This little but quite spacious school started with the legacy of Furtados stores who have been known for their stores selling variety of musical instruments.With stores across 15 cities and the famous stores at Metro & Juhu are known by their understanding of musical instruments.
The Furtados Music school is started by Taniya & Dharini Upadhay along with mentors who are trained in the field of music over years and trained in Canada by Aventis over a month to teach this interactive curriculum. With formal training in most instruments beginning only at 7 and to overcome the rampant hunt for a good teacher is what led to FSM. Training for children starts at the early age of 4 years and they also have batches for age 10 onwards for teenagers and adults.
Currently teaching only the piano the school is ambitious on adding Guitar, Drums & keyboard soon for kids over 7 years. The interactive curriculum uses characters like Beethovan, Bach & others to make the session interesting for children. While I was at the center it wasn’t to crowded and had about 2 students on a Thursday afternoon and is gradually trying to build is its base in a country where music is not considered as important as academics.
Practice Sessions are also made interactive and games are played to aid revision of concepts. Children are taught high & low notes with the help of archetypes of the fish & the bird. The initial curriculum teaches Piano and Kodaly method of learning music (involving rhythm, percussion & singing). While there is an internal accreditation process , the student can choose to give Trinity exam as well at FSM. Each child’s performance, progress & notes are all recorded for parents to see and evaluate. Teacher: Student Ratio is at 1: 3 and group learning efforts always help in making it competitive says Dharini who also dreams of starting bands of little children, which is rare in a country like India.
The school promises that along this journey with them, children will achieve music competence, the ability to sing in tune, identify pitch, keep an accurate beat and learn to play the piano.
Fees: Rs 16000 + Registration Fees for 20 turns in a semester, i.e. 20 weeks over 5 months.
Review: If Piano is the instrument you would like to choose for your child and would like a group activity to learn music then this is great choice
Hygiene: the place is relatively new and hence is very clean, however the bathrooms could be a lot cleaner.
They do plan to start toddler programs and open their second branch in Juhu by mid – late Sept near Gulmohar Road.
Location: Furtados School of Music, Opposite Manek Jivan Bldg, the slope that goes up opposite Priyadarshni Park at Nepean Sea Road.
Inquiries: 022 6622 4141 or Jasmin Daruwalla: +91 97691 37884
www.furtadosschoolofmusic.com(still under construction)
Image source: www.images.highonscore.com
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KSP Team
Janani S Koushik
