GLOBAL MUSIC INSTITUTE
Changing the face of music education in India Reinforcing their vision with a new 2 acre
campus dedicated for music education
Aditya and Tarun Balani are veterans of the independent music circuit in India . With multiple albums , international collaborations , festivals and tours under their belt , the brothers have also been front runners in bringing a higher level of contemporary music education to India .
The Journey Begins
What began in 2011 as a performance program run from a small campus in Lajpat Nagar , has now grown into a 3 year diploma program taught at a 2 acre campus in Greater Noida . “ The value of good music education became almost obvious to me , ironically by the lack of it . I really wanted to learn to play and compose but couldn ’ t find a good teacher to guide me and had to rely on self learning . When Tarun and I got an opportunity to study music formally in the US , we absorbed as much as we could to make the best of it ! Both of us started teaching quite early on in our careers and this continued when we would come home during semester breaks . Over time our student body kept growing organically . After we graduated we setup a small space to teach more formally . Our first program was a month long intensive performance program with international faculty . Though it was a very new concept which challenged the music education model at the time , a lot of the young musicians found value in the program . The success of the program help spread word and interest about
GMI in the music community and soon we moved to a semester based system ”, says GMI ’ s Executive Director , Aditya Balani on how it all began .
Tarun Balani , GMI ’ s Artistic Director , talking about the ideation since he first studied music at Drummer ’ s Collective in NY explains , “ The initial vision of GMI came from a very simple concept of creating a space for young artistes and musicians to have access to high quality music education . My experience at Drummer ’ s Collective in NY was almost a wake up call for what was lacking in our country when it came to music education and the power of enabling the arts .“
GMI very soon became a hub for local musicians to learn , interact and perform . While there was a lot interest in learning guitar , drums , voice and piano with GMI ’ s international faculty students were able to study instruments like the double bass , trumpet and saxophone which are normally quite inaccessible . This led to a growing community welcoming all genres of music , not only the more popular ones but also more obscure and experimental . “ Developing and supporting an artist community has been a strong focus for us since the very beginning , and we were really happy to see us becoming a platform for artistic expression ”, says Aditya .
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