When 4-year-old Nirvaan Pandit joined classes taught by her mother, a bansuri player and teacher, for three- and four-year-olds, she learned more than music. Although he was just a little boy at the time, he saw how his mother interacted with her students and noticed that music replaced any other form of communication and helped in the children’s mental development.
“Even the ones who were quiet and reserved became energetic and passionate,” says the 17-year-old guitarist and pianist who lives in Mumbai. “Music has been an integral part of my life and provides many positive developmental effects.” So at the age of 14, Nirvaan began a quest to democratize the effects of music that is still popular today.
Two volumes of melodies.
Taking advantage of the fact that there are no forms of music therapy in India, Nirvaan, then 14, developed an app called TheraTunes, with the help of her older sister Keya, a pianist.
TheraTunes has been running for three and a half years, starting as a move for Nirvaan to compose and explore how it could help people, and visiting NGOs to study the impact of music therapy on the ground.
Their experience in the in-person program helped them develop more lessons and expand and now, since the start of the pandemic, they have 30,000 users in 28 different countries and two volumes of music, each containing 13 songs.
This global effect was a result of the pandemic: Nirvaan’s shows had to be online-only during the lockdown, giving many people access to their content from anywhere in the world. The program allows students to choose songs based on their needs, as each song is planned to work on a different skill, and teachers access lesson planning features and create their own lesson plans.
Access is key
“Teachers also need access to instruction and must learn to analyze how well children react to content,” says Nirvaan. “Music touches parts of the brain that affect the cognitive, emotional and physical aspects of specially trained people. Rhythmic elements of songs, such as scales, keys, and frequencies, can elucidate reactions. Voice call answering exercises help memorization skills. These are foundational skills necessary for a child’s development. Each song has a specific scientific backing.”
TheraTunes has helped 11-year-old Arjun, who has Down syndrome and attends a school for children with intellectual problems. “He had trouble speaking and sharing in class, and was easily distracted. After 12 lessons, his interactions got better,” says Nirvaan, recalling his trip to a town called Soda on the outskirts of Jaipur, where they met some 40 pre-teen schoolchildren and did a session with them with great results.
“A lot of people in India don’t believe in self-help or the aspects of therapy that help people get better. Music is ingrained in the culture of India. But when people think of music, they only think of entertainment, not the fact that it can help as a form of therapy,” says Nirvaan.
So is India ready to embrace music therapy? “India is modernizing as a society,” she agrees.
Nirvaan’s goal is to make music a regular part of the curriculum in public schools. “There’s a perception that music isn’t an issue, but it’s crucial that people are heard, and music helps give them a voice,” she says. “TheraTunes is my passion project, but I don’t want it to just stop there,” she concludes, adding that when it comes to college, I’ll probably be studying business psychology.
Follow @kkuenzang on Twitter and Instagram
From HT Brunch, March 13, 2022
Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch
Connect with us at facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
.
