Naadha Rasa Center for Music, Plymouth, MN, USA

v20241103

Welcome to your journey with Carnatic Music . This document is to be read and understood by all students and parents .

Note to new student families: We usually recommend new students and parents to stop by and audit a couple classes and have conversations with Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar or her daughter, Shruthi Rajasekar before joining. This helps you understand how they teach and think through your own schedules. Both are active performers so our class schedule and location is altered to accommodate their professional commitments as needed. Please also attend as many local performances as possible, just another way to meet with them and assess initially if you want to come under their guidance. You can find them online through their website, Facebook and YouTube to stay in touch with their work. (also see Know your guru tab on this site)

Trusting your guru is important, they are ultimately responsible for the learning process and growth of each student. Please do not bring up milestones and timelines on when a student will perform in public (virtually or otherwise), this is a decision that will be made with the interest of putting out a quality performance with depth of learning. Staying engaged in classes and interacting with gurus will help parents stay in tune with goals for your student. Learning music is a journey of love and labor,  we are glad to have you join us for however long you choose to be with our school. They both aim to inspire students, foster a love for music in them, coach them to be their very best performers and build music loving communities that will rejoice in their talents.  Each person learns differently and akka's/aunty's expertise with music and students for over 25 years gives her the ability to coach each learner according to their ability.

• Young children must be of age 7 to start learning music as there is written work involved in the class.

• All lessons are group classes to begin with. Group settings allow students to learn from one another's attempts. 

• Parents are encouraged to sit in on children's classes. 

• While the fee that akka charges is nominal, it is in the interest of making music accessible to all and building a community of Carnatic music and saraswathi veena enthusiasts.  She will not follow up or track attendance, each family manages that on their own. Please continue to be respectful to her and do the needful.  

  1. Pick your cadence and pay using Suggested Fee Structure: 

     1. Payment method:

        1. For Nirmala akka/aunty: please use cash or check. Checks are payable to "Nirmala Rajasekar" , always note the number of lessons in memo 

        2. For Shruthi akka: you may use Venmo, checks or cash. Checks are payable to  "Shruthi Rajasekar"

     2. In Person/Online Group lessons @$80 for 3 classes 

     3. When student is identified and begins to receive 1-1 instruction account for that separate from group lesson fees @$50 per lesson

        1. Auditing of 1-1 lessons @$100 for 3 classes

     4. The offer for scholarships is always available for whenever needed. Keep us informed via email if for any reason fee is a burden

     5. Facility fee , once per year payable to "Naadharasa" by check or zelle or paypal, see www.naadharasamn.org for details : $150 / family for 2025

     6. For new Veena students not based in Minneapolis/St Paul area and wishing to learn online, please subscribe to Shaale.com, find Nirmala akka/aunty's online classes available there, learn from them and reach out to us for next steps.

• Please check emails before leaving for class.

• Group practice sessions: On weeks when classes are cancelled, it is suggested that students will get together to work on lessons, theory, listening as the case may be.

• 100% attendance and punctuality are encouraged. Students are welcome to audit other classes to advance or catch up learning. Please inform via email if student is unable to attend due to an unavoidable schedule conflict. If classes are missed due to unavoidable reasons, please follow up with group mates for homework and reach out to  naadharasa.mn@gmail.com if additional help is needed. Students please get in the habit of marking attendance for every class attend/audit with the school going forward. link found at :  https://sites.google.com/view/naadharasamn/naadha-rasa-center-for-music

• The Guru Sishya Oarampara leneage that your student will be learning under is as follows: 

  1. Sri. Muthuswamy Dikshidar ( 1775 to 1835) 

  2. Sri. Subbarama Dikshidar ( his brother Baluswamy Dikshidar's adopted son 1836 to 1906)

  3. Sri. Ambi Dikshidar ( 1864 to 1906)

  4. Sri. Kallidakurichi Anantha Krishnaiyyar ( 1899 to 1959)

  5. Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan ( 1922 to 2011) 

  6. Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar

  7. Students for Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar

• Learning expectations:

  1. Students are expected to bring their own supplies to the class.

  2. Listening logs to be maintained, please note days of no listening as well, this is to help Nirmala aunty/akka provide constructive feedback.

  3. Practice logs to be maintained, please note days of no practice as well, this is to help Nirmala aunty/akka provide constructive feedback.

  4. Students need to spend time listening to live concerts each month as  and when there are opportunities.

     1. Free or ticketed concerts that Nirmala aunty/akka performs at in the twin cities or online are mandatory for students to attend (barring concerts during school/work hours). Students are learning a performing art and need to absorb stage presence, performance, preparation aspects of the art form from their guru as well. Please inform via email if student is unable to attend.

        1. Additionally listen to Nirmala aunty's/akka’s music albums and youtube videos of Nirmala aunty’s/akka's concert recordings. Digital and physical CD’s are available for purchase . Maithree - 2018; Sudha Saagara - 2016; Into the Raga - 2010; Song of the Veena - 2007

     2. IMSOM concerts

     3. Layasaaram Concerts

     4. Hindu Mandir and SV Temple Concerts 

• Music theory exposure is important in our school along with the ability to sing and play the veena.

• No recording devices allowed during class unless you have permission from Nirmala aunty/akka explicitly. This important rule is in the interest of the student's education.

• The information, class recordings and scripts available in this site/portal are for the use of Naadha Rasa Center for Music Students only. Please do not share or upload to any public social media platform without explicit permission from Nirmala aunty/akka. When downloading material/recordings/scripts for learning purposes, please be mindful of the same.

• Please consider participating in competitions recommended by Nirmala aunty/akka as these are opportunities to rehearse in front of audiences. Please do not record or share any student performances in social media without checking, Nirmala aunty/akka wants to wait till students meet her standards before their singing or playing is put out for public viewing.

• Introducing new families or students to NaadhaRasa is best done through emailing naadharasa.mn@gmail.com . Please also invite interested families to audit a class or two and explain how the school works. You are the best ambassador to the school. As well as you may mean, please resist from giving Nirmala aunty’s/akka’s cell phone number to any new student or parent. We should all get her explicit permission before sharing her number. This is in the interest of the new student, as we do not want student enquiries to be lost amidst all the concert/tour/professional life coordination.

1. Please book mark the Student and Parents portal for future reference:  https://sites.google.com/view/naadharasamn/know-your-guru. 

Click through the sub tabs under “Naadha Rasa Center for Music” Menu to know more.

2. Add yourself to a whats app group if you  want to know more about auditing classes: https://chat.whatsapp.com/BoYKVbK2hgh0n6nXlPmiJg