Mentoring Through Music
Jaiveer Misra is a 16-year-old student of The British School in New Delhi, India. A talented musician, Jaiveer believes that music is a universal language that transcends boundaries and disparity. To quote Jaiveer, “Music in any form or structure is enjoyed by everyone and can be appreciated in many ways through the course of everyday life. It is a wonderful way to make a connection and open the window to creative horizons.”
This ethos of connection is the foundation for his social initiative “Mentoring Through Music.” Using his passion for music, Jaiveer has worked collaboratively over the last two years with the wider community through organizations that work with less-advantaged children to bring them musical learning and encourage their musical passion.
Back to class
Innovatively, Jaiveer has designed an interactive masterclass on jazz and blues that has received a wonderful response from the students he has engaged with across three different organizations. The class, shared on a PowerPoint, simplifies and breaks down both genres and delves into detail about the origins and history of each genre as well as instruments and layering used. Emphasis is given to performing artists from each field, and their songs and style are explained through sharing and explanation of their music videos. Artists covered have included Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Guy, and B.B King.
After the session, Jaiveer distributes a booklet to his students with questions that they must answer. The questions are related to musicians the children enjoyed most and what their favorite instruments are, amongst others. In most cases, Ella Fitzgerald has emerged as a clear favourite! The language of the class as well as the booklet is Hindi. The session lasts for an hour and a half and often ends with a sing-along for the students involved. The most popular song for the sing along so far has been “Rock On,” as students have been able to draw parallels between this popular Hindi movie song and jazz!
The beat goes on
Wanting to create a deeper impact and spread the net wider, Jaiveer has recently conceptualized and created music rooms at Nirmal Primary School in Delhi, India. Jaiveer’s students have expressed a great desire to have access to the musical instruments they wish to learn, and Jaiveer hopes to be able to fulfill their wishes though this endeavor. Based on student responses about the instruments that they most want to engage with, Jaiveer has provided a keyboard, guitar, tabla, harmonium, drum set, harmonicas, and flutes to each music room along with basic beginner guides on how to learn these instruments.
The funds were raised by Jaiveer through a crowdfunding platform for this ambitious project, and he is reaching out to interested musicians to volunteer their time to teach students these instruments in a structured format. The goal to create music rooms will continue with the remaining municipal schools of Delhi and organizations that Jaiveer has worked with. He hopes to be able to provide volunteer music teachers to each organization.
A famous quote “when your passion runs deep…your journey is infinite” defines much of what Jaiveer is working on. Much of the journey still lies ahead, but through his continuing experiences, Jaiveer has had much to teach and learn from teaching the students he is working with, finding along the way that music indeed unites and transcends all boundaries.
More about Jaiveer
Jaiveer is a vocalist and pianist who is self-taught on the guitar. Earlier this year Jaiveer was invited to perform at “We Works” in Bangalore. He has also performed at The Easy Human Café in Colaba in Mumbai where he was invited for the opening and at The Piano man in Gurgaon. He has donated the voluntary proceeds from his performances to animal welfare organizations as this is a cause close to his heart. In his free time Jaiveer enjoys composing music, and his latest album “Trance” and new single “Town” can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, and other popular music streaming platforms under “J.A.I.V”.
This project is promoted by the Big Picture Project.