| Courses |
Sapthaswaras Fine Arts offers courses in the specific of subjects in the Indian Performing Arts. The courses conducted and the corresponding tutors are as follows: |
| Carnatic Vocal |
| Mrs. Kavitha |
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Mrs. Kavitha is the principal of the school. She started learning Vocal music at the age of 5, under the guidance of Mrs. Bama and then under Sri VijayaRaghavan who was a disciple of Madurai T.N. SeshaGopalan. She participated in many competitions, and at the age of 10 gave her first full-fledged stage performance - Arangerttram. She continued her journey in music as well as academic studies, and passed with a distinction in Bachelors of Commerce from University of Madras. Her passion for her music made her pursue her studies in Music. She has completed B. Music from University of Madras. She has given more than 200 music performances throughout India, such as the ThiyagarajaAradahana festivals at Thiruvaiyaru as well as December musical festivals at Chennai. She also gave performance in visual media i.e., T.V. and satellite channels in India. At a later stage, she fine-tuned her talent under the guidance of Mrs. SubhaGanesