Shankar Mahadevan Will Teach Music In Virtual Classroom

Want to learn the song ‘Maa‘ (from movie Taare Zameen Par) from Shankar Mahadevan himself? Well, just enroll in his online music academy. Shankar Mahadevan launched the online music academy in February and it already boasts 200 students. The academy is called Shankar Mahadevan Academy. The academy offers courses in Classical Music, Hindi Movie Songs and Devotional Songs and are available worldwide.

“My vision is to make learning of all styles of Indian music easy, accessible, and exciting to people worldwide. My philosophy is simple – to impart high quality learning in music through innovative methods while having a great deal of fun,” says Mahadevan on his web site.

The courses offered by the virtual academy run from 4 weeks to 12 weeks. Students will also get access to a student portal, the OM (Online Music) Book, a week-by-week study guide, unlimited singing practice with recording tools, and expert feedback on up to 3 recordings. Hindi Movie and Devotional song courses are also offered in a self-study course format, allowing students to learn on their own time, and at their own pace. But, in self-study courses students won’t get access to weekly classes. The Classical Music Course will cost $299 per course, while Self-Study courses are offered at $9.99 per course. The instructor-led Hindi Movie and Devotional Songs courses will cost $59 and $239 per course respectively.

The academy uses Cisco’s WebEx Communication - a web collaboration tool to enhance easier web conferencing. “WebEx is simple to use and has a navigation interface that allows one to start a Web meeting with the click of a mouse no matter what platform is in operation. The same applies for the academy – the student’s access to his/her classes during the session and even after review is available at the touch of a button. He can easily reach out to the academy’s website for previously held classes. With WebEx anyone can easily create and deliver customized multimedia online demos and presentations,” adds Kiran Datar, Managing Director, Cisco WebEx Communications, India.