Music and Fine Arts Week
19th to 25th November 2008

The Fine arts week basically comprised of further enhancement of the awareness of the students of CIRS about different forms of art and music through presentations by the faculty members of the Department and students of the school. The arts and music classes, which were re-structured to make the group size smaller and thereby enhance the depth of exposure, were conducted as usual.

19.11.2007
The week long presentation began with a talk about Art Education by Sri Manoranjan Das and Smt Das parts of which are reproduced below

QUOTE
Rabindranath Tagore wrote many poems, stories, dramas, songs and novels winning him international acclaim. His literary work was of such diversity and depth that he became the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize in 1913. In spite of all his significant work he had a growing feeling of incompleteness. When he was 60 years old he was unable to bear the discontent any longer. He realized and said that art is the ultimate culmination of creativity in which the essence of his mind, thought, emotion, pain and all other human experiences can be brought out with a brush in colors. He took up the brush for the first time at the age of 60 years and the work that was to come from him in the later years was so extraordinary that it was instantly recognized and acclaimed by the leading artists of the world!
……….
We all know that very few students take up the fine arts as a full time engagement but yet it will be very difficult to find an adult who would not like to acquire some artistic abilities. When a student is introduced to the world of art the way he or she looks at the world is refined and the sense of observation becomes astute and sensitive. The different forms, colors and geometric shapes noticed around us in the world help the child to develop and better sense of even mathematical and scientific concepts. In my long experience of teaching arts to school students I have noticed that the so called restless students also become very focused and creative when they get an exposure to arts and crafts. This focus sometimes extends to the other areas of their studies. When the students get exposed to the different media like painting brushes, nail and thread, embroidery, Batik etc. and play with the different materials it gives them a tactile sense of the world of forms and colors, which is a very profound educational exposure. It is due to this immense educational value that good schools like CIRS give so much importance to it. Students learn to take up pieces of work in stages, keep their pieces in place for the next class and they learn to visualize what shape their work will take later on. They learn to imagine, think, plan their work in their minds and then finally express through the medium.
…….
UNQUOTE

After the talk some of the works of arts of some of the great masters was shown as a power point presentation.

20.11.07
FURTHER EXPOSURE TO WORKS OF ARTISTS

The second day the works of the great master Mark Schagall and those of our Arts Faculty member Sri Chitrashekhar were shown to the students. Sri Vijay got some students to produce wonderful pieces of mural from waste pipes and other hardware items.

21.11.07
MUSIC/ ART LIVE PRESENTATION

This was a unique attempt to bring together music, art and dance. A classical song was sung by one group of students, a by another and a dance by a third group. All the three groups were synchronized to each other in the time taken as well the theme.

22.11.07
HISTORY OF MUSIC

A very educative, lecture demonstration was performed of the history of the classical music of India. A very well-researched power point presentation suitably supported by demonstration of some parts of the music forms was conducted by the students with the guidance of our music maestros Sri Ramesh Kulkarniji, Sri Srinivas Kulkarniji and Sri Sasi Kumar ji.

23.11.07
FORMS OF LIGHT MUSIC

A taste of the forms of light music was provided to the students by the music maestros of our school.

24.11.07
Music presentation
The finale of the fine arts and music week was a music presentation by the music maestros.

The colors and melodies of the week are yet to recede from the hearts and minds of the teachers and children of the school. Fortunately so, because the school intends to imbibe and instill the finest aesthetic sensibility in the children and teachers.

Faculty members of the Department of Fine Arts:
Sri K Sivarajan, an artisrt and art educator with over 25 years experience in institutions like Gandhi Ashram, Wardha, Vishwabharathi University, Shantiniketan and Rishi Valley School, Madanapalle.

Sri Manoranjan Das, an artist and art educator with about 18 years experience in the Rishi valley School, Madanapalle, after having completed his apprenticeship at the Masters level from Vishwabharati Univbersity, Shantiniketan.

Sri Manoranjan Das, an artist and art educator with about 18 years experience in the Rishi valley School, Madanapalle, after having completed his apprenticeship at the Masters level from Vishwabharati Univbersity, Shantiniketan.
Smt. Sharmila Das, an artist and art educator with about 18 years experience in the Rishi valley School, Madanapalle, after having completed his apprenticeship at the Masters level from Vishwabharati Univbersity, Shantiniketan.

Sri Chitrashkekhar M., an srtist with a standing of over 20 years in the field of arts and having an experience of about five years in the field of art education, with an MFA from MS University, Vadodara.

Sri Vijay Kumar Okali, an srtist with a standing of over 20 years in the field of arts and having an experience of about two years in the field of art education, MFA from Karnataka University.

Faculty members of the Department of Music:

Sri Ramesh Kulkarni, a musician of repute in Karnataka, was tutored by one of the foremost disciples of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi ji. He has an experience of school level music education for about eight years and has been able to inspire the children of our school to learn the classical music forms with remarkable success. He presently teaches children Hindusthani Vocal music, harmonium and keyboard.

Sri Srinivas Kulkarni, a musician of repute in Karnataka, has accompanied many renowned musicians of the Hindustani Classical form of Karnataka. He has an experience of college level music education for a couple of years. He is with CIRS for more than one year and has been able to inspire the children of our school to learn the classical music forms with remarkable success. He presently teaches children Tabla and Electronic drum.

Sri Sashi Kumar, a western classical musician of repute in Coimbatore and Kerala, has been involved in the western and contemporary music forms for more than twenty five years. He has worked with the film industry also in his long career. He ha also been associated with school level music education for about ten in years in different schools, with his tenure in CIRS being for the last one year.