S. Ramanathan’s granddaughter and vocalist S. Sucharithra on the man behind the musician
y catching talent young and nurturing their skill in groups, S. Ramanathan adhered to the Suzuki method of education that gave Carnatic music eminent practitioners of varying styles, pointed out vocalist S. Sucharithra, who is also the legendary musician’s granddaughter.
Letting his students choose their tuition time on a rst-come-rst-served basis at his Chennai home, the pedagogy was a classic example of creating the right learning environment. Sucharithra spoke about Ramanathan’s life as a musician and guru in her two-hour talk titled ‘A Day with Dr S. Ramanathan’. It was held recently at Ragasudha Hall, under the aegis of Parivadini.
Ramanathan (1917-1988) never kept exclusive slots for seniors, juniors or beginners. He did not encourage notating while teaching ragas or compositions, instead upheld the strength of oral tradition in Carnatic music. These showed his allegiance to the Talent Education programme formulated by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki, whose philosophy prescribed educating people of all levels of ability, promoting peer relationships and listening to music routinely.
BTeaching sessions
The rst teaching session at Ramanathan’s modest house began at 6.30 a.m. “Once this batch of eight to ten students disbursed, there used to be a two-hour training session ending at 10 a.m. This would be followed by lessons on the veena. He was also procient in playing the instrument. Then there would be classes in the evening and night.
Kavadichinthu, he
A granddaughter recalls the days spent with her vocalist-musicologist grandfather and his signi cant contribution to Carnatic music