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Parent Circle is published by Nalina Ramalakshmi, Director, Shri Harini Media Pvt. Ltd. All editorial material including editorial comments, opinions and statement of facts appearing in this publication, represent the views of its respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of the publishers. Information carried in Parent Circle is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. The publication of any advertisements or listings is not to be construed as an endorsement of the product or service offered.

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Legend has it that Tansen, the famed musician in the court of Emperor Akbar, was once ordered to sing the raga ‘Deepak’. On the day of the performance, as Tansen sang, the lamps lit up, the air got hotter and hotter and there was a burst of flames all around. Anticipating the power

of this raga, Tansen had trained his daughter and her friend to sing the raga ‘Megha Malhar’, and as the notes of this raga flowed from the damsels, the skies darkened and rain pelted the ground below. Such is the magical power of music!

Music has the power to set on fire our joyful energies; it has the power to cool the stresses of the mind. As the famous English composer Edward Elgar says, “There is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.” We may not all be composers or singers or musicians, but we all still enjoy music in some form or the other.

In the month of December, in Chennai, the sounds of Carnatic music fill the air, with hundreds of concerts performed all around the city, by both the stalwarts of music as well as up and coming musicians. Our cover story ‘Classical Music: The hidden notes that will appeal to your child’, talks about instilling the joys of music in our youth and Kalaimamani Dr S Sunder gives us an overview of what to expect and how to appreciate Carnatic music concerts.

The month of December brings along with it the joys and festivities of Christmas. Our special Christmas story talks about Christmas traditions, both local and global.

Not all children are born the same. Our article, ‘Autism: Rewiring our Perspective’ talks about the challenges and options for families with an autistic child. With understanding, love and care it is possible to provide a good quality of life, not only for the affected child but also for the entire family.

Why does our loving, adorable child, suddenly as a teenager, turn into this stranger you can no longer understand or relate to? Neurologist, Dr Prithika Chary explains to us the nuances of the development of the adolescent brain and how it affects teen behaviours.

With these ideas, I leave you to read this issue and give us your feedback.

Nalina Ramalakshmi

Parent Circle / December 20112

IN FOCUS

FEATUREAutism: Rewiring our PerspectivePlaythings for your child from a Toy Library

LEARNINGAn Easy Approach to Learning Science

HEALTH CIRCLESalutations to the Sun: Surya Namaskar

MINDSET Slow Learners

CIRCLE OF LIFE From Waste to Art

TEEN CIRCLE The Tantalizing Teenage Brain

ROOTS Ancient Indian Mathematics

LIGHTER VEINTooth-fairy Tales

REGULARS

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ON THE COVER YOUNG MRIDANGIST R NARASIMHAN PHOTOGRAPH BY ARJUN DOGRA

Classical Music

COVER STORY P.20

YOUR WORD

VIEWPOINT Reading Resurrected

PARENT EXPRESS A Broken Puzzle

DISCUSSION POINT School Bags Getting Heavier

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FORUM

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RESOURCES

SPECIAL P.10

Joy World

PARENT CHEF Baked Goodies

CHECK IT OUT Interesting Books and CDs on Carnatic Music EVENTS Chennai this Month

KALEIDOSCOPEHappenings in the City

HANDS ONStars for the Xmas Tree

to the

Parent Circle / December 20114

Letters to the Editor

your word

I have a son aged 7 and a daughter aged 12. I’m a regular reader of your magazine. Every issue of Parent Circle gives us very useful information. In the month of November 2011, it was interesting to read about the History and Development of School Boards. All the articles were well presented. I congratulate your team and I expect more such articles in the forthcoming issues. S RAMESH

Parent Circle gives quantitative and qualitative articles relevant to people working in the field of child development. We welcome articles that examine the effects of social and environmental factors on a child's health and development as well as those dealing with specific issues. Your magazine surprises every time. The topics are very interesting and different from what other magazines offer. PRIYA ANAND, MOTHER OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD

Every month, I look forward to reading Parent Circle. There is always something in the varied topics, that helps to clear a doubt or a query for me as a parent. This month's cover story on the school boards and the curriculum dilemma has been very informative and has not only cleared my dilemma about it but helped me do a comparative study too. Thank you for having done such a precise but completely informative article on the topic. S J SUMATHI RAJA, RAJAPALYAM

