PERSONAGE : Arvind Mukhedkar

As we sat across from him and heard him hum, the ambience was so infectious that we joined him by tapping our feet and occasionally tapping on the table. Music flows like blood in his veins and as he speaks passionately about it, he soaks in sounds from his surroundings.

His interest in music started early as he grew up in an atmosphere where music was highly appreciated — his family members had a keen interest in theatre. “My father enjoyed music and instead of toys, I played with musical instruments,” he says. College gave him ample opportunities to sing and play for orchestras, also adding to his pocket money.

“I played the flute and synthesiser. Music has funded my education as I performed on various occasions. I earned and learned,” he says. 

Creatively inclined, he soon started mimicking how Bollywood singers would sing the famous Marathi poem, Yere Yere Pawasa. This unique talent gave him a chance to perform at the Filmfare Awards in 1980. From then on, he has composed music for the Marathi serial Aavad Aapli Aapli, the Hindi serial Yatra, plays by the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh and ad films.

He has arranged music for film songs and also conducted workshops on music for children at Prithvi Theatre. He realised that while most musicians are proficient in their art, they are unable to explain or understand musical notes.

“Singers recite songs. The meaning of the notes is unknown to them, and without the knowledge of musical grammar, one’s music is incomplete,” he observes. A musical notation is the graphic representation of music. While Western musical notation is based on a five-line staff, Hindustani music notation is based on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa… and is called sargam. “Though the language differs, the notes and their meaning remain the same,” he says.

This observation developed into a need to educate singers and musicians about the sargam. “While Western music has written records, we have always had an oral tradition for music and hence most people never learn to write the sargam before they sing or play Hindustani music,” he observes.

To bridge the gap, he started Notation Station, a unique one-day workshop to teach the essence of reading, writing and understanding Hindustani musical notations. With 25 years of experience in the field and the will to make a difference, he withstood all obstacles. “Initially I gathered friends’ children who were learning music and tried it out with them. I had to know if others would understand what was being conveyed,” he says. The response, he adds, was phenomenal.

He is often confronted with resistance. “The first thing people say is ‘I don’t feel the need to learn’ or ‘I am managing fine without it.’ Once we overcome that feeling, it is smooth sailing,” he says. Knowledge of musical notations is basic to learning, says Mukhedar. It also offers other benefits, like understanding better descriptions of songs, reading the mapping of songs better, improved understanding of beats, and perfection in one’s art.

The participants of Notation Station haved included students, women and senior citizens. He also conducts programmes for senior citizens to engage them in the eternal bond of music. “With age, music becomes a balm on the wounds of loneliness, neglect and depression,” he says.

Extremely proud of his technical knowledge, he says that the secret to continually updating our knowledge of notations is practice. “Learning notations is like learning a new language. Just as you would use newly learnt words in any sentence, you need to read songs written in musical notes in order to remember them well,” he concludes.

The next session of Notation Station is on April 9 in Goregaon East. For more information, call 9869620587.