Editor,
I want to shatter a hypocritical mindset that is deeply rooted among parents and school management in Arunachal Pradesh: we love boasting about our children’s ‘talent’, but we are utterly shameless when it comes to paying the professionals who build that talent.
Let’s stop pretending that music is just a casual pastime or a few random notes of do-re-mi. It is a brutal, high-investment professional course. The teachers you try to bargain with have spent eight to 15 years of their lives undergoing intense, hardcore daily practice. They have poured thousands of rupees into their education, paying international examination fees to boards like Trinity College of Music, London or Rockschool of Music (RSM) or the Associated Boards of the Royal School of Music (ABRSM) that cost anywhere from Rs 7,000 to Rs 13,500 per grade. Others have spent years grinding for formal bachelors and masters in music degrees.
Yet, when it comes to paying these highly qualified professionals, our people suddenly become broke. Negotiating with a certified music student or musician – someone who has mastered technical, theoretical, and performance standards – is not a ‘negotiation’. It is an insult. It is exploitation, plain and simple.
Let’s look at how the rest of the world values this profession, just to show how disconnected from reality Arunachal is. Outside our state, reputable music academies charge a minimum of Rs 4,500 just for the initial beginner level – and that is only for eight classes a month, lasting the standard 45-50 minutes each. As the student’s grade goes higher, that fee climbs. If you want private one-on-one lessons at home, music instructors charge a minimum of Rs 1,000 per hour for a beginner, with rates multiplying for advanced grades.
And if you think that’s high on a national level, look at the global standard. In the US, UK, Europe, South Korea and Japan, where musical prodigies and geniuses are raised, a one-hour music lesson costs between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 in Indian currency. That means a student there pays nearly Rs 28,000 a month for just four classes a month. Now do you understand the true value of music?
Why is it that our parents will blindly throw money at science, maths, or computer coaching institutes without whispering a word, but the moment a local music teacher asks for a fraction of market value, people act shocked? Music cannot be taught out of a textbook to a crowd of 50 children. It requires exhausting, one-on-one practical training, expensive instruments, and specialised skill.
If you think a real music education should cost the same as a basic academic tuition fee, you are delusional.
If our society continues to treat top-tier musicians like cheap, disposable hobbyists, do not be surprised when our best talent packs their bags and leaves the state for good. They will go where their skills are actually respected.
To the parents and schools of Arunachal: It is time to come out of the boxed mindset and encourage students to pursue skills as their career and I am sure Arunachal will come out one day with a good music college and music academies offering international board graded course, diplomas, bachelors and masters in music like other states. Arunachal must start getting awareness, acknowledge and accept the value of music courses.
A music student
