Tara Anand, an accomplished violinist and vocalist in the Carnatic tradition, began vocal training at the age of four. Her gurus have included esteemed artists such as Sri T. M. Tyagarajan, Sri K. V. Krishnan and Sri Shankara Sarma. She began violin at the age of eight with Smt. Vedavalli Ramaswami of Delhi and Smt. T. Rukmini of Madras. She gave her first vocal concert at the age of eight. She subsequently performed with some great artists such as Sri T. R. Subramaniam, Smt. M. L. Vasanthakumari, Prof. Ramanathan, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Sri Nookala China Satyanarayana, Smt. R. Vedavalli, Smt. Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar and Sri R. K. Srikantan to mention a few. She has also played with her guru Smt. T. Rukmini. Tara Anand, an accomplished violinist and vocalist in the Carnatic tradition, began vocal training at the age of four. Her gurus have included esteemed artists such as Sri T. M. Tyagarajan, Sri K. V. Krishnan and Sri Shankara Sarma. She began violin at the age of eight with Smt. Vedavalli Ramaswami of Delhi and Smt. T. Rukmini of Madras. She gave her first vocal concert at the age of eight. She subsequently performed with some great artists such as Sri T. R. Subramaniam, Smt. M. L. Vasanthakumari, Prof. Ramanathan, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Sri Nookala China Satyanarayana, Smt. R. Vedavalli, Smt. Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar and Sri R. K. Srikantan to mention a few. She has also played with her guru Smt. T. Rukmini. The Hindu, a national newspaper of India, at various times, commented about the “chaste classicism” of this “accomplished violinist” and the “sweetness, strength and an emotive quality” of her “finely modulated and attractive voice” as a vocalist.  It also said that her “admirably phrased Begada did not recall any familiar style but testified to original gnana (insight).”

 

She has been teaching music – both vocal and violin – for over 2 decades  and is one of most sought after teachers in the area. Her teaching is marked by rigorous standards, care and concern for her students and an infectious love of music; she is a community treasure.  Tara has received national awards in India and USA. She has received awards from the Music Academy, Krishna Gana Sabha , two long standing traditional music academies in Chennai, India.   

Her influence on Carnatic Music in the US has been tremendous.  Each year, her students have won awards at at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana, which is a national Carnatic music competition of a very high caliber, This year her students won eleven prizes clearly showing her impact as a teacher. She received the "Best Teacher" award at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana Festival, a result of her students’ continued success at their annual competitions.  Tara’s students are known in the New England area for their high standard of performance and they have won awards both for violin and vocal music in several local and national competitions.  Her students have also evolved into seasoned musical artists and continue to enrich the musical community with their talent and avid passion for Carnatic music. It is no surprise that some of her students performed in Chennai during the December music season and got opportunities to accompany visiting artists from India.

I do teach 7 days a week, with classes in the evening and all weekends through the day. Working around my classes, I try my best to make time for home and some daily commitment to furthering my own learning.

I did not actively choose my career path. It is something that was probably meant to be and I somehow fell into it! Lakshmi Ramaswamy and veteran acclaimed dance teacher Jothi Raghavan introduced me to the Boston music community. I used to sing for her programs frequently and started teaching as interested students approached me. Hence I feel it was just the Hand of God!

What are the attributes that have helped you succeed in you career? 

I have always loved children and music and perhaps those were the two attributes that helped me stay on the path of teaching.

I truly believe that I have no secrets other than the blessings of my gurus.

All I do is try my best to uphold the standards and values that they instilled in me. The secret lies in their blessings, their superior training and their matchless personal and musical integrity. My approach as taught to me my Gurus is a very disciplined comprehensive approach to training, making sure that I try to capitalize on the strength of the students, highlighting the positive and helping them constantly work on filling in as many gaps as possible in their learning with hard work. The bottom line, a very strong foundation, no matter how long that process takes. I try to give them everything I know without reservation and will be extremely happy and proud when they grow beyond me when they are good and ready. Of course the success of the student also depends on the commitment of the parents and the hard work of the students.

I would like to acknowledge the important support of Shailaja Gargeya,a long time  friend and loyal supporter of Anubhava, has been teaching and supporting me actively as my assistant teacher for the last 7 years. She has been an invaluable pillar of support for the school and for me.

With the violinists, the approach does have to be different. It is important for all violin students to understand music in its entirety, not just the fingering and technical side. Once again, an insistence on complete grounding, immersion and commitment to learning music forever in order to grow has been important in making these children good accompanists. Accompanying and performing solo, they are two very different approaches and I make sure they understand that both roles are equally challenging and exacting.

I have not really thought about how my teaching has impacted Carnatic music in America, in fact, these questions have made me introspect a lot more about these things.  All I can say is, I have tried my best to create a very strong awareness of good, solid classical Carnatic music among students and parents alike. I try to make everybody aware of the depth, the seriousness of this music and make them understand that learning this music gives you an unprecedented advantage as they pursue music for the rest of their lives, no matter what that music might be.

If you learn and commit to learning this music seriously, you build a foundation for life, you can pick up on that any time in your lifespan and grow as an artist.

I hope that my students will propagate this music further, perform it for different audiences and carry this forward in their own way, perhaps talk about it, teach it some day and become independent performing artists.  I would love for every student to make Carnatic classical music a permanent part of his or her lives, to learn, appreciate and pass on this wonderful tradition to future generations, and propagate this traditional music in this country for many years to come. I want each of them to become musicians in their own right, leaving their individual stamp in all their musical performances/ventures.

