Leena Mascarenas

Leena Mascarenas : Keyboard and Vocal Student !

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Nathaniel Music Club Testimonial on the Harmony Workshop

Here is what a few participants of Nathaniel Music Club had to say about Jason Zachariah’s Workshop on the Practical uses of Harmony and Voicing.

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Nathaniel Music Club Testimonial on the first session about Indian Music

Here’s what some of the participants have to say at the first Music Club session at Nathaniel School of Music featuring a session on Indian Music by Ashwini Varaghur

 

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Mayur Bathija

Mayur Bathija talks about the Level 1 course at Nathaniel School of Music.

 

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Malashree Sen

NSM is currently one of the best places where you can learn music or groom yourself to be a better musician.

When I joined I was a complete novice and was looking for a good place to learn keyboard/piano.I researched and visited quite a few places in Bangalore where I could learn theory,be able to read music,understand contemporary styles of playing and be able to play different genres.None of these places satisfied the criteria, either they were concentrating on classical piano,or on a specific genre or songs with minimal theory.

NSM was an obvious choice because it offered a strong combination of western music theory with contemporary learning styles and different genres.

Most people are confronted with some kind of challenge (or opportunity) when they decide to work with a coach.Well, when I joined around 2 years back, I had all kinds of apprehensions because a) I was a beginner b) had never played an instrument before and didn’t have a base in western music. Moreover, I had a tight work schedule and was unsure how much time I could put in for practice.

So initially I was scared that things might go over the top and I might end up feeling demotivated in class and would eventually end up abandoning the course. On contrary, my tutor Jason was extremely helpful in mentoring, getting me up to speed, repeating exercises when I couldn’t follow and gave individual attention to everyone keeping in mind their levels of playing. This was a big motivation factor for me to continue and I ended up completing 3 levels from NSM.

My opinion of the coaching received at NSM & learning i’ve  received :NSM has one of the best coaches. All of them are well known artists in the music scene.This I feel is an added advantage because they keep inspiring you to create,innovate and push your playing.There’s a lot to learn from their own styles of playing as well, and getting the opportunity to understand how they compose their own music.

Biggest insights or light bulb moments:This is a difficult one.There are so many things I can think of, the styles, techniques, exerices which sounded like a nice musical piece. But, my light bulb moments have been those when we used to analyze songs from a particular genre. There were motifs,and common musical progressions which were taught to us during the course but in the song analysis sessions we were taught to figure out same or similar progressions in the song. Earlier, I used to listen to music, but not pay attention to these details, but now while listening am able to figure out chord progressions,turn arounds and playing styles.

The single most important benefit that i’ve gotten from the course i’ve selected at NSM is that Am able to play to good music,explore different styles of playing, and play with other musicians in a band.

Adjectives best describe NSM’s coaching style or approach :

I can think of 4 right now : Innovative,Inspiring,Motivating and Knowledgeable.

The features about NSM which I liked the most a) Customising courses depending on interests of the students. I pursued a level 3 course where we concentrated a lot on country, blues style of piano playing, looking at each style more closely. b) Flexibility of class timings to accommodate students as well as working individuals.

I would like to share some special moments in class and with my band :

I remember this class where we were discussing this song Scenes from an Italian restaurant by Billy Joel. We realised that its actually quite a difficult song to play because there’s so much of detail in playing. We spent that whole class (3hrs) and in fact the half of next class figuring it out.But it was fun.Sometimes,there’s a lot of detail which goes into a song which might not be so apparent when you are listening.

Three main benefits about the courses at NSM:

a) It helps you build up a strong theory.

b) You can concentrate on your areas of interest/styles because it gives you some amount of flexibility.

c) It grooms you to perform on stage with other musicians and play with a band.

Overall there’s never a dull moment, its a lot of fun.

I would like recommend this course to anyone who wants to pursue music as a career or if its a passion and you want to grow as a musician. I have learnt a lot from the courses in NSM and grown here as a musician. The opportunity you get here, the faculty, course structure is a perfect combination and very few places can offer all together. So go for it, NSM rocks!!

I’ve had a wonderful experience in NSM and a lot of fun while attending the courses Thanks Jason.

Cheers!

Malashree

Assistant manager at Genpact

Bangalore

 

 

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Shashwat Churiwala

Shashwat talks about his experiences at the Music Method guitar course. He learnt an intermediate course under Varun Murali. He has also recorded a song in our studios. Check it out here: Chasing Cars Cover

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