22 March,2013 01:36 AM IST | | Hassan M Kamal
With an aim to promote music as an expression of joy, the Choir of Jesus College, University of Cambridge has travelled all the way from UK to perform with Mumbai children, on March 24, at the Blue Frog. Led by Mark Williams, a music professor, the group includes 28 students, specialising in different subjects including Engineering, History, Biology, Computer Science and the Classics and stresses on how music is not a distraction from academics.
Members of the Choir of Jesus College Cambridge
"The principle aim of the project is nothing more than to share the joy of music between two different cultures," says Williams, who arrived in Mumbai on Thursday along with the College Choir. Over the next few days the group will be visiting five centres run by Songbound, a charity that provides both Indian and Western musical training to children in areas where musical opportunities are limited and workshop with them while preparing songs.
Mark Williams, music conductor
Williams and the Choir group will be leading the workshops, working on developing good breathing techniques and encouraging the children to use the full extent of their voices. "We all have these wonderful instruments at our disposal and we just need a few tips on how to use them in order to share the beauty of our voices with others," he adds.
"The idea is to select a few children from each centre that we visit and have them come to sing with the Choir in the concert," he comments. "I haven't met any of the children yet, but I'm very much looking forward to hearing the results," he says.
