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Interview: V.V. SubramaniamViolin Teaching Has Serious Flaws

Once aprofessor, always one. V.V. Subramaniam, a

leading violinist who had taught at the Government

Music College in Madurai is deeply concerned about

the standard of violin teaching today. He shared his

thoughts with our R. NATRA.IAN. himself a fiddler.

who inteniewed him.

We've not heard other violinists talk about the

standard of violin-teaching today. You alone seem

to be concerned about it. Why?

Commencing from pioneers like Baluswamy

Dikshitar and Vadivelu the violin has been well

adapted for Carnatic music. Today it has come to

occupy a place of pride. While so much

improvement has been made in adapting the ways in

whi ch th e instrument is played for our music. I do

not know if our methods of teaching have also kept

pace.

Why do you say th is?

This is based on my observation and study. Many

youngsters who have learnt from other vidwans have

pl ay ed before me and 1 am conc erne d to se e them

do so many things wrong. Sometimes Iwonder if th e

f l li i h h d h h

the student for the work put in by him. I wondered

why he had not been taught to distinguish between

the swara-s and made to realise what was wrong in

his method of playing.

There was another case of a girl wh om I aske d to

sing what sh e had just played on the violin. She told

me that sh e had not been taught how to sing. Then I

told her to first learn some vocal music and then

come to me. She came after a lapse of three months

an d I was surprised that she could not even sing the

elementary geetam-s taught to beginners, not even

one note. When asked how she was taught to play

the violin, she replied that sh e wa s in a group of

three girls, who all learned simultaneously. She

attended three half-hour sessions a week. She hadmemorised all the swara-s of a song, though she

could not sing them. Even though she wa s charged

only 2? rupees a month, it seemed to me that

teaching music in this manner had become a money-

making proposition, that the teachers least worried if

the students were really learning or not.

I find that there are a lot of young people wanting to

learn to play the violin, but the opportunities for

l i l b ll i d I

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Cvrrvci tilting posture

it takes time, practice and patience to do thisproperly. Also, depending upon the circumstances,

the bowing can be hard or soft, and slow or fast andstudents should be taught all these properly.Similarly, while playing a varna one phrase shouldbe played in one direction as a karvai . Just liketaking a breath while singing, an akaram is also

permissible by putting stress on the bow. It is herethat the slow bowing technique helps, as I explainedbefore.

To be able to play a phrase fully in one direction of

the bow, the bow must be held and positionedproperly. Sometimes I see students holding the bowin the middle and this makes it difficult for them toaccommodate the phrase fully in one direction of the

bow. Holding the bow in the middle without doubtfacilitates fast playing and perhaps this is the reasonwhy some students prefer this.

Some violinists when playing two or three or fourswara-s of one phrase, mistakenly call it tana*

bowing, though it is not actually so. Correct tanaplaying requires the playing of on e or two or threenotes per bow in different combinations. Even while

playing a geetam. bowing according to the phrase isimportant and can easily be seen in PurandaradasasMalahari geetam Sri Gananailut. Although thestanzas have the same notes, since the phrases aredifferent, the bowing has to be done differently tosuit the phrases.

The other important aspect which has to be taught is

h fi i h i h i h f fi f

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correct technique of playing. It is important, too.

that they leave the students to develop a style oftheir own rather than insist upon the studentscopying their own style.

1 have seen this sometimes. 1 mean the copying ofthe teachers style. Some students go to the extent ofcopying the sitting posture and other mannerisms!

As 1 said before, the teachers must tak.' moreinterest in seeing that the students learn somethingrather than making teaching just a money-making

proposit ion.

Motivating the students is also important. Forinstance, to break the monotony and to motivatethem I teach my students two exercises or songs inparallel , one slightl\ easier than the other. Th eobjective is that the students should not give up andat least attempt to play the easier one which in itselfis a gain.

What about the quality of teaching in the music

institutions?

I had ample opportunity to observe the situationwhen I was attached to the Government MusicCollege in Madurai. It was not good. The syllabuslays down that a student should learn about 20 kriti-sin three years. Considering that indiscipline andother unfavourable conditions prevail in educationalinstitutions and considering that there are at least

four or five students in a violin Classit is a virtually

impossible task to give attention to all students. Thenthere is no uniformity in teaching or methodology. Ialso found that some of the instructors themselvesdid not know the correct method of playing. Whatthen can one expect of the students? When I insistedthat bowing should be done in a particular fashion, itmerely brought out a difference of opinion.

What about teaching materials and aids?

This again is a sore point. We do not have properbooks, teaching aids. etc . and even if there should beinterest in preparing them, there is no one to financetheir production. I am willing to undertake the taskbut I cannot afford to do so on my own. having burntmy fingers once.

What happened?

Some years ago. I wrote an elementary book on thehistory and anatomy of the violin titled Violin

Varalaru (the history of the violin). According to methe information contained in this book is a must forevery violin-playing student. I offered the manuscrip tas a gift to the Madras Music Academy, requestingthem to publish it. but they returned it. unwilling toaccept it for publication. Finally. I published it onmy own and in the bargain lost money. Such is thesorry state of affairs when one wants to do anythingconstructive.