Their school of Rock

Two graduates on how music school helped them gain a foothold in the industry

Music schools sharpen technical facets, it assists an aspiring musician to identify time signatures and related chords; helps structure a song. But Siddhanth Natarajan and Vedant Joshi’s story is beyond classroom education.

"It helped us in networking," says Natarajan.

Vedant Joshi and Siddhant Natarajan

If guitar legend John Petrucci found John Myung (bass player) and Mike Portnoy (drummer) in Berkelee College of Music (Boston) to form Dream Theater, the duo’s confluence ensued at the True School of Music (Mumbai).

After being handed the certificates, the 20-year-olds — who made their stage debut in 2014 — created The Pickled Octopii — an alternative Rock group that concentrates on original music.

Currently, they are stung by the cover virus and hence, have formed a duo to join the sudden resurgence of cover music. Their gig at a Khar café-cum-nightspot will oscillate between tunes by Pink Floyd and Ed Sheeran.

"With all our respect for original music, we decided to form this set up because there is a huge demand for cover gigs, tribute gigs," say the duo.

"The band helped us identify our common interests, so we decided to play as a duo. Our individual skills improved in the music school but then, we weren't a part of the music scene. In school, I met a lot of musicians from the circuit; we started bagging gigs as opening acts. There were teachers from Manhattan School of Music," adds Natarajan, a guitar player and a vocalist.

So is it necessary to go to a school to be a sound musician, we ask? "It is not necessary. If one is driven enough, he can go ahead and pursue it. But the person will take longer to figure things out all by himself in his room. The school condenses the information and presents the matter in a manner that is easily digestible," he adds.

"The atmosphere in the school was encouraging, we rehearsed with a lot of learned people which prepared us for the bigger stage," asserts Joshi.

Joshi (also a keyboard player) took the professional vocal course while Natarajan studied the dynamics of the six strings.

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