{"id":6252,"date":"2022-07-07T16:05:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T10:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalmusicinstitute.in\/?p=6252"},"modified":"2022-07-07T16:05:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T10:35:50","slug":"in-conversation-with-rohith-jayaraman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalmusicinstitute.in\/v1\/in-conversation-with-rohith-jayaraman\/","title":{"rendered":"In Conversation with Rohith Jayaraman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u2018In Conversation with\u2019 series brings to you the stories of various creative professionals from the music industry and provides a glimpse into their journeys. Today\u2019s conversation with <\/em><\/span><\/i>Rohith Jayaraman<\/a> covers ground from his early experiences learning Carnatic music in the Bay Area, explorations of identity in and through music, his collaborative album\u00a0 \u2018Manam\u2019 and much more.<\/em><\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Early years<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Born to immigrant parents in San Jose, California, Rohith Jayaraman is a vocalist, composer, educator, and Associate Director of the Berklee India Exchange. Music has been synonymous with Rohith from day 0, case in point being the story he fondly recalls of his mother going into labour on the day of a gig\u2013 one she had to hand over to a sub to bring her firstborn into the world. Upon her move to San Jose Rohith\u2019s mother and guru Asha Ramesh, a disciple of D.K. Jayaraman, carried over remnants of her old world into the new, the most significant bridge being the Carnatic music tradition she would go on to carry forward and grow into a music school \u2013 the Ragamalika School of Music\u2013 now almost thirty years strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning his musical journey under the tutelage of his mother at the age of five, music quickly became a constant companion and outlet for the young Rohith. \u201cI was always the averagest of average students academically and I was not an athletic kid. I had asthma which was both a reason and an excuse to not do sports. My only real outlet that was consistent was music.\u201d A liberating learning environment grounded in values of equality, fairness, and \u00a0 autonomy enabled Rohith to forge his own relationship with the artform. \u201cThe great thing was that my parents never pressured me. My mom never did individual classes for me for at least ten years. I was always in a group class with other students and I would learn at the same pace the class learned. She always made sure that I didn\u2019t get special treatment. Only when I was eleven or twelve was when she started to ask if I wanted to do a class separately or learn some advanced stuff. The fact that I always had a choice every step of the way is why I have such a positive association with music learning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n