From April 15th to 19th, 2019, the Musical Bridges researcher Rafael Caro visited Mumbai and Pune to present to a series of Hindustani classical music experts the tools developed in the project to aid the understanding and appreciation of this musical tradition. To carry out this visit, Caro obtained a mobility grant from the Erasmus+ programme, managed through the 4 Universities Alliance. He also had the great help of Prof. Preeti Rao, from the Electric Engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technolgoy (IIT) Bombay, which was the host institution. Prof. Rao was the main contact between Caro and the experts he visited.

Prof. Preeti Rao was the leader of the IIT Bombay team in the CompMusic project, from which to a large extent Musical Bridges arises. Expert in audio signal processing for speech and music, she was the PI of the Hindustani classical music research carried out in the CompMusic project. During Caro's visit to IIT Bombay, the Musical Bridges research had the chance to know first hand the research that Prof. Rao's continues carrying out in relation with this music tradition, especially focused on the analysis of rāg grammaticality and with special emphasis on the melodic motives that characterize each rāg's identity. Equally, Prof. Rao suggested interesting imporvements for the automatic analysis of tuning in recordings of this music tradition.

During his stay in Mumbai, Caro had the opportunity to also meet Prof. Milind Malshe and Dr. Suvarnalata Rao. Prof. Malshe, professor of English language and literature in the Humanitites Department at IIT Bombay, and currently retired, is an expert scholar and singer of Hindustani classical music, what led him to offer a course on the appreciation of this music. Prof. Malshe granted his approval for the Musical Bridges tools and did important bibliographic contributions to the project. Dr. Suvarnalata Rao, currently the head of Indian music programming at the National Center for the Performing Arts, is a renowned musicologist specialized in Hindustani classical music. After her extensive teaching experience at the Rotterdam Conservatory, she was a co-author in the acclaimed The Raga Guide (Nimbus 1999), and of the website Music in Motion: The Automated Transcription for Indian Music (AUTRIM) Project. Dr. Rao also granted her approval for our tools, and suggested some improvement possibilities, addressing the representation of the melodic motives that characterise each rāg.

In Pune, Caro was hosted by Mr. Nitin Amin, accomplished performer of bansuri, with an extensive experience in the dissemination of Hindustani classical music to the general public, as result of which he developed the the website RagaSphere in collaboration with Mr. Nandu Kulkarni. The tools for Hindustani music developed in Musical Bridges are in fact to a good extent inspired in the teaching material from this website. Besides sharing his knowledge and music with Caro, both Mr. Amin and Mr. Kulkarni showed a great interest for the Musical Bridges tools and saw great potential for their eduational function. Such is the case that future collaboration for their improvement was agreed, as well as for the development of a dissemination plan. Finally, Caro could briefly meet Mr. Sandeep Bagchee, author of two acclaimed books for the dissemination of Hindustani classical music, Nād (B.P.I. Publishers 1998) and Shruti (Rupa 2006). Mr. Bagchee, who is currently working with computational methods for a future publication on rāg music, also showed his interest for the tools developed in Musical Bridges, and granted his approval.

Thanks to this visit, Rafael Caro, and the Musical Bridges project in general, obtained three important outcomes. Firstly, the unanimous approval from renowned experts in Hindustani classical music and with experience and interest in its dissemination to the general public. This is an important acknowledgement and encouragement for the work developed in the project. Secondly, he obtained important suggestions for both the technical and musical improvement of the tools, which will be implemented as soon as possible. Finally, he established a contacts network that will help in the future development of Musical Bridges and its dissemination among the community of experts in Hindustani classical music.

Musical Bridges wants to thank 4 Universities Alliance and the Erasmus+ programme for funding this visit, and particularly to Prof. Preeti Rao from IIT Bombay for her invaluable help in the logistics and the organization of meetings with the different experts.