SIMA Objectives: What We Aim to Do

SIMA looks at the world as a series of communities, starting with the smallest community and expanding out to the largest.  At each step, we consider what music means to the community and how SIMA can play a constructive role.

 

The Smallest Community is the self.  You alone and what is within you seeking expression through music constitutes a community.  SIMA’s quest is to help you realize your potential in Indian music, whether it is as a vocalist or an instrumentalist, a performer, a scholar, a connoisseur, a collector or a teacher.  SIMA is positioning itself to provide you with all the resources you need to reach your goals in music.  

 

Your fellow students form a community around you.  Regardless of what level of musical understanding a student is at, he or she constantly strives to reach the next level.  You are not alone in your struggle.  SIMA encourages students to work with each other, to help each other and to seek help from each other.  Your teachers alone cannot help you learn this music.  Your fellow students are equally important.

 

You live in a community of musicians.  The Pacific Northwest has a rich and old tradition of supporting and making Indian music.  Ragamala, the first organization that addressed the need to bring Indian performing arts into the community is nearly three decades old now.  But aside from visiting musicians, there are many musicians who make their home in the Pacific Northwest.  SIMA will help promote these artists in two ways.  First the SIMA Concert Series will feature regular performances by local artists.  Second, every spring SIMA will put together a festival of Indian Performing Arts dedicated to interaction between local students and local practitioners of the art.  The festival, which is called the Basant Arts Festival, will exclusively feature artists who live in your community.  And you, as an audience member will have the opportunity to interact with these artists directly through Basant.

 

You belong to a larger community of musicians.  This music originated in India.  There are still pockets in India where the music is practiced in the manner in which it was intended.  Crass commercialization has come into play in Classical and Traditional Music as well today.  However, SIMA’s effort is to look past this and identify those who are struggling to keep authentic traditions alive.  As a student of SIMA you will learn about these traditions, while you help sustain and grow them through your financial commitment to SIMA.

 

What Will You Learn

Performance and Theory — SIMA’s curriculum is designed with the total novice in mind.  You will be taken step-by-step through practical training, until you are able to create music spontaneously on your own.  After you have mastered the music at a professional level, you will give your first solo performance (Praveshika),  Students are trained through eight levels of rigorous practice to reach an acceptable level of proficiency. 

 

Teaching Skills — As you become more and more proficient in your own music, you will be asked to take on responsibilities teaching other students.  This process of learning to teach is just as important as learning the music itself. 

 

Concert Organization — In today’s world of Indian Classical Music, the ability to understand the steps involved in organizing a concert, and the ability to execute on that conceptual understanding is very important.  Secondly, because the Basant Arts Festival is an opportunity for interaction with musicians and artists from around your community, it behooves you to help organize this event and be able to pick the mind of a good artist.

 

Field Work — SIMA is in the process of developing contacts with musical communities in India.  As the scope of such projects grow, SIMA students will have the opportunity to engage in interesting field work in India to help preserve and grow traditional reservoirs of knowledge and information on the music.