The challenge that lies before me is to not compromise on the high standards set for me by my gurus. Learning music for the sake of learning is a rare phenomenon today and finding a way to balance my musical ideals (instilled by my gurus and my own beliefs,) with the increased interest and desire in students for early performing and competing. I do realize that such things are very important to the younger generation, especially in this day and age. It is a conflict I go through every day! Reconciling my old world ideals with the demands of today without compromising on quality is perhaps my biggest challenge.

As for advice to other artists who might want to pursue this career path. I would humbly appeal to all of those who aspire to teach, to uphold quality, standards and discipline in teaching, while also imparting as many values as possible, such as those of humility, loyalty, and respect for all art and artists. It is so important to not dilute pure Classicism and teach it in all its pristine purity, without falling a victim to gimmicks and short cuts. To always remember and impart, that the more you learn, the more there is to learn, the more we learn, the more we realize that we have miles go before we sleep! I feel the same way about myself and my own life and learning.

Ten years down the road, I look forward to having my students be an active part of my school, assisting, teaching and valuing this music for themselves and some day for the children. I can then look forward to retirement! Some day I hope the children will be running music societies and chamber music circles to keep this music alive, well and thriving in the years to come.

Building a career in this country with Carnatic music is harder, much harder though not impossible. It will once again depend on how much these children can uphold this tradition in this country and how popular they can make it in mainstream circles. This is definitely a deeper discussion and will require a much bigger commitment.

Perhaps maintaining a work life balance has been one of the greater challenges. I do try to spend weekend evenings with my family, I try to take time off when my son is off as well, and do the best I can to remember not to lose sight of what really matters in life, family, friends, laughter and peace.

What is your approach to parenting?  

Parenting has been less of a challenge for me because we have been blessed with a wonderful son. He has made it easy. I will say though, that after having taught for about 25 years now, it is important to let children find their strengths and build them up to the best of their ability. While pushing them in the right direction is necessary, it is equally important to remember that children need their time to reflect, renew, rejuvenate and grow in a way that will make them peaceful and content adults.

As strange as this sounds, family time is so rare for me, any time I spend with my family is fun time, and I can suddenly see how special and wonderful it is to have those special moments, no matter what we do, going out to dinner or enjoying a movie or show together. I would love to learn dance and do it for fun and the sake of learning a new art, and I hope to find the time for it some day!

I am deeply thankful to my parents for introducing me to this art and giving me an opportunity to pursue it. My mentors that I have looked up to, have been my gurus. They have not only taught me music, they have taught me the deeper values of humility, respect for all, and importance of simple surrender to the Guru and adherence to paddhati.  My violin gurus, Smt. Vedavalli Ramaswamy (New Delhi) and T.Rukmini ( Chennai), have been my core female mentors. They were not only brilliant artists; they were exceedingly humble and were more like mothers to me.

Nobody could have been kinder or more giving than them, and my whole teaching and performing career is my offering to them and their greatness.

My vocal gurus Sri Sankara Sarma and Sri S Gopalakrishnan, taught me the value of disciplined adherence to proper learning and practice. If not for them, I would not have had the grounding I did in all aspects of music. I am deeply thankful for their generous gift of teaching and will be indebted to them in this lifetime and many more to come. 

As an artist I have been painfully aware of my constant idealism being at loggerheads with the present trends and gentle morphing of value systems over the years. My husband has been instrumental in keeping me grounded in reality and has always tried to make me view situations objectively in order to gain perspective and maintain calm. Any challenge to my guru's ideals and my own, can upset me emotionally and in such situations, Anand has been a priceless gift to me. When I second-guess myself, he is always there to remind me that it is an unnecessary exercise. He encourages me to believe in myself no matter what might go wrong. His sense of humor is the perfect antidote to my self induced stress and he prevents me from taking myself too seriously. In short he is a perfect best friend and a wonderful companion!

 

In his words “Tara is the best friend anyone could want, and I am lucky to have her as mine. Her support has that rare quality of being unconditional with no pandering - an absolute necessity for any meaningful introspection. In every aspect of her life, she is about as giving as one could be. I have no idea how she does everything she does! Tarun and I look forward to every moment we can get to spend with her -Tara has a way of uplifting everyone around her.”

 

 The best moment of my /our life is undoubtedly when my son Tarun came into our lives. He is the best thing that has happened to us, and we have learnt so much from him! He has inspired us into being better, fairer and kinder people!

There have been times in my life that have been tough, and all those times, I have tried to remember that as long as my passion, convictions and beliefs are true, and grounded in devotion to my teachers and their values, every decision I make and stand by, has to be a blessing from God, and I feel His guiding hand in all the challenging situations I have faced. I do believe that if God gives you challenges, He  also gives us the strength to handle it, even if we do not feel it at the moment trouble strikes.

I do try to meditate every day, and do pranayama, it keeps me calmer and stronger!

Favorite author- Khalil Gibran ( The Prophet) Favorite musicians- Alathur bothers, K.V. Narayanaswamy , Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and Ustad Rashid Khan. Love Hindi film music ( growing up in Delhi, Vividh Bharati was a must), love singing karaoke on the rare occasions i relax.

I do enjoy cooking, especially when I am not running against the clock and my favorite dishes to make are Malabar dishes.

For women- Please do not underestimate how strong we can be, the world is a better and a kinder place because of us and we need to be proud of that, ALWAYS! Every woman is a woman of influence, working daily miracles and touching lives no matter where she is! 

For Children - I wish I had known that childhood was the happiest time of my life, I would have worried less and been more at peace and tried to enjoy every moment.

To all my children / students-- I am so proud of all of you! God bless!

To Lokvani-   I am thankful to you for thinking of me for this column!  I will try my best to continue to deserve the love and goodwill.