When my father composed kritis, he sang the lyrics in ragam and talam all at a time , as though giving birth to a child , which I used to notate immediately. With appas blessings I hv inherited this style of composing and today as a matter of practice as I compose I write down the kriti with notation.
– Dr. Rukmini Ramani
Educator and multifaceted Guru
Dr Rukmini Ramani started her career as a Teacher / Lecturer in the prestigious Kalakshetra, Chennai between 1971-73. After the demise of her father in 1973, she took to teaching in Sarada Vidyalaya Chennai as a Music Teacher. She worked there for 10 long years from 1975-84 before she became the Lecturer of Vocal Music at the Music College where she taught from 1985-97.
A very different opportunity came her way when she was offered a Government assignment to teach music in Mauritius. She was deputed as Carnatic Vocal teacher and performer by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for the Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian Culture, Mauritius between December 1992 and June 1996. She framed the syllabus for both practical and theory. She assembled a choir group and taught devotional and national songs in many languages including French. She penned the lyrics, composed the music and presented several cultural programmes including choir presentations. She composed music for Indian dances and for Vadhya Vrinda ensembles on the occasion of Independence Day and other national functions of Mauritius. She also composed Tamil songs for the Tamil Temple Federation and Hindu Mahajan Sangam, Mauritius.
Back home, she continued to teach Sri Sivan’s compositions to her students. She has always been keen to promote and create awareness of Papanasam Sivan’s compositions.
Sivan Arts Academy:
After her retirement from the Adyar Music College, she started a Music School named Sivan Arts Academy that has been training several hundreds of students in Classical vocal, instrumental music and Bharatanatyam.
Her disciples are all over the world and some are very eminent musicians, research scholars and teachers. Her disciple teachers are teaching others today and thus the wings are spreading.
She is a tireless teacher and even today she wakes up very early to pass on her bountiful knowledge to students overseas.
She has also been training many senior citizens who are above the age of sixty. Though some of them are not trained in music, she motivates them to sing that gives lot of joy and happiness to them.