The focus was to educate rasikas on the finer nuances of Carnatic music. The course was conducted by musician Radha Bhaskar. Participating as guest artistes were musicians S.Rajam and T.V.Ramprasad (vocal), V.Suresh(ghatam), Kandadevi Vijayraghavan (violin) Mudhra Bhaskar (mridangam) and Venkatasubramaniam (konnakkol).

The sessions included lecture-demonstrations and interactive sessions on the different forms of music namely folk, devotional, cine and classical music, aspects of raga and tala, the compositions and their role in Carnatic kutcheri, the different kinds of improvisations featured in concerts, the role of violin, mridangam and ghatam in a kutcheri among other topics.

The finale was an audio-visual show of some of the eminent musicians of the past like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Musiri Subramanya Iyer, Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar, G.N.Balasubramaniam, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

Earlier, the course was inaugurated by playback singer Vani Jairam, M.Krishnaswami and Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam and the felicitation function was presided by A.Natarajan who also distributed certificates to the participants.

The course was well attended and the participants varied from the age of ten to eighty five representing varied professions.

To most of them, this course was special because, as rasikas of music, they had many doubts and queries but had no one whom they could really approach to get a correct answer.

Says Radha Bhaskar, "The interaction and response to this programme was amazing and we were really awed by the interest shown by rasikas to know more about the richness of our classical music. Mr.Srinivasan, an eighty five year old rasika came all the way from Besant Nagar to attend this programme. Prior to this, he wrote to us that in case he was not able to attend, we could keep the registration fee sent by him as a small token for our service. But, by God's grace, he came on all the days and was also one of the first to sign the attendance register everyday."

One of the participants, Anuradha, a social worker says, "My husband and myself used to listen to music just like that. Now, we try to analyse it and also relate it to whatever we have learnt."

Another participant Ramalingam, a businessman running a printing unit, says, "I was an odd man out in our family where everyone knew a lot about music. Now after attending this course, I will be able to involve much better in discussions related to music. I have been taught to locate pearls in the ocean of music."

Prema Ambirajan, an elderly housewife remarks, "I have been really enriched. Everyday of this programme, I used to wake up with a smile on the face thinking about the great experience I was to have in the evening."

12-year old Harini, says, "Till this course started, I was spending my summer vacation simply eating and sleeping. After attending the first day's session, I was simply thrilled! "

And says S.Krishnakumar, " Before and after attending the whole week's session, I see a marked difference in the way I listen to music".

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