On Saturday, October 18, 2008 the students of Dr. Pravin Sitaram a noted mridangam teacher in the Western suburbs of Boston performed for their friends and family at St. Matthew’s Church in Acton, MA. This performance was initiated by the parents as a tribute offered by the students to their guru (teacher) and also as an opportunity for the children to showcase their own talent in playing this ancient Indian percussion instrument. The Mridangam is the primary percussion instrument of South Indian classical (Carnatic) music and dance.   It is a double-ended drum which is played with both hands. The body of the drum is usually made from the wood of the Jackfruit tree.
Pravin Sitaram hails from a family in Mumbai that is steeped in Carnatic music tradition.  Introduced to mridangam at the age of 8, Pravin has learnt this art from his Guru, Shri P. S. Parameswaran - a disciple of the legendary Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer.  He has also had some advanced training under Shri Palghat Raghu in Mumbai. Pravin is noted for his pleasing accompaniment and unobtrusive support of the main performing artist. Pravin has been very active in the Boston area since 1995 and has accompanied several artistes of outstanding caliber and repute, the likes of whom include, the late Dr. Chitti Babu, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. R. K. Srikantan, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt. R. Vedavalli, Shri S. R. Janakiraman, Lalgudi Shri GJR. Krishnan, Lalgudi Smt. Vijayalaksmi, Mysore Manjunath, Guitar Prasanna, Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar and Flute Raman – to name a few.
Pravin has also been actively teaching mridangam to students in the Boston area over the past several years and is a member of the faculty at the Learnquest Academy of Music His students have participated and won prizes at the Thyagaraja Aradhana in Cleaveland, Ohio and a few of his students have also begun their advanced training under the able tutelage of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Shri Palghat Raghu.
The performance began with a short prayer and eighteen boys ranging in age from 8-18 were grouped by Pravin according to their level of expertise.
Group 1: Guhan Aravinthan, Saketh Jayanthi, Varahunan Mathiyalakan and Tejus Subramanian
This group performed the initial lessons one learns on the mridangam.  Starting from Tha Thi Dhom Nam, they performed a few select Padakazhigals which lay the foundation for the more complex rhythmic patterns.  These lessons also strengthen and enable the student to practice the different sounds one can create on the mridangam.
Group 2: Ashwin Aravinthan, Bharath Chari, Hari Kumar and Vikas Prabhakar
They performed the final pieces of the Padakahigals and played a set of Furens followed by a Mora to conclude their performance.  The Furens is the next level taught to the students, in which they begin to  develop speed while playing. A mora is a piece that is played towards the very end of a Thani Avartanam which is the solo performance of the mridangam player during a concert.
Group 3: Chirag Ganesa, Tarun Sankar, Gapilan Sivasithamparam and Varun Subramanyam
This group performed a few select furens and concluded with a Mora.  
Group 4: Tarun Bangalore, Suvithan Rajadurai and Sudharshan Thirumalai
This group performed a Thani avartanam in Adi Talam.  The thani was composed of Nadais, with short Theermanams followed by Furens, a Mora & a Korvai as typically seen in a Thani avartanam performance.
Group 5: Ullas Rao, Arun Saigal and Anandh Swaminathan
Arun performed a Thani in Rupaka Thalam - a cycle of Three beats while Anand performed a Thani in Adi Talam - a cycle of eight beats. Ulhaas completed the individual performances by the three most advanced students of Pravin’s with a thani in in Mishra Chapu Talam - a cycle of seven beats. The three of them ended the program by performing a short piece in Khanda Eka Talam finishing up with the Sankeerna koraippu A Koraippu (Transliteration – Reduction) is usually played at the end of a Thani when there are two percussionists are present on stage.  It is a medium by which the two instruments play rhythmic patterns in shorter cycles and join to play in unison, which culminates in the grand finale of a Thani Avartanam.  
The parents were thrilled to have an opportunity to “showcase” their sons as our daughters often perform at various functions but this performance was unique because it was made up of all boys. Present amongst our audience were two prominent classical dance and music teachers.  One of them, Mrs. Sridevi Ajai Thirumalai, Artistic Director of the Natyamani School of Dance was quoted as saying "It was a pleasure to watch Pravin's students play their pieces on the mridangam at the Annual day performance. Pravin's attention to detail was visible throughout the program".
The other prominent well known Carnatic music and violin teacher in the Boston suburbs Mrs. Tara Bangalore said “Pravin is an accomplished artist himself and on October 18th, we got to see him in his avatar as a very capable teacher. His training of the groups for the annual day was impeccable, the thanis and lessons he chose and put together for the children were sensitively and soundly planned”.
We finished the evening with a wonderful dinner contributed by all the parents with the music still ringing in our ears & reminding Pravin that we finish this year’s performance in anticipation of another more exhilarating one next year.

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