Namaskaram!
It is New Year’s Eve here, on the cusp of 2021! What a year it has been! Wishing all of you a fantastic year ahead – stay safe and well, and may we put this pandemic behind us soon!
It has been difficult musically speaking. No in-venue concerts, in-place music classes moved online, and the very fabric of music – the interaction between teacher and student, or collaboration between musicians and dancers – all were put under undue stress with no end in sight.
But we learned to be resilient – music classes DID move online, and we figured out how to continue our musical journeys that way. Musical collaboration did happen, and people learnt more video editing and online streaming skills, and virtual collaboration. With safeguards in place, musicians were able to get together to perform too! Families got to spend a whole lot more time together, being sequestered at home, and learned to find ways and means of engaging the children with learning and activities!
At Upbeat Labs, we are glad to have played our small part in helping people with their musical journeys. Kālapramānam, whilst already an import facet of musical training, became all the more important in virtual collaborations and virtual lessons. Talanome, our Carnatic Metronome, helped with this. My TalaVadyam, our Carnatic Percussion Sequencer, helped people with transcribing and playing Carnatic percussion sequences and learning and playing along with them.
We have a bunch of exciting improvements to Talanome and My TalaVadyam, as well as plans for a couple of new apps which I think you’ll like and find helpful.
As we look forward to happier and easier times, let us take a moment to be thankful for everything that we have, and a moment of silence and respect to all those who didn’t have as much, or who lost loved ones to this utterly trying pandemic.
Wishing you a fantastic 2021 filled with Music and Happiness!
Sridhar and the Upbeat Labs Team 😊
