Alphons Joseph’s Crossroads School Achieves AVID Learning Partner Affiliation

KOCHI:
Renowned Music Director and Playback Singer, Alphons Joseph’s Crossroads School of Music – Kochi has now been officially recognised as an Avid Learning Partner by the leading global media technology provider, Avid Technology International.

The Crossroads team headed by Joseph received certificates from Shreedhar Deshpande, Avid Master Trainer – India after a quality assessment at Pune. “Avid Technology is the gold standard in global music technology and we are excited to affiliate with them” said Joseph. He said this will enhance the capacity of Crossroads School of Music to provide world-class training and industry-aligned, professional certification in Music production.

Avid Technology, a leading worldwide technology and multimedia company headquartered in Burlington, USA empowers over a million users and thousands of media enterprises across film, television and music sectors through their digital tools and platforms. Global standard-setting solutions in Media production like audio recording software – Pro Tools, Music score-writer programme – Sibelius, film and video editing software – Media Composer are all from Avid.

The Film Music sector is one of the largest industries in India, valued at over Rs 1,000 Crore, employing over a Lakh people. There are approximately 460 Music colleges in India and tens of thousands of private institutes that offer Music courses in various disciplines and instruments – in both Indian and Western streams with Lakhs of students graduating every year.

“But, how many of these youngsters, coming out of such institutions actually get employed in the industry and flourish there?” asks Alphons Joseph who says he himself faced many obstacles before getting a break into the Film Music industry and establishing himself as a successful Music Director. A detailed study of this scenario undertaken by the Crossroads School of Music found that many key skills demanded by the industry like knowledge of Western Music and exposure to Digital technology were lacking in the mainstream Music education curricula.

Alphons Joseph who has successfully created Music and Background scores for over two dozen South Indian feature films said, “To be employable in the industry today, in addition to a sound Musical knowledge, you need a solid technical knowledge, a basic knowledge of Music business and the latest trends in contemporary Music”.

It is to bridge this gap, Crossroads School of Music designed a highly specialised curriculum – Professional Certification in Global Music Production (PCGMP) which was launched in 2018. Split into three semesters, with a course duration of one and a half years, the Course taught by top professionals and Avid Certified Instructors is expected to equip upcoming, Musically talented youngsters, confidently kickstart their journey in the industry.

In the first semester, each student will receive a solid foundation in Music, through learning Piano, any one stringed instrument and Drums, along with a detailed study in Music Theory, the core concepts of Indian Music (Ragas and Taalas). From the second semester, students gain knowledge in the technical aspects of Music, which in the final semester takes them to an advanced level in Music Production. Joseph said the Crossroads School’s
Music studios and Apple Macintosh labs at Kochi is fully equipped with state-of-the-art production equipment and digital resources like Avid Pro Tools®. Besides being an Avid Certified Pro Tools User, Crossroads PCGMP students would be groomed in Film Scoring, Harmony, Composition and Orchestration.

“Our students will also have opportunities to interact with eminent industry personalities and create their own Musical compositions as part of their Project requirement” said Alphons who has toured the world twice and performed with Oscar laureate A. R. Rahman in dozens of concerts.