Learn How to Play Sitar Online | Basics of Sitar | Basics of Hindustani Music

This long-term course for beginners, Basics of Sitar | Hindustani Classical, will approximately be a year long course. Students enrolling for this course are advised to read up about the instrument, sitar, its history and relevance in Hindustani classical music. The course will commence by educating students on the parts of the Sitar. Moving on, the first half of the course will be dedicated to teaching students the seven notes in the Hindustani classical form of music, (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni). The mentioned notes are the foundation of Hindustani classical music which students will practice in different patterns. The different patterns are referred to as Alankars in the context of Hindustani classical music. Student through the duration of this course will be practising alankars or patterns of swars (notes) in different speeds, referred to as shuddha swar alankar, komal swar alankar and teevre swar alankar. They will be practising the seven notes or swars in different permutations and combinations in both ascending and descending order. This course lays emphasis on students to spell out or sing the swaras to get the understanding of tones, as it is important to be aware of the tones to be able to replicate it on the instrument. Understanding the tone holds importance as it is required for the next step, which would detail out the process of tuning the sitar. While undergoing training on the different alankars and sargam, students are simultaneously taught the right posture when playing the sitar. Once the students are well versed with the concept of swar, sargam and alankars and are confident about their posture, they get introduced to different ragas like bhupali, yemen, bilawal and kafi. The latter part of the course concentrates on students practising all that has been taught through the course.

After successful completion of this course, students can gear themselves for the next course by Subrata De: Basics of Sitar | Hindustani Classical | Level I

About Subrata De: Space is a constraint when describing the humongously talented Sitar player, Subrata De. Born in Jamshedpur, Subrata’s first few years of training was under the guidance of Shri Amarjit Singh in Jamshedpur. He later went on to train with Surmani Bauri Bandhu Sethi of Bhubaneshwar, before mastering the art of Sitar playing in the Bishnupur Gharana style under the astute stewardship of Pandit Manilal Nag. Under the guidance of Pandit Manilal Nag, Subrata De flourished with his art imbibing special capabilities training in Dhrupad and Gayaki style, Tankarin, Alapang, Gatkari, the identifying features of Bishnupur Gharana. Through the years Subrata De released multiple albums and vowed audiences not just in India but the world over. A listed artist with All India Radio, he is a member of multiple panels such as the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Zonal Cultural Centre (Dept. of Culture) Govt, of India, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sangeet Natak Parishad. His growing stature as a Sitar maestro sees him travel around the world to train artists eager to learn the Sitar.