Academic Year Workshops

Join us for an inspiring day with Sandeep Das and Mike Block, a dynamic, cross genre duo that originally met as members of Yo-Yo Ma's Grammy Award winning Silkroad Ensemble. Featuring a combination of the Tabla: a pair of Indian drums used in Hindustani Classical Music, Cello: a bowed instrument used in Europen Classical Music, as well as Vocals: both rhythmic and melodic, this energetic duo has been performing and sharing their music throughout America and India since 2013 via tours, residencies, global musician workshops, string camps, and creative music retreats.

A musical conversation can connect people and cultures, and this unexpected combination of the Tabla and the Cello has enabled these musicians to explore questions of how we approach rhythmic and melodic practices. We can build a deeper understanding of non-western music and cultures, while also learning more about ourselves, by learning new musical languages. This interative workshop will ask participants to learn by ear, using our instruments as a tool to facilitate connection through improvisation, arranging, and composing music together, drawing on both Western and Indian concepts and techniques.

Sessions will include:

• Analyzing relationships between Indian Ragas with Western Scales
• Exploring improvisational structures for Indian Ragas
• Analyzing relationships between Indian rhythmic cycles (Taal) and Western time signatures
• Indentifying and experiencing multiple methods in which to learn melodies aurally in a group setting
• Designing strategies for adapting melodies learned by ear into ensemble arrangements
• Identifying structures within which we can co-compose music collaboratively
• Learning instrumental techniques from non-classical styles
• Identifying ways to incorporate different learning methods in a group setting
   

Tuition

For credit: 

• $170* (1 credit) for current K–12 music educators
• $425 (1 credit) for all others

*Employment verification required, participants must submit this form.

Participation only: $95 (No graduate credit or academic transcript record)

Lunch is included with the cost of registration.

This workshop is being made financially accessible by a discount for any current music educator, at any grade level in a public or private school setting.

Workshop Clinicians

Mike Block

Mike Block is a multi-style cello player, composer, singer, and educator, with a passion for cross cultural collaborations. In addition to solo performances, Mike's touring bands include Biriba Union, Mike Block Trip, duo with Indian tabla player Sandeep Das, and a West-African fusion band with Balla Kouyata. Since 2005, Mike has been a member of the Silk Road Ensemble, founded by Yo-Yo Ma with which he earned a 2017 Grammy Award.

As an innovator, Mike is among the first wave of cellists to adopt a strap to stand and move while performing using his own patented design, The Block Strap, and is the musical consultant for Forte3D, the world's first 3D printed carbon fiber cello.

As an educator, Mike is dedicated to creating transformative experiences, and is the founder/director of the Mike Block String Camp in Vero Beach, FL., Silkroad's Global Musician Workshop in Boston, MA, and Hangzhou, China, and teaches over 400 cello students online through his Multi-Style Cello School at ArtistWorks.com. Since 2018 he has been on the faculty of New England Conservatory

Sandeep Das

Sandeep Das is one of the leading Indian Tabla virtuosos in the world today. He has collaborated with top musicians and ensembles from across the globe such as Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, with whom he has performed  for the past 21 years, as well as Paquito D'Rivera. Bobby McFerrin, and iconic orchestras like the NY Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, and Chicago Symphony. A grammy award winning musician and Guggenheim fellow, Das' groundbreaking new music projects sit at the crucible of ancient tradition and modern innovation, enchanting audiences worldwide. Transcending Borders One Note at a Time, his most recent project, was launched in 2020 to widespread international acclaim, and seeks to harness the power of music to catalyze positive social change.

Driven by a vision for a brighter future, Das is the founder of Layalaya, a non-profit arts organization in the U.S. that creates arts experiences that connect people across time, place and culture. In India he founded the non-profit Harmony and Universality through music (HUM) which has promoted global understanding through music performance and provided learning opportunities and scholarships for visually-impaired children with artistic potential since 2009. He is also an active public speaker, having presented at the New York Encounter, The EG Conference, TEDx events, and multiple University residencies. In 2015 he establshed Das Tabla School, where he currently trains musicians from 6+ countries both online and n person in Boston, MA