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Sangeetha Bhooshanam Sri.T.S.Krishnaswami:
 We
came together under the tutelage of Sangeetha Bhooshanam Sri.T.S.Krishnaswami
when we were nine (Ranjani) and six (Gayatri) years old. He
is an alumnus of the Annamalai University, one of the most
renowned and prestigious colleges of music in those times.
He learnt directly from the legendary Sangeetha Kalanidhi
T.S. Sabesa Iyer, Tanjavur Ponniah Pillai, Madurai Subramania
Iyer and Madras Balakrishna Iyer. After a very brief but successful
stint as concert performer accompanying popular and respected
musicians of his times, he chose to dedicate himself entirely
to teaching. His sincerity and total commitment to music and
teaching was simply awesome. Now even at the age of 93, he
still teaches and guides us with the same enthusiasm.
Our revered guru had developed an advanced
fingering technique, one that was logical and scientific in
approach. As children we imbibed this technique of such fine
fingering without realizing its great worth. Only later, we
could appreciate the value of those techniques and realize
what incalculable difference it made to our violin playing.
He stressed the importance of vocal orientation in instrument
playing, particularly for Carnatic music. After he taught
us, he would sing along as we played a song, thus instilling
the added dimension to the violin by way of proper enunciation
of lyrics. Always soft-spoken without exception, he earned
not only respect from his students, but also their true love
and affection.
Such was his dedication to his work
that we don't remember a single occasion when he missed his
class, due to any reason, personal, social, health or any
other.
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Once he fractured his knee, but he
came to class the next two days, when sitting down and teaching
was totally impossible. When our father chided him for his
unconcern for his health he said gently," But my students
who would have come to the classes cannot be sent back . I
don't want to disappoint them." Cyclonic rains, bad health,
city strikes - none of these ever hampered him. One incident
particularly stands out in my memory. Bombay was experiencing
a stormy rainy season, and on that particular day, it had
rained so much that the roads we ere completely flooded and
clogged, with the water level well beyond the knees! For us,
walking through this water was more like an adventure
which we relished, and of course missing class was unthinkable.
We reached class to find the entire Shanmukhananda premises
deserted and plunged into darkness due to break down of electricity
with the sole exception of our class room! And there was our
guru - sitting ready for class, though not a single student
had showed up in the previous batch, having lighted the vilakku
(lamp). That instant, all of us felt so moved and developed
an incomparable feeling of kinship. It was indeed a beautiful
moment. That class was one of the best we have had - learning
to play Marivere in Anandabhairavi as the rains lashed against
the windows! This was not all - our guru walked with us till
our doorstep to see that we were safely home and then walked
back to his house - at the age of 75! In the face of such
great love and dedication, words fail....
Apart from all the great qualities of
a teacher, what makes Sri Krishnaswami unique and truly noble
is the perfect life he has led, not merely quoting Tyagaraja's
philosophy and way of life, but putting into practice the
lofty principles. Highly principled, honest and yet gracious
and humble, he is a true karma-yogi whose life is a shining
example of following the 'chakkani raja margamu' of music
and life in entirety.
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