Parent Circle magazine is terrific. The presentation of the articles, photos and the construction of the pages is awesome. Kudos to the Editor and the team for bringing out such an informative magazine that helps parents like us, who might have queries but do not know where to look for the answers. The current issue on the Curriculum choices was very interesting. It helped me compare different syllabi and take a decision as to which board to opt for my child at the later stages. Thank you! P SASEENDRAN

Please send in your letter with the subject line “Letters to the Editor”, before December 15, 2011, to editorial@parentcircle.in or send them to PARENT CIRCLE, 3rd Floor Shri Renga Vihar, 8/14 First Cross St, Karpagam Gardens, Adyar, Chennai 600020, India.

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Parent Circle / December 201110

Ho! Ho! Ho! Bells are jingling, cribs are being readied and Christmas trees are being brought out of closets! Christmas is here and it is

spreading joy everywhere. So, hunt out your Santa dresses and start rehearsing those carols…

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated with as much fervour in India as it is overseas. In India, it has become a national festival, where not only the Christians but other communities too celebrate Christmas.

THE PREPARATIONS Christmas is only a daylong celebration, but for many, the preparations for it start as early as September. The all-important rum and raisin cake can be eaten within seconds but it takes months of preparation to make this delicious cake. While many families buy it from shops, there are some who continue the tradition of baking it at home. Flavian R, a 42-year-old who owns a shop on Broadway, celebrates the occasion with all family members and friends. He says, “My mother soaks the dry fruits in rum and whisky for about two and a half months prior to Christmas. The taste is great!”

Hotels in the city also follow the tradition without fail. Chef Johnson of Radisson Blu explains the whole process, “We soak the dry fruits in rum, a 100 days before Christmas. We generally make the cake

with 100 kgs of dried fruits and include candied ginger and orange peels. We outsource some of the ingredients from countries like England. Spices go into the mix as well, as the Three Wise Men were carrying spices.”

These hotels also hold cake mixing ceremonies where a group of people get together and mix all the ingredients together. This is an event by itself. “Every year, we invite a set of people for the cake-mixing ceremony. We had invited people from an old age home last year and this year we invited celebrities,” he says.

Shopping is an integral part of the festival. Gifts have to be bought and homes have to be decorated. A visit to Thomas Rodrigo & Sons in Broadway, Chennai is a must for the traditional items. This 132-year-old shop is open throughout the year and sells

all the religious items that a Christian household might need. It was started by Thomas Rodrigo in 1878 and is now run by 81-year-old Pius Rodrigo, his great

BY SHASHWATHI SANDEEP

special

Parent Circle / December 201120

You like listening to classical music, though you may never have had any formal training. Or you may have had formal training, but

somehow you did not quite enjoy your music classes when you were young and did not pursue the journey further. Or you may have enjoyed the learning and even now, enjoy going to concerts. Perhaps you also play the veena and can sing very well.

Whatever your background of music has been, you may want your child to learn music, because you understand that learning and listening to music brings definite benefits, tangible and intangible. But the child of today is growing up in a different environment. You may have been unquestioning in your childhood, but today, your child needs to be taught music suitably, to get adequately interested, and develop a lifelong love for it.

How then, to make a child appreciate and take to music with readiness and enthusiasm? How should music be taught to him? At the moment we are restricting ourselves to the appreciation of Carnatic music, but the basic tenets apply to Hindustani music and other styles of music as well, whether vocal or instrumental.

You should identify an appropriate teacher, who not only understands music, but understands children and handles them sensitively. You may also need to be objective about your own attitude and ideas, so that the child as an individual, is finally benefited.

UNDERSTANDING THE CHILD’S CAPABILITY As a parent, you need not worry about this as long as your child is like most other children. There is a Sanskrit verse which states that every living creature in this universe can recognise aesthetic

sound, and hence music. No child is really tone deaf, or pitch poor. As it is with the learning of any subject, the pace of learning may vary due to reasons in the external environment. For instance, the child may have too much of school-work to do, and may focus less on music. The teacher thus, has a great role in identifying the need of the child and catering to it appropriately – and your child will soon love this initial ‘distraction’ of music.

