Saskia Rao de Haas is unique in many ways. She plays Indian classical music on cello, trains music educators and has recently written and published ‘Vadya’ to introduce children to Indian music instruments. Born in Netherlands, she is trained in ethnomusicology and was under the tutelage of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia at Conservatory of Rotterdam. Also an accomplished Western classical cellist, Saskia has composed music for dance, film, theatre and performed at major classical music festivals in India and worldwide.
Excerpts from an interview.
How was ‘Vadya’ conceived?
It was conceived to help children relate in a fun way to their classical music heritage. It is the story of Tara, the sitar who lives with her family in Tata valley in the country of Vadya. She feels that her family is better than others until her father, the Tanpura, tells her that there are many different instruments in Vadya and they are all special. Children relate to the story line of the book and to musical instruments as living entities. It is easier to love and respect living entities than scholarly objects. Vadya also comprises 15 unique songs for children. ‘Vadya’ is a part of the Sangeet4All , a music curriculum I have developed for children from age three onwards and is used in different schools across the NCR in Delhi. I started creating this program almost ten years ago, when my son was very young. I wanted to make the books immediately available to the children following the program. It is now that we want to make it available through many different streams. A good publisher would be a great asset there. Of course it is my dream that every child, growing up in India or elsewhere reads ‘Vadya’ and learns about Indian music instruments.
Both Shubhendra ji (Shubhendra Rao, sitar player and husband) and you have been working to improve music education in this country. What is your assessment ?
Young children have unfortunately no easy access to good music education. The key stage of learning happens before the age of 10, but most music programmes in India do not cater to them. To be fair to the teachers, they have never been trained as music educators. They are performing artists. It would be similar to send a poet into a classroom to teach English. Surely the children will be able to recite beautiful poetry, but will probably not learn the grammar, reading or writing skills that are the fundamentals. It is often said that children do not enjoy classical music. In my experience, this is completely untrue. Children do not like activities that are boring and where they get to hear that they have to ‘sit still and listen’. Indian classical music is very engaging when brought to a child in the right way. Recent research in neuroscience has shown that music is the best brain workout for all people. While engaging in music multiple areas in the brain are active. Children who participate in music education also score higher academically. We need to wake up to the fact that music is not about performing on stage only, but about developing a musical ability.
Why did you think of the book format for this project? Don't you think non-textual mediums would have guaranteed wider reach?
By creating a book, I hope to contribute to the habit of reading in children. I firmly believe that a habit of reading in children, once established, lasts a lifetime. That being said, digital mediums, such as animation and apps, can prove a great addition to books. They should never be a replacement. We are currently working to create a film, an app and even a stage production of ‘Vadya’ to reach out to children everywhere. In the classroom, the books come with a set of flashcards, sound samples and background tracks for the songs.
You have also included new instruments like cello, mandolin, mohan veena alongside traditional instruments in your book. Was that a conscious choice?
Yes. Even the instruments we now call traditional must have been new once upon a time. I remember my first guru, Dr. Sumati Mutatkar, the wonderful dhrupad singer and musicologist. After hearing my cello for the first time in 1994 when she was all of 82, she said how she would love to learn the cello had she been only five years younger. This coming from a traditionalist like her made me realise that Indian classical music in essence is open in its approach. From my own experience, I know that you are accepted as long as you and your instrument can follow the strict musical rules. I added the mohan veena/ slide guitar, mandolin, saxophone and others as a tribute to the artists who enriched this music with their innovative instruments and as an invitation to children to create and to be original.
You have created the Indian cello. Tell us something about this new instrument.
In 1931, Rabindranath Tagore wrote to his granddaughter: ‘I don’t feel much enthusiasm for you learning the violin. But the cello appeals to me quite a lot. I think it is a good instrument for playing our music.’ I am afraid I cannot claim that I was aware of this letter until I had already played Indian music on the cello for many years, but it does show how Indian music on the cello was already contemplated long, long ago. When I started playing Indian music, I played on a regular cello with four strings and sat on a chair, as is the custom with western cello. Since my teacher was sitting on the floor, I decided this was not the right equation to learn. I made sure I could sit on the floor with the cello the very next class. My guru, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, encouraged me greatly to find a style that suited the cello, a combination of elements. That is how I started experimenting with the instrument. Apart from the dimensions being slightly different from a Western cello, I have added an extra playing string and ten resonating strings that are tuned to the raga I play. The newest instrument I play is built by Alexandre Letellier, who created a unique electro-acoustic design of the same instrument.
Other books on Indian classical music that you would recommend for children?
I am actually quite amazed by how little there is for children on Indian music. I believe music should be a part of the main curriculum and not just an extra curricular activity in schools. In most other countries, it is a subject taught at university level as a separate course for music educators. We need to join hands with more institutes to offer music education to young musicians to further their knowledge. There are some stories about musicians available that can be read to children. I know of a beautiful story about Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Alla Rakha who played for a dying child in Mumbai. This story is published in the Puffin collection of modern stories for children. Other than that, there are some good biographies on artists that are suitable for slightly older children. I however don’t know of any approach similar to the one we have chosen in Sangeet4All in which each story book is a part of the larger curriculum and all resources are developed combining modern teaching methodologies with the age-old music tradition. I really hope we can create a movement to ensure that every child has access to music, which is every child’s birthright.
