She can play all of 18 musical instruments including the tabla, guitar, sitar, harmonium, sarod, flute, bongo, congo, etc, with above average proficiency. Durga Tandon, head of the department of music at DAV Public School, New Delhi is quite literally, a one-woman band. In addition she teaches vocal music (classical and light) kathak, folk, western and ballet dancing at the CBSE-affiliated kindergarten-class XII school which has an aggregate enrollment of 956 students. Tandon: education thru music
Tandon’s induction into the heady world of music began at age four when she began tinkering with her father’s tabla and sitar. Recognising her talent, her parents enrolled her in Kanya Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, a renowned but picky music school in Muradabad, where she impressed her teachers with her musical talent and won the best student of the year award three years in a row way back in the 1950s.
However it was during her post-graduate years in the Gokuldass Girls’ Degree College in Muradabad, that Tandon’s parents enrolled her for music and dance training with renowned artistes. Thus, Shovna Narayan taught her the nuances of kathak, while Shiv Kumar Sharma was instrumental in honing her tabla skills. Ashtaq Hussain Khan fine-tuned her sitar playing.
Public performances resulted in a teaching assignment with the DAV school in 1985 where Tandon was hired as a tabla teacher. Since then she rose to the post of head of the music faculty in 2000.
Despite her musical talent, Tandon describes herself as an educationist rather than musician. That’s why she has been spearheading the Education For All and anti-polio campaigns in her school and villages nearby. "Education and health are two issues which need to be addressed urgently for the nation to progress. All educational institutes need to look beyond commerce to benefit society in general. For this we need genuinely humanitarian people interested in education to enter this field," says this role model teacher.
Moreover as founder chairperson of Amrita Swar Sansthan, a music school affiliated to the Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad, Tandon has been tirelessly promoting music and dance among youth for the past six years. Tuition fees are rock bottom and admission to the talented poor is free. She also directs an annual ballet dance competition for youth, encouraging participation from youngsters across the social spectrum. "Music is a discipline and integral to education. Study of music helps to build confident, impressive personalities," she says.
Indeed her life is her message.