WHEN CAN THE CHILD ENROLL FOR MUSIC CLASSES If a child can talk, she can surely sing. We never question whether the child is too young to start going to school at age three. And he does learn his alphabets and nursery rhymes. The level of assimilation in music and its reproduction in children as little as three and four years invariably comes as a pleasant surprise to the teacher and parent. The parents should however give time to the tutor and the

The hidden notes that will appeal to your child BY SUDHA RAJA

coverstory

www.parentcircle.in 21

student. A certain amount of trust in the teacher is necessary.

Children are innocent. They do not have adult-like prejudices. They are ready to try out anything new. This gradually changes as they grow older into their pre-teens, but when they are young, they are quite adaptable. They start with the idea of liking music, particularly when they observe people around them appreciating it. So go ahead and send your young one to a tutor.

IDENTIFYING A TEACHER Identify a suitable teacher, with references if possible, based on her style of teaching. Teachers have the moral responsibility to bolster the self-esteem of their students. They should never use a harsh word, undermine the child’s efforts, or criticize them in front of their peers. Any correction has to be done gently, persuasively and without hurting the feelings of the child.

DO NOT PUSH YOUR AMBITIONS ONTO YOUR CHILD Yes, you want your child to learn and appreciate music. But does it stop with this altruism? Or are you dreaming of the first stage appearance (Arangetram) of your child, visualizing the dress that she will wear and the applause and appreciation that she (or is it you) will get?

It may just happen that by pushing for the Arangetram, the pressure of learning gets transferred inadvertently to the teacher and student, and your child may be building up an inner resentment. So instead of appreciating music, she could lose interest altogether.

ONE-ON-ONE TUITION OR GROUP LEARNING Some parents insist on ‘individual attention’. A one-on-one tuition may work out for some children. Certainly, focus on an individual student helps during advanced learning.

Says Lalitha Sivakumar, a Carnatic music teacher from Chennai, “I conduct only one-to-one classes for students, but I take them on, only when they show a passion for music. Indeed, only such students should be sent for formal learning.” Lalitha gauges their levels of interest in about 15 minutes of interaction and whether they have a sense of thalam (rhythm) and sruthi (pitch).

Radha Ramji of TKG Gurukulam feels that individual learning does not give the student the exposure of listening to other students who are at their own level or their seniors. “Children benefit from group classes. If a child is unable to grasp, she learns in no time by listening to co-students and hence does not develop a complex. When the students are equipped enough to give concerts, they need individual attention,” she says.

For parents who still doubt their children’s inherent musical abilities, group learning is better. There is a popular consensus, that in the initial learning stages, especially when the child is young, it is better to have shorter sessions with smaller groups of children. The attention span of the child between three and eleven years, is usually limited to not more than twenty minutes.

The class typically begins with initiating the sruthi or pitch. It takes a student a week or more to settle down to a comfortable pitch and then the children are divided into groups of four or five. When the group is small, the teaching is definitely more effective, and the children are more enthused to give their best than when they are taught individually. 8

Teaching music theory innovatively: some ideas

The theory of music should commence simultaneously with practice to make the learning wholesome. Here are some tips on introducing theory in a comprehensible way:

A small song can be taught with the ragam and thalam; and the rudiments of that particular thalam, with the terms laghu and dhrutam, their symbols, aksharas and the like.

Unravelling the origin of the seven formal notes from birds and animals, makes it interesting for the child. They absorb the names of the notes if the lesson is taught in such a ‘fun’ way.

A song featuring the major ragams can be taught easily to children who have not even begun to read, much like how the multiplication tables are taught. This way, they can also remember the names of swaras and thalams, even if they do not understand it completely.

Even something as complex as the Melakartha Raga chart (a table of 72 Raga names, which has to be uttered and remembered in the exact manner) can be broken up into segments or Chakrams of 6 ragas, or 3 ragas each. These can be memorized in successive classes.

The Jantai Varisai, which is the second chapter for the beginners dealing with pairs of swaras, is rather long and monotonous. Weaving in a story like the Ramayana to match these lessons makes it interesting to learn. It then becomes a game and the children want to learn the next verse to get on with the story.

Lalitha Sivakumar

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