This beginners course teaching Indian classical music on the sarod is a great opportunity for anyone interested to learn the revered Indian style of music on an ancient Indian stringed instrument. The course in its earliest modules will introduce students to the sarod as a musical instrument, sharing information on the development of the instrument, through the years. It will then teach students the technical terms or connotations used in context to the Hindustani style of music such as taal, sur, raag and swar. Further on, it will familiarise students with sarod tuning, saptak or the series of seven notes, as well as the knowledge of writing musical notations. After familiarising the students with concepts and connotations prevalent in relation to Hindustani music, the course will delve into making the student practice singing Teen taal with accompanying hand beats, in same Laya and different Laya.

Students will next learn the seating posture and the way to hold the sarod, how to handle the instrument and the basic techniques of playing the instrument. Students during this time will also learn the hand and finger movements on the sarod. Moving on further into the course, students will be taught the octaves such as mandira and madhyantar. Further on, the students will be taught to practice on the sarod, the seven basic steps of Jhala, Bole, Palta, Slide (Meend), Gamak and Krintan. Moving on, students will also learn the basics of three rhythms or taals on sarod, namely, Teen taal, Rupak and Ektaal. At the culmination of this course, students will learn how to play Sarod or any other Indian stringed instrument of their choice and to play a minimum of four raagas, such as Yaman raag and Bhairav raga in Rezakhani Gat with Simple Taan and Jhala.

After successful completion of this course, students can gear themselves for the next course by Abhishek Borkar: Improvisation on Sarod | Hindustani Classical

About Abhishek Borkar: Born to Pt. Shekhar Borkar, Abhishek was fortunate to have the legendary sarod player as a doting father and his first teacher. Starting out early under the aegis of his father practising the musical styles of the Maihar Senia Gharana, Abhishek has come a long way. Like his father, Abhishek has been able to carve out a niche for himself getting respect, adulation and innumerable awards in the process. Abhishek apart from his father draws his inspiration from Ustad Allauddin Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pt. Nikhil Banerjee, highly skilled exponents of Hindustani classical music. Having trained equally well in western music, Abhishek is able to perform soothing fusion music combining Indian and western elements. He is a performing member of the band named ‘Brahma Naad’ and has travelled the length and breadth of the country and places abroad as a member as well as a solo artist.