Music workshops for business executives

Mumbai, Jul 25 (UNI) For thousands of managers and business executives whose lives revolve around crunching numbers and meeting deadlines, help is at hand in the form of music workshops.

A brainchild of Vivek Rajogopalan, a classically-trained musician and former client service executive, now a full-time musician, Vivek had revitalised the management of some of the country's biggest corporate houses like Pepsi, ICICI and Hutch among others.

''The idea hit me 3-4 years ago when I thought that the rhythms of music can be incorporated in the office. This way, the entire organisation could work in sync and as a team,'' says Vivek, who is based in the metropolis.

Vivek designs his music and props to motivate overworked and often stressed out corporate people and refocus them on the company's ethos, to build a team work and help them in finding a suitable rhythm in their otherwise dreary but high pressure jobs.

''I only use rhythmic soundtracks or vocals like acapella and compose the track according to the needs and character of the companies,'' he explains.

Keeping things simple, Vivek had used paint drums for executives of Asian Paints and empty cola bottles for Pepsi's management. Going by the response from the corporate, he seems to have found his own groove. He had conducted workshops in cities like Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore to participants of upto 3,000 executives.

''Most people come with an attitude of being musically ignorant.

By the time it ends, they are often surprised to discover that they have musical talents too,'' he says.

''I'm not trying to turn them into musicians, but help them find their own rhythm, creating their own pattern, that can be applied at work,'' he says.

Vivek had also made jingles for TV commercials and soundtracks for Bollywood and conducts his workshops more as a hobby than as a career. He has just completed recording his debut album, ''Moving Images'', a nine track collection of 'Indian electronic' instrumental music, produced by Mumbai's Blue Frog to be released on July 31.

But all these activities do not worry the multi-talented musician who wants to carry on shaking boardrooms with his infectious beats.

''It should be a big thrill and a challenge,'' says Vivek with a grin.

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