By Dan Carlin, February 9, 2010.

Today we presented several clinics at the Performers Collective, covering such topics as improvisation, funk, film music, and music business. The students, once again, were very attentive and inquisitive. In fact, our experience over these last couple of days has been that once a clinic ends, we remain for a good 20 to 30 minutes speaking individually with students who are overflowing with questions. In my first clinic of the today (on film music), there was a technical challenge: my MacBook, upon which I was relying to show film clips, was too new for the adapters carried by both my colleagues and our hosts. I can’t tell you what the solution was, only that several of the Indian faculty and staff on hand, along with our own ever-technically handy Jason, jumped through hoops to make things right. It made me think of my father, who, when told that a “problem” was preventing completion of a task or project, would state, “There are no problems—only challenges.” It is this spirit that so impresses me among the Indians I have met here.

Because my earlier missives detailed some of our culinary exploits, I feel compelled to state here that, after four days, I’m missing my wife’s excellent home-cooked meals (to say nothing of such local Boston fare as the Legal Seafood Crab Caesar Salad).

Tomorrow, we start our two-day program of auditions and interviews. We’ve had so many students sign up (nearly 200) that we’ve had to double-up on sessions. But, it’s for a good cause, so no one on the team is complaining (really).

I hope to share photographs taken of Greg, Michael, and me being chauffeured from the school back to the hotel tonight in bicycle rickshaws!

Best wishes,

DAC 4

Danielle Dreilinger
Latest posts by Danielle Dreilinger (see all)