Department of Music School of Performing Arts and Fine Arts e-NEWSLETTER – Volume - 2, No. 1 & 2 (January 2020 – June 2020) Message from the Head of the Department …… With great pride and humility, the next issue of the quarterly e-Newsletter from the Department of Music, CUTN is placed before you. This is a combined edition, focussing on the various activities of the Department, including those during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The Department of Music has stepped into the successful fourth year, with enthusiastic students and research scholars. Four Assistant Professors have joined recently adding more strength to the Department. Our Department imparts traditional classical music training and also focuses on serious Music Research. The faculty, research scholars and students of the Department have outshone themselves in Performance, Research and Extension activities. This is portrayed in the first part of this newsletter. COVID-19 has affected the entire globe for the past few months. The routine life has been a great challenge and the members of our Department have been actively engaged in several activities, during this pandemic situation, which is brought out in the second part. Let us all Stay Safe & Stay Relaxed V Premalatha Inside at a glance… 173rd Aradhana - Celebration of Sri Tyagaraja Participation in SPORTS Welcome to the New Assistant Professors Science Day Exhibition - presentation by Music One day Department Level Orientation students Programme for Faculty members Red Ribbon Club - Activity at CUTN Seminars / Conferences - Attended by Faculty NSS Programme members Activities during COVID-19 Lockdown period Seminars / Conferences - Attended by Research Online Music Performance Scholars COVID Voluntary Service by Students Music Performances - Faculty Webinars / Online programmes Achievements Study on Role of Music on People during Music Performances by Research Scholars COVID-19 pandemic situation Departmental Seminar by Students 1 rd 173 Aradhana Celebration of Sri Tyagaraja The 173rd Aradhana of Sadguru Sri Tyagaraja Swamy was celebrated on 23/01/2020 at the Multipurpose Auditorium, CUTN. This day marks the anniversary of the great Saint Composer who was born in Thiruvarur and attained Samadhi at Thiruvayyaru. This year the celebration bloomed as a 12 hour musical offering with more than 50 musicians participating from various parts of Tamil Nadu. The programme commenced with the traditional Mangala vadya, the Nagasvaram. The Honorable Vice Chancellor of CUTN, Prof. A P Dash inaugurated the event by lighting the lamp, which was attended by other Statutory officers, Faculty members, students and well-wishers. Around 50 musicians rendered the music compositions of Sri Tyagaraja individually, on Voice, Flute, Veena, Violin, and Saxophone, accompanied with Mridangam, Ghatam, Khanjira and Morsing. The evening programme began at 4 pm with the Nagasvaram recital. This was followed by the group rendering of the Pancaratna Keertana-s by the Faculty, students and invited artists. This is the tradition being followed all over the world. It was an exciting experience to listen to around 40 musicians rendering these compositions in unison for about an hour. Towards the end, all the participants were felicitated by the Honorable Vice Chancellor, with a certificate of appreciation. The whole day event was attended by a huge number of music lovers. 2 Welcome to CUTN - Our New Assistant Professors Four Assistant Professors had joined the Department during the current semester and a cordial welcome gathering was arranged on 11/02/2020. The Head of the Department introduced the teachers to the students, guest faculty and non-teaching staff and it was followed by an informal interaction among each other. The new teachers shared experiences on their music training and expressed their wholehearted commitment to the growth of music at Thiruvarur. Profile of Dr. V R Dileep Kumar, Assistant Professor. Dr. V.R. Dileep Kumar of Thrissur, Kerala, joined the Department in February 2020. He was initiated into music at the age of seven, by Sri. K M Krishnan Namboothiri. Continuing his specialisation in carnatic classical music, he is presently undergoing training from noted musician Sri Mangad K Natesan. He has been awarded Ph.D. in music by Kannur University, for his doctoral thesis on “The Concept of Ideal Mind in Tyagaraja Kritis” in 2014. He is an “A” Grade artist in Carnatic classical vocal from All India Radio. He has been performing for the past three decades at various places like Chennai, Thirupunittura, Mumbai, Mangalore, Bangalore, Mysore and Gulf countries. He also has the pride of performing at the All India Radio, Doordarshan National