It may not be a coincidence that the nation that produced the greatest tank commanders also produced the largest number of the greatest music composers in Western classical music. I speak of Germany, ofcourse.
This is the genesis of the idea of Leadership through Music. At Indus, music is not for aesthetics and accomplishment only, but for development of leadership as well.
In its most decanted form, music is spirituality, and comes next to meditation. Devotional music in nearly all religions are forms of prayers that connect the devotee to God, and help in self-awareness. Devotional songs are prayers set to music and abound in all religions -
Music has been used successfully for political mobilisation of large masses of society against injustices such as India's freedom struggle, the civil rights movement in the United States, the Vietnam War, and apartheid in South Africa.
Music goes beyond emotions and spirituality. Research findings conclusively prove that music makes us smarter, because it improves mathematical and memory skills, develops empathy, and improves language skills. It may be of interest that in Ancient Greece, music was a part of the mathematics curriculum, because music and mathematics are based on the language of numerals.
Musical training has a positive impact on education. Neuroscientists have established that music and language share the same neural networks, and musical training, especially instrumental, enlarges parts of the cerebral cortex that are centres of high brain function.
Music is also known to refine our emotions, make us more aesthetic and empathic. In its wider sense, aesthetics is the ability to see beauty in ugliness and good in the bad.
Scientific evidence supports the hypothesis that, man is wired for music and is born musical. Music is an intrinsic part of human instinct. Musical training can, therefore, be effectively used for leadership development, especially in the fields of mindfulness, empathy, aesthetics, critical thinking and spirituality. It is no surprise or chance, therefore, that music at Indus is part of leadership training.
Music enhances leadership training by developing and refining leadership skills like creativity, discipline, coordination and collaboration, and above all, humanness. Music is a powerful tool that unites the mind, heart, and soul of an individual.
(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)
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Date: 11/23/2024