The Solfège Department of the Music Conservatory "Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga" of Bilbao invited the researcher of Musical Bridges Rafael Caro Repetto to give a course on the basic concepts of north Indian classical music. The main goal of the course, which took place on September 24th, was to familiarize students and faculty with the concepts of rāga and tāla, as they are performed in khayāl. With a strong practical approach, Rafael Caro invited the participants to follow different tālas, especially tīntāl, using the traditional hand gestures and to sing different exercises and a song in rāga yaman. To ease the understanding of the audience, he draw on the Musical Bridges tools developed for Hindustani music. More than 40 students and more than 10 faculty members attended the four hours course. Among the participants was Éric Surmenian, a local musician who, besides other instruments, plays sāraṅgī. Éric brought the instrument to the course and demonstrated it playing a brief presentation of rāga yaman. The participants were engaged with the course at all times, participating in the exercises, asking questions, itervening with comments, and showing a particular interest in the Musical Bridges tools.

Cristina Arroyo, faculty member of the Solfège Department and one of the organizers, edited a summary video of the course (in Spanish), which is shared in the accompanying multimedia material with her permission.

This course was funded by the Education Department of the Basque Government.