The first-ever Carnatic music books for babies!
I am really excited to announce the release of the first-ever books on Carnatic music for babies. The books are now available on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats world-wide. Paperback in India is available from Pothi. Please visit 6Binary Books for up-to date purchase options.
It started simple enough. I just wanted to teach my daughter sa ri ga ma (do re mi equivalent in Indian classical music) and that is all I did. Over the last 3 years, she initially learnt sa ri ga ma, then started identifying notes played on the piano, then violin, then door bells, tumblers, ringtones, and all the random sounds in the house on her own. She then went on to converting nursery rhymes and songs to Carnatic musical notes. Now, I will never know whether she had an ear for music (swara gnanam) since birth or whether the teaching helped. I would of course selfishly like to think that the teaching helped. :)
Whether that is true or not, I do know for sure that I taught her the musical language to express her knowledge from a very early age. :) Now, one wonderful by-product of this journey with my daughter are the two books on Carnatic music for beginners/parents.
Teaching anything to your kids is exciting, but I think being your kid's first music teacher has a very special place.
I have a lot of people to thank for my own personal journey that led me to this. Thank you to the immensely talented Rohini Gosain and the magical illustrations that truly elevated these books. Without your suggestions to enhance the text and imaginative creativity to transform Carnatic music concepts into engaging illustrations for all ages, these books would not have been possible. Thank you to the editors of the books - Mysore V., Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, and A. Shiva Krishna Swaroop, for the encouraging words and constructive feedback on the books.
Thank you to my 8 year old nephew, Ram, for volunteering to provide the instructional videos for these books. As an aside, his brilliance on the piano in general is worth watching. Do check out his original compositions here. You will not regret it!
Thank you to my music teachers over the years who are listed below in no particular order. They are of all variants - real, virtual, direct, indirect, online, offline :) A. Shiva Krishna Swaroop, Nadayogi Mysore V Ambaprasad, Sankaran Menon, T.K.V. Ramanujacharlu, Nash Ubale, Vaikam Padma Krishnan, K.N. Ajayakumar, Madhu M., Tejas Mallela, Upendra Dusa, Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, Kavitha Desikan, Mala Viswanathan, Jini Vincent, Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, Prince Rama Varma.
Finally, the three people who continuously inspire me to the enigma of Indian music in general, thank you #kviswanath, #spb, #sirivennela
Some of you will continue the legacy of teaching what you learnt, maybe some of you will want your kids to learn what you did not or maybe some of you want to start learning this wonderful art form of Carnatic music yourself. Whatever the motivation, I sincerely hope these books will do a small bit to help you in your journey.
I hope you enjoy the books. Do leave a review/rating if the books strike a chord, or should I say Shruti :D
#carnatic #indianclassical #music #karnatik
Do check out our series of Baby Steps to Carnatic Music for babies, kids and beginners here!
