Our music academies have turned into music shops.
Elyas Toghyani, singer and ney player, told HonarOnline:
“These days I am busy teaching music online. Music academies have closed, and online teaching—due to the country’s weak internet—is not going well. The situation is the same at the universities. Students are not getting what they should; in fact, online education has become a real challenge and even a disaster for students.”
He continued:
“I am also working on Mr. Arabshahi’s album ‘Khiyal-e Parvaz’ (‘Flight of Imagination’), which includes two tasnifs, two avaz pieces, and a prelude. We are in the final stages, hoping to release it soon. This project is something we truly care about, and it has no financial justification. Those who do serious music work these days either pay out of their own pocket or work purely out of friendship.”
Toghyani on the state of music education:
“There are people with very little experience in music who nonetheless teach with that same little experience. I don’t know what they teach. They have nothing meaningful to offer their students. It’s really sad to see such things.”
In conclusion, while criticizing the current state of some educational programs, he added:
“If you can’t teach, why are you teaching? Teaching singing isn’t just about singing a song and sending the student off to practice. If it was just about that, the student could simply listen to a CD by masters like Setad Davami or Master Karimi and practice on their own. The real job of a teacher is to identify and correct the student’s mistakes—which, unfortunately, doesn’t happen these days. Our music academies have turned into music shops.”
“These days I am busy teaching music online. Music academies have closed, and online teaching—due to the country’s weak internet—is not going well. The situation is the same at the universities. Students are not getting what they should; in fact, online education has become a real challenge and even a disaster for students.”
He continued:
“I am also working on Mr. Arabshahi’s album ‘Khiyal-e Parvaz’ (‘Flight of Imagination’), which includes two tasnifs, two avaz pieces, and a prelude. We are in the final stages, hoping to release it soon. This project is something we truly care about, and it has no financial justification. Those who do serious music work these days either pay out of their own pocket or work purely out of friendship.”
Toghyani on the state of music education:
“There are people with very little experience in music who nonetheless teach with that same little experience. I don’t know what they teach. They have nothing meaningful to offer their students. It’s really sad to see such things.”
In conclusion, while criticizing the current state of some educational programs, he added:
“If you can’t teach, why are you teaching? Teaching singing isn’t just about singing a song and sending the student off to practice. If it was just about that, the student could simply listen to a CD by masters like Setad Davami or Master Karimi and practice on their own. The real job of a teacher is to identify and correct the student’s mistakes—which, unfortunately, doesn’t happen these days. Our music academies have turned into music shops.”
Category:
Article
Date:
2025/05/30
