There are some well-known
quotes like- ‘When words fail, music speaks.’ But the truth is that even when
everything else fails, music can still speak to you. To prove and demonstrate
this, Anil Srinivasan, a pianist, educator and innovator gave a talk about the
magic of music called Pianos in the Playground at the MCubed Library in Bandra
on Saturday, 6th June 2015, a Mumbai Local Event organized by Junoon
theatre.
Pianos in the Playground
wasn’t just an ordinary talk. The peaceful and tranquil ambience of the library
enhanced and intensified the magic that Anil Srinivasan created. He began by
playing a snippet of Happy Birthday, something as simple as that and explained
how the brain performs a task called ‘thought completion’. He also elaborated
how music can be used to teach difficult subjects because it is a memory
trigger. He elucidated the functions of the brain, how it accepts musical
inputs, collaborates with parts of the brain like the frontal cortex and
amygdala and then gives the necessary output. A simple thing like the rain clap
we learnt in school can be used to teach rhythm and music. Anil Srinivasan blew
everyone’s minds with his talk which not only included musical but also
psychological terms. This, he said, was due to a research he had done in order
to rope music in along with his studies.
Playing the piano from
the age of age, he is extremely well-versed in Carnatic music, Indian classical
and western music and can serenade you with his renditions of the same. He
takes classical pieces and makes them his own. His description of how a tiny pause
in a musical piece could symbolize a shudder of a leaf or the waves on the
ocean revealed his immense love for music. He wowed us when his played some of
Mozart’s variations of the well-known Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Anil
Srinivasan has not hidden his musical genius under a bushel but had used it to
light thousands of lives. He uses his music to educate thousands of children in
South India and also as a therapeutic tool to better some lives.
His eloquence and sense
of humour charmed his audience ranging from young kids to a few young-hearted
senior citizens. He included short stories intermittently in his talk to appeal
to his younger audience. At the end of his talk he welcomed questions and
feedback and explained his whole journey from a student to an educator and how
he had always carried his music along with him. He stressed on the fact that it
is important to love music, interpret it yourself, make it your own and form
your own conclusions. The best part of the evening was when he took requests
from his audience and launched into a medley starting with the Raga Bhairavi, a
few other Indian classicals, Bollywood songs like Badtameez Dil, variations of
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and ended with When the Saints Go Marching In. That
brought on a huge applause. Everyone left the library with a smile on their
face that evening.
