It was not expected of a young boy growing up in a small town in America to pick up an instrument like the Mridangam to play but then that was what Rohan Krishnamurthy did when he was an 8 year old. It was also unexpected of the son of a University Professor and accountant to take up music as his profession. But then the 25 year old chose to do his PhD in Musicology at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Other than numerous awards, he also has a patent in the US for a new design for the Mridangam. Rohan was in Chennai recently on a Fellowship as a part of his dissertation and also to participate in the yearlyMargazhimusic festival. He spoke torediff.comon his journey as a musician. Childhood in America I grew up, did my school and college, and also learnt music in a small town called Kalamazoo in south west Michigan. I moved to New York four years ago to pursue my PhD. My father is a professor in Geo and Environmental Science, and my mother is an accountant but my entire family is musical. All of us are very much interested in Carnatic music but no one had the opportunity to pursue it professionally. I was always interested in drums and percussion but somehow got fascinated by the Mridangam. Luckily there was a Mridangam to learn on at home. My father had bought it from Kerala. He wanted to learn from Damodaran Srinivasan, a Mridangam teacher who was in town for a couple of years as a graduate student at the University. Somehow, his training fizzled out. So, there was this instrument and also the teacher, and one day, I asked my parents whether I could learn the Mridangam. I was 8 years old then. Nobody thought I would take it up very seriously. I myself wonder why I took it up seriously. Perhaps the sound, the exposure to the instrument, the rhythmic aspect, and the instrument itself attracted me. It is an unusual instrument for a person who was growing up in America. Learning Mridangam through telephone But after a couple of months of learning, my teacher moved to Massachusetts for work, and there was no Mridangam teacher in a 300-mile radius. So, my teacher suggested I learn through speakerphone. Remember this was before Skype and virtual lessons started. Fortunately for me, before he left, he had given me a very strong foundation. Soon, my e-classes started; he played over the phone and I translated it into scripts and practised. There were days when I practised 5 to 6 hours. I was that passionate. I continued learning through speakerphone for almost a couple of years and it actually worked out really well. It was quite a landmark in my musical journey. On stage at age 9 In 1996, I happened to meet the legendary Mridangam player Sri Guruvayoor Dorai when he came on a concert tour to the US, and also visited Kalamazoo. My parents and I went to his concert and met him before the concert. Though we were meeting him for the first time, something clicked. He asked me, do you want to sit on the stage with me? I agreed, though I was not familiar with sitting on the stage. I remember I went up wearing my shoes! He then asked me to remove my shoes. The concert lasted five hours and all through the time, I was with him, doingthaalam. He was so impressed with my dedication that he offered to teach me when I came to Chennai next. The next summer, in 1997, I was in Chennai to take lessons from him directly. I have been taking lessons from him for the last 15 years. Sometimes I come here to take lessons, or when he comes to the US, he often stays with us for a month or so, so that I could learn from him. I never had the luxury of having a teacher in the same city. But I used to practise hours and hours everyday. Also, my parents used to take me to all the concerts in the near vicinity. for complete article click on the link below. RaviThe mridangam prodigy who set the stage on fire at 9
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