Programme, Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan and so on. He has conducted workshop organized by SPICMACAY. He is a recipient of many awards, like, First Prize in National Music competition conducted by All India Radio, CCRT Scholarship for Performance excellence in Music, first prize in All Kerala Music Competition conducted by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy, first Prize in University Inter-zone Festival, “Yuvakala Puraskaram” by Poornatrayeesa Sangeetha Sabha, Thiruppunittura, “Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer endowment award” by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai and so on. He has also published articles in journals and presented papers at Seminars. 3 One day Department Level Orientation Programme for Faculty members On 20/02/2020, The Department of Music along with IQAC, CUTN organized a Department Level Orientation Programme for the newly joined Faculty members. This was aimed to make them familiar with the basic information about the administrative and academic structures of the Department in the University. The Head of the Department, Dr. Premalatha made a presentation on the genesis of the Department, courses offered and other official procedures to be followed at the Department and the University. The IQAC Director, Prof. Sulochana Sekhar gave an outline of the IQAC and 7 criteria of NAAC and insisted on the importance of contributing for teaching, research and development as well as maintaining proper records of all activities. Seminars / Conferences - Attended by Faculty members Chairperson at National Conference A National conference on “Research in Indian Music and Dance” was organised by Department of Performing Arts, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jain deemed-to-be University, Bengaluru on 17/01/2020 & 18/01/2020. Dr. V Premalatha chaired two sessions on music and gave her remarks on the presentations of the researchers. The participants represented research scholars from various Universities of India. Two best presentations were chosen for award. 4 An International seminar was conducted by Bhatkhande Music Institute, deemed to be university, Lucknow on 28/01/2020 and 29/01/2020 on the Topic – ‘Traditional Education in Music and career options’. Dr. S. Seethalakshmi, presented a paper on 'Education of music and visual media Techniques'. The presentation covered details related to the Gurukula pattern used in earlier days and the Visual media Techniques followed in present days like White boards or black boards, Posters, Graphs, Powerpoint, Projector, Flip charts, Educational Television, Handouts, Video, Video Conferencing, Skype and e-learning Training pack. The paper has been published in the Proceedings of the Conference, published with the ISBN – 978-81-932672-5-7. The Karnataka Ganakala Parishad is one of the most prestigious sabhas of Karnataka. The organisation has been propagating the rich musical heritage of India by organizing innumerable concerts and lecture demonstrations across Karnataka. In connection with its Golden Jubilee Celebrations, a National Conference was conducted from 01/02/2020 to 16/02/2020. Dr. Seethalakshmi was invited to present a lecture demonstration on the compositions of Sri Sri Sri Ganapati Sacchidananda Swamiji on 10/02/2020. The auditorium was packed with audience and the presentation was well appreciated by all. A National Conference on “Public Health Challenges of Tropical Diseases – Moving towards Universal Access” (13/02/2020 & 14/02/2020) was organized by the Department of Social Work, CUTN, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi on 14/02/2020. Dr. Seethalakshmi presented a paper - 'Vital role of music in supporting Mental Health' in the seminar. This presentation covered some of the details related to Music Therapy and how mental health issues have been resolved through music. 5 Dr. Udaya Kiran was invited by the Department of Performing Arts-Music, Jain deemed-to-be University, Bengaluru for a student interaction programme related to concert planning. This was held on 18/02/2020. This interaction was beneficial to the students and scholars of the Department, wherein Dr. Udaya Kiran was serving previously. Mr. Ratheesh P R participated in a three day International Theatre Conference organized by the School of Drama and Fine Arts, University of Calicut. He presented a paper on, “Relevance of Rhythm in Carnatic Music with Special Reference to different Compositional types and Manodharma Sangitam” on 13/01/2020. Seminars / Conferences - Research Scholars Mr. P. Nirmal Harish, Ph.D. scholar presented a paper on the ‘The problems in the interpretation of the Gita-s in SSP with reference to the 19 mela-s of Venkatamakhi’, at the National