitanjali by Nobel Awardee Rabindranath Tagore
Indian music for all: Music at all ages: ISME World Conference (Bologna)
Date: 23 July 2008 9.00-10.00 – Venue: Academia Belle Arti, Bologna (GAC 1)
Workshop by Ludwig Pesch and Manickam Yogeswaran
In the Blue Rider Almanac, one of the most influential art publications of the 20th century, Nikolai Kulbin declares that “water, air and birds don’t sing according to our notes, but use all the notes that they find pleasure in – and with that, the laws of the natural music are observed exactly.” (Der Blaue Reiter, 1912) Minute intervals, such as those found in Indian music, not only lend “colour” to music, he continues. As they are not even difficult to discern, they provide the key to free and truly expressive music. But conventional signs cannot convey the required subtleties. They also stifle spontaneity and creativity.
Flexible methods are needed more than ever before wherever intercultural education is happening. We work with a “toolkit” that provides combinations of hand gestures and exercises based on sargam solmization. It is designed for classroom and workshop situations. In India’s arts – music, dance, drama, painting, sculpture and film – both these key concepts have been applied with success to express feelings and evoke specific moods. Having evolved since antiquity, these methods tend to be practiced separately and as part of some specialization or other, seldom by outsiders.
In tune with the ISME motto “Music at all ages”, we seek to fill every available moment with the joy of making music together irrespective of our cultural roots. Expressive gestures with matching sounds and rhythms serve to establish rapport, visualize tonal shades, improvize and express a particular feeling. They are invaluable for promoting learning progress beyond music in terms of concentration and memory training.
As specialized knowledge is not the issue here, immersion in Indian music is achieved in a hands-on manner using one’s natural voice and hands. An innovative adaptation of the Curwen / Kodaly method of hand signs is introduced. It facilitates the singing of notes associated with raga based tunes. A keen sense of timing is inculcated through “audible” and “silent” gestures based on tala cycles.
Indian music has always been associated with the celebration of life and beauty irrespective of one’s religious outlook. It is valued for fostering a spirit of sharing and scientific inquiry while stimulating the faculty of imagination. These values deserve to be rediscovered considering that Western interest tends to focus on exotic musical instruments and theories, mysticism or the training of prospective performers.
References Vaitari: A musical picture book from Kerala. A publication for children and educators; didactic concept and teachers’ companion by Ludwig Pesch. Amsterdam: Ekagrata Publications, 2006.
Sam, Reflection, Gathering Together! (*) is a music education research project initiated at the Bern University for the Arts (HKB, Switzerland) in collaboration with Natanakairali, an institution for the performing arts in Irinjalakuda (Kerala, India). It was first presented at the biannual conference of the International Society for Music Education held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (ISME 2006) in order to explore the vast potential for applying Indian music in general education and music therapy.
The need for such an awareness stems from the fact that a majority of children in most countries have little or no opportunity to experience the joy of making music together. Members of the elites of every civilized country in the world are, however, fully aware of the scientifically proven benefits of music making, so much so as to ensure that their own children are musically educated in some way or other.
If you are interested in specific aspects not yet covered in the English section of this website, feel free to contact the project initiators for more information (see Contact on the left). >> About the word sam in project title >>
(*) Officially titled Sam, Sammlung, Zusammen! Stimmen und Hände im Umfeld des traditionellen indischen (Tanz-) Theaters; English subtitle: Voices and hands in traditional Indian (dance) theatre, January 2005 – December 2006
[ … ] Er is vast geen betere plek dan Israël om de onderlinge relaties tussen oosterse en westerse culturen te verkennen. Want daar komen drie krachtige stromingen bij elkaar: etnische groepen afkomstig uit Afrika, Azië en Europa. Ze geven een indruk van complexiteit en aantrekkingskracht, het resultaat van een wisselwerking tussen verschillende modellen. Daarom is dit boek meer dan een wetenschappelijk document, even actueel als boeiend, gebaseerd op eigen ervaring.
Europa heeft zijn wilskracht bijgedragen, en het vermogen om veel te synthetiseren wat zijn oorsprong in Azië heeft: van Mongolië in het noorden tot India in het zuiden, vervolgens in Hongarije verenigd in de muziek van de Magyaren en zigeuners [Sinti en Roma].1
[…] De opgave van onze tijd is een genuanceerd beeld van de onderlinge relaties door gebruik te maken van het vermogen waarover alle volkeren en culturen beschikken, namelijk de kracht om te geven en te nemen, van elkaar te leren; want we zullen elkaar altijd nodig hebben. Het vergt wel enige nederigheid om het best mogelijke te bereiken – en het ergste te voorkomen – in tijden van toenemende afhankelijkheid van elkaar. – Yehudi Menuhin (Londen, januari 1977)2
Vrij vertaald uit: Musik zwischen Orient und Okzident: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Wechselbeziehungen von Peter Gradenwitz S. 390-392 | Details: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1046379134
Toelichting voor de niet langer gebruikelijke, want denigrerende term “zigeuner” en de behoefte aan nuance, die pas na de publicatie van dit boek in 1977 tot verandering heeft geleid (hier vrij vertaald zoals volgt):
Wederzijdse muzikale beïnvloeding suggereert een bepaalde harmonische richting, die in strijd zou zijn met de strikte wetten van de harmonieleer: een soepele en melodieuze combinatie van zelfstandige stemmen (contrapunt).
“Zigeuner is een stereotiep woord, alleen gebruikt door de meerderheid, maar wordt door de minderheid als discriminerend afgewezen; want deze minderheden noemden zichzelf altijd Sinti en Roma. Dankzij de Duitse burgerrechtenbeweging vanaf de eind jaren zeventig werd een bewustzijn gecreëerd wat vooroordelen en uitsluitingsmechanismen betreft die met het woord “zigeuner” verbonden zijn. [ … ] De termen Sinti en Roma zijn geenszins “politiek correcte” uitvindingen van de burgerrechtenbeweging maar al in documenten uit de 18e eeuw aantoonbaar. [ … ] Dus het woord zigeuner zegt meer over de fantasieën, angsten en verlangens van degenen die het gebruiken dan over het leven van de Sinti en Roma.
“Humility is a quality often associated with self-deprecation. But by championing our achievements while also acknowledging our weaknesses, we could see benefits in many areas of our lives – and even increase our attractiveness.” – Introduction BBC podcast All in theMind (accessed 1 November 2023) [↩]
