Manhattan Mentor For Mumbai Music School

Justin DiCioccio

There is absolutely no doubt about whose side Justin DiCioccio is on when it comes to formally trained musicians vs. the self-taught artist debate. For over two decades now, DiCioccio, besides being a well-known jazz drummer ”“ he’s played for the Rochester Philharmonic and as part of the US Marine Band, The President’s Own at the White House ”“ has earned the moniker of a “musician’s teacher.” His latest stop is True School of Music (TSM) in Mumbai, a new multi-disciplinary music school slated to open on September 16^th this year. At TSM, DiCioccio, who is currently the associate dean at Manhattan School of Music (MSM) will be the acting dean.

TSM, which is spread over 15,000 square feet at Mumbai’s Lower Parel area, is the brainchild of Blue Frog’s founder and composer Ashutosh Phatak alongwith sound engineer Nitin Chandy and advertising industry veteran Suranjan Das. The music school will train students up to the professional level in guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals as well as music production, engineering and DJing. The teaching staff will comprise members from DiCioccio’s school in New York (MSM) as well as London’s Academy of Contemporary Music. “Our partnership with Justin is primarily a faculty partnership, to bring internationally trained faculty over here, which is one of the biggest things missing in the country. Justin has been phenomenal in the way he set up his program where they consider teaching students as one of the key things a musician must do,” says Phatak of DiCioccio, who was inducted into the Jazz Education Hall of Fame and has academically served Carnegie Hall Jazz Education and Lincoln Center in the past.

Saxophonist David Liebman, an Artist In Residence at the MSM, who has performed with artists such as Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Dave Holland, will be conducting master classes and concerts in Mumbai. In addition, TSM’s faculty will comprise an ever-changing team of five graduate and doctoral students from MSM, sourced by DiCioccio. “There’s opportunity for our faculty to become part of the Indian scene. Teachers and grad/ doctorate students from Manhattan can learn more about Hindustani music during their time here. They can possibly play in the Bollywood scene or do concerts as at the Blue Frog, which will host special nights that see the faculty band jamming with big guys from here. India’s a perfect place for them to network and help build their careers, so it’s a perfect marriage,” says DiCioccio.

The school’s curriculum, which is based on the Trinity College 8-grade Rock & Pop program, has been created keeping DiCioccio’s triumvirate approach in mind. “My philosophy is to create the complete musician of the 21st century”” a performer, a composer and pedagogue. It’s an interdisciplinary approach to music where the three feed off one another. Knowing how to dissect a performance (like a pedagogue) helps you be a better performer. Being able to compose, ie. write songs or tunes, arranging helps you to be a better improviser, so everything is intertwined,” says DiCioccio. On his own too, the jazz educator has been practising what he preaches. “My usual day starts very early in the morning with answering emails, then studying new music scores, practising drums then into rehearsal, office administrative hours and evening concerts and or performances,” he says.

Considering his background, will the TSM curriculum lean more towards jazz? DiCioccio answers that the education at True School will focus on all genres. “It’s not a jazz curriculum, but a medium. We wanted to teach the roots of all this music.  We all come from the jazz core but the umbrella of jazz is very large including fusion jazz, pop, rock,” he says, “So we will be teaching all the styles of rock, hip hop, RnB, funk and traditions from all over the world. Jazz continues to influence all of contemporary music styles into the 21st century and it’s important to understand where this music comes from to execute it more authentically.”

With full-time as well as part-time courses for anyone between six to 90 years of age, TSM under DiCioccio’s approach is open to enroll casual music enthusiasts as part of their foundation program. “Some of the musicians may be amateurs and doing it just for fun, but that’s okay ’cause we need to develop audiences too. Audience development is very important to appreciate and understand music. If someone writes a score on a high level, people may not understand that unless they understand music, so we need a more educated audience too, which is where these beginners can contribute,” he says about the need to create a community of “educated” listeners in India.

While DiCioccio is unsure of what level of expertise to expect from his students in India, he is certain about the future of music education in India. “What I envision is that right now it will be a certain level, but as things get better, the beginner’s level will change too. Over the years, there will be a big difference from what we offer now. The starting level will be much higher cause the students who come this September will start teaching students too and before you know the level of teaching will be higher and higher in India,” he adds.