Growing up in the diverse Bay Area as an Indian American with immigrant parents, I was fortunate to see my culture represented in communities around me from a young age. For the past four years I have flown around the U.S. to attend vocal competitions and conventions, meeting hundreds of singers from around the states and whether in Chicago, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C., I’ve noticed a pressing need for more diversity in the classical music field.
My journey in applying to university music departments nationwide has opened my eyes to the many hurdles aspiring musicians face. Add up the fees for years of private lessons, crucial for developing artists to be vocally competitive, the cost of plane tickets for auditions, lodgings, professional attire, and accompanist fees – and a collegiate music education are extremely expensive and no doubt unavailable to many. As my parents carried those burdens for me, I have recognized my privilege and increasingly wondered how many extraordinarily talented musicians are excluded from our classical music community simply due to the financial disadvantage.
It’s simply impossible to separate the financial barriers in classical music from broader social inequalities. Financially disadvantaged individuals often also belong to racial or ethnic minority groups that have historically faced systemic inequities in education, employment, and representation in the arts. This intersectionality shows the urgent need to expand access to classical music training, because all art forms should be inclusive spaces. True diversity in the arts not only enriches the field by creating a melting pot of backgrounds, but by allowing this beautiful genre to be embraced by the next generation because representation is a key step in inspiring future musicians.
I dream of making classical music and training more accessible to people from all backgrounds, ultimately bringing greater diversity to the field. I hope to work with schools to train and recruit students from underrepresented communities to music schools. Gaining the skills and mentorship to make this dream a reality in college, I hope to contribute toward building an inclusive school and in turn, an inclusive artist community and larger society.
One day I want to advance participation in music with another often-overlooked group: senior citizens. My grandmother is my biggest inspiration as a singer. When she was young she was offered a radio deal to sing across India, but her father married her off and her mother-in-law banned music in their household. I began performing at a young age in her dream. Last year I began my club “Singing for Seniors,” where we perform at senior homes, providing young artists with a performance space and seniors residents with entertainment. This year, we started a karaoke portion of the performance. Watching the resident’s faces light up as I held a mic up to them to sing sparked a new idea within me: what if the seniors performed! Researching online, I found that Musical Theatre International (MTI) is in the process of developing “senior” editions of musicals, mimicking the “jr” editions that are produced around the world. Additionally, I learned about drama therapy—the use of theatre-based processes like acting and storytelling to achieve therapeutic and rehabilitative goals.
Collaborating with activities directors at local senior homes and care facilities to produce musical scenes performed by the residents would be a great way to achieve this goal. To make this project a success, working with drama and musical theatre majors, to collaborate on an artistic vision, as well as psychology students, to better understand the therapeutic value of this work would be another way to create a stronger project. Beginning this interdisciplinary project in college campuses across the country would be an effective way to combine artistic creativity with meaningful social impact. Through these efforts, I believe it is possible to build a future where classical music and the performing arts are accessible and inclusive for people of all ages and backgrounds.