Today, 2nd April is World Autism Awareness Day. As per Wikipedia definition, Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal commuication, and restricted and repetitive behaviour. Whatever be the reasons for Autism, those who are affected by autism and other neuro-developmental disorders are individuals who are not able to live a "normal" life like many of us. Temple Grandin said "We have got to work on keeping these children engaged with the world".
I have chosen music as a platform to make life of few autistic and other challenged children more meaningful, in whatever small way I can. In September 2015, we formed a band "Arpan" with four "special individuals" and started using music as a platform to help them engage with the world. "Arpan" is part of "Yash Charitable Trust" which works on different aspects of developing "special individuals". I took the responsibility of driving the music band for Arpan, along with my good friend Prashant Apte.
Currently our team has four special individuals - Aarti sings; Pratibha plays Sitar; Anand plays Tabla and Chetan plays Bongos / Manjira.
We all thoroughly enjoy our weekly music sessions. The team do rhythm exercises together; listen to music together; focus on a song and try to perform it as best as possible. The first song we chose is a bhajan 'लंबोदर गिरिजा नंदना' in raag Yaman. First tried with Aarti to sing the bhajan. I was quite surprised to see the speed at which she grasped the song with 'perfect' Sur (Shruti) and Lay (Rhythm). I had to create a short aalap in the beginning, and couple of filler patterns in between the stanzas. Created these and taught Pratibha to play them on Sitar. With few practice sessions she got a hang of it. Anand was already learning Tabla. Getting the right rhythm and playing tabla in sync with the singing was a challenging task. My friend Prashant Apte is helping Anand to make his playing in sync with the rhythm of Aarti's singing. Chetan is a high enthu member of the team, who loves dancing. With a few sessions of rhythm exercises Chetan started getting hang of playing simple beats on bongos and manjira. Short attention span is an issue with them. Finally the team is able to perform the bhajan song in a fairly coordinated manner.
Today, on World Autism Awareness day, the team has performed the bhajan song on a stage in "Special Kids Carnival" organised by Neurogen Hospital in Navi Mumbai. All of them were thrilled to perform on the stage. They thoroughly enjoyed.
For me, this was a day of immense satisfaction. There are no words to explain the emotion when I see how these "special individuals" enjoy our musical afternoons every week. My sincere thanks to Ms Sushma Nagarkar, Trustee of Yash Charitable Trust that runs Arpan, for the opportunity I got for driving the band and the music with these innocent specials... Also thanking Neurogen Brain & Spine Institute for giving us the opportunity to perform today.
Today my daughter Pratibha also performed Sitar for which I accompanied her on Tabla. She presented raag Yaman in hindustani classical music style, that included a short aalap, a medium tempo composition with taans, and Jhaala. My first time on such a stage, on tabla leading to a father-daughter jugalbandi..
In both these performances, what I felt was the music that comes from the souls of these innocent creations of god, is divine. Music of Souls..
I have chosen music as a platform to make life of few autistic and other challenged children more meaningful, in whatever small way I can. In September 2015, we formed a band "Arpan" with four "special individuals" and started using music as a platform to help them engage with the world. "Arpan" is part of "Yash Charitable Trust" which works on different aspects of developing "special individuals". I took the responsibility of driving the music band for Arpan, along with my good friend Prashant Apte.
Currently our team has four special individuals - Aarti sings; Pratibha plays Sitar; Anand plays Tabla and Chetan plays Bongos / Manjira.
We all thoroughly enjoy our weekly music sessions. The team do rhythm exercises together; listen to music together; focus on a song and try to perform it as best as possible. The first song we chose is a bhajan 'लंबोदर गिरिजा नंदना' in raag Yaman. First tried with Aarti to sing the bhajan. I was quite surprised to see the speed at which she grasped the song with 'perfect' Sur (Shruti) and Lay (Rhythm). I had to create a short aalap in the beginning, and couple of filler patterns in between the stanzas. Created these and taught Pratibha to play them on Sitar. With few practice sessions she got a hang of it. Anand was already learning Tabla. Getting the right rhythm and playing tabla in sync with the singing was a challenging task. My friend Prashant Apte is helping Anand to make his playing in sync with the rhythm of Aarti's singing. Chetan is a high enthu member of the team, who loves dancing. With a few sessions of rhythm exercises Chetan started getting hang of playing simple beats on bongos and manjira. Short attention span is an issue with them. Finally the team is able to perform the bhajan song in a fairly coordinated manner.
Today, on World Autism Awareness day, the team has performed the bhajan song on a stage in "Special Kids Carnival" organised by Neurogen Hospital in Navi Mumbai. All of them were thrilled to perform on the stage. They thoroughly enjoyed.
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| Arpan band in action.. From Left to Right: Chetan, Anand, Aarti, Pratibha and myself |
Today my daughter Pratibha also performed Sitar for which I accompanied her on Tabla. She presented raag Yaman in hindustani classical music style, that included a short aalap, a medium tempo composition with taans, and Jhaala. My first time on such a stage, on tabla leading to a father-daughter jugalbandi..
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| Pratibha on Sitar, and myself accompanying her on Tabla |
In both these performances, what I felt was the music that comes from the souls of these innocent creations of god, is divine. Music of Souls..
