Today's post is a great story about the power of mentorship from producer Gary Gray.  Gary is a great teacher and mentor himself and in today's post Gary shares a story about one of his mentors, Ramnad Raghavan.

Gary and I recently created a course all about how to produce music that meets the industry standards necessary for licensing music in film and television. 

Save 20% off our course this weekend only.  Check it out here:
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Over to you Gary....

"Thank you Aaron.

Now that students from all over the world are busy working on the course that Aaron and I put together; "How To Produce Music That Will Get Licensed And Make You Money," I've had a chance to closely interact with many of them via email, Skype, critiques and phone calls.

As mentioned in Part 3 of the last blog series, I have found that the common denominator of ALL of my most recent Market Research is summed up in one word: MENTORING.  This is what Indie Musicians from around the world need and want more than anything in order to crank out consistent industry standard tracks from their home studios and land actual licensing deals - and make money with their craft.  As I mentioned, I have been very lucky -  I have extensive experience - bothbeing Mentored and in Mentoring others - and count Mentoring others as one of my strongest passions.

In order to fully convey the power of a Mentorship - having been mentored by some of the world's top musicians and executives in the Music Industry -- I share with you now this inspiring true story, details and all, so that you can re-live this unforgettable life-changing lesson that taught me for the first time what Mentoring was all about.

Ramnad Raghavan , one of the world's most respected mridangam (Carnatic [Southern] Indian Percussion Instrument) players, Mentored me personally when I was 21 years old. I lived in Cleveland at the time and was assisting Ramnad in transcribing ancient Indian musical pieces into Western Notation.  Every Thursday at 4:30PM I would show up at his home and he would sit me down in the living room, hand me a mridangam drum and sit down across from me about 3 feet away.  He would say nothing. He would simply play a rhythm on his mridangam then nod his head towards me and look me straight in the eye, as if to say, "Now you play that."

I would attempt to repeat what he had just played.  If I didn't play it perfectly, without saying a word, he would simply play the same rhythm again, and nod. Depending on the complexity of the rhythm he was teaching me, a number of minutes (or hours) would pass until I was able to play it perfectly.  Once I did, he would then play another rhythm and start the process all over again. When he felt I had made good progress for the day, we would end that part of the lesson.

Then, he would ask me if I was experiencing any confusions, problems or challenges IN LIFE. If I had any to discuss, he would relate each subject to music, and express his experience and wisdom in facing similar situations.  Always he would weave music throughout his discussions with me, making comparisons between life and music, showing the parallels and the differences. He would often tell me, in his distinctive Indian dialect, "Gary (pronouncing it "Geddy"), Music is the master, not the musician. The musician is not the slave. The musician is the messenger. The musician is not the master.  The musician is the messenger.  Your purpose is to deliver the message from the composer to the listener. You are not the message.  You are not the master. You are the messenger."

Though dedicated and totally willing at the time; I was young.  With youth comes delay sometimes.  As in delayed wisdom. There are other less poetic names for it, but we've all seen it.  And we've all been there. It's that feeling inside -- that you already know what the teacher is teaching you.  I heard what he said -- but it wasn't until he SHOWED me that I totally got it.  I got to see what Mentoring really means. It means showing the student how it is done; while explaining to him or her what to do exactly, and cautioning him or her about what not to do.

Here's how he showed me. . . here's how he Mentored me:

One Thursday at 4:30PM I showed up for my lesson.  We proceeded through my lesson, exactly as described above. At 7PM I was leaving his house.  As I walked towards my car, Ramnad called my name, "Geddy!  Come back here. Now!"  I turned around and he had this almost mischievous look on his face. . . but I wasn't sure if he was being serious or kidding.  He was very intense in both arenas; Serious and Humor, and just as hard to read.  I thought, "OK, now what?"

He reached his right hand out towards me.  His hand was clenched, palm down.  Without saying a word I could see in his eye that he wanted to put something in my hand.  I stretched out my right hand and held it, palm up, under his. He put something in my hand, closed my hand with both of his, and looked me straight in the eye without flinching.  He said, "Geddy, this is where your next lesson is. Be there on time - Saturday at 6AM. Now go!!"  He turned me around and gave me a firm shove, with love for sure, towards my car.

Being 21, I instantly stopped, turned around and opened my hand.  There was a crumpled piece of paper that had a NY apartment address on it; Manhattan to be precise.  I looked up instantly, saying, "Ramnad, what the. . . ? Uhm. . . What is this? Ramnad!!"  The front door banged shut behind him as he walked back into his house. I followed, of course, and we had a funny/serious conversation.  Funny to him.  Serious to me.

"Ramnad, I can't be in NY on Saturday!"

"Geddy, this is the most important lesson you will ever be taught, so you must be there.  Now go home!"

"I can't afford this with such short notice, and I have gigs!  And I have plans Ramnad!"

"Go home Geddy.  I see you in NY on Saturday.  I said Go!"

He won. I went home, crumpled paper still in hand. But it still wasn't funny to me.  Yes, I was excited for sure, but this was Thursday evening and I had to figure out how to change major plans and be in NY on Saturday - at 6AM!

The Most Important Lesson Ever

At 6AM, Saturday morning, I pulled my rental car, which my Dad helped me secure, up to the address on the crumpled piece of paper.  I had never been to NY City before.  OMG. This was not what I knew to be an "apartment."  It was more like a Mansion, connected to another Mansion, which was connected to another Mansion, etc. I walked up the long flight of marble stairs to the front door.  There was an ornate knocker on the door, just like in the movies.  But it was 6AM, so I knocked softly with my hand.  The huge door creaked open a crack and a beautiful Indian girl, with a flowing red and gold Sari and a Bindi (dark red dot of color in the middle of the forehead) peered out. I had never seen her before.

"Geddy!" she said, "You are here!  Come in!"

She slowly opened the door and as I walked in I could see about 12 people sleeping on various make-shift beds on the floor.  Almost every one of them was Indian. 

"Come, here is your place. Rest," she said. Being in a mild state of culture shock, I didn't say a word.  I smiled and placed my stuff next to my bedding and lay down. As I rested my eyes, I heard two people arguing in the kitchen.  Everyone else in the room continued to sleep, even as the arguing crescendoed. 

"Use your manners!  Don't be an ass!  Come on man!"  It was Ramnad!  I recognized his voice anywhere. 

"Ok, ok, ok.  You're right.  I'm sorry, I was just in a bit of a hurry. You're right.  My bad."

"Don't do it again!"

"Ok, ok. I won't do it again."

Silence.

"Geddy!  Hey John, come here, meet my best student from Cleveland, Geddy!  Geddy, you made it on time (laughing) meet my best student from New York, John!" I shook John's hand.

Wait a minute.  No.  This could not be. 

Was it?

Was I shaking hands with the legendary John Mclaughlin?  The man Jeff Beck says is the greatest guitarist alive?  The man who played with Jimi Hendrix?  The man who played with Miles Davis?  The leader of The Mahavishnu Orchestra?  The leader of Shakti?

It was.

Read the rest of the story here:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/blog/john-mclaughlin-ramnad-raghavan-and-a-story-of-mentorship

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Happy Songwriting!
Aaron Davison