Music is universal and a good performance carries the listener into another plane. The fortunate group of engineering students who heard the violin demonstration by Shreya Devnath were left awe-struck.

Their adoration was visible in the way they mobbed her after the lecture-demonstration programme just to listen to her talk and of course many also wanted selfies with her. The lecture demonstration was organised by the Visakha Music Academy in association with the Chaitanya Engineering College, Kommadi, in an effort to popularise Indian classical music among the next generation.

The felicity with which she played the violin received tremendous applause from the students who had not seen a live concert up close. Reaching out to the students as one among them Ms. Shreya tried to demystify the language of the Carnatic music. She explained the origin of the Octaves and how the scales vary and how the pitch varies. She was accompanied on the mridangam by Palayamkottai B. Guru Raghavendra.

Pat from students

The tongue-tied students took time to warm up to her overture and respond to her questions. They appreciated her efforts to demystify the chemistry between the lead performer and the accompanying performer on stage. A disciple of legendary violinist Lalgudi G Jayaraman, Ms Shreya explained the features of Carnatic music performance in terms of maths, physics and chemistry. Putting the students at ease she gave the score of some popular numbers explaining how all music was based on the Saptaswara. “It does not matter if you cannot identify the raga or the score, what matters most is to enjoy music,” she said.

When you are performing don’t be bothered about the audience, submit yourself to the music and it will take care of the performance, the young violinist advised a child artiste.

M.S. Srinivas, Chandrasekhar Veeraghanta and Murali Bulusu of Visakha Music Academy, T Ganga Devi of SPIC Macay, Principal of Chaitanya Engineering College Ramjee and Ms. Shreya’s parents, and a large number of students of the college and their faculty were present.

Shreya Devnath’s performance leaves audience awe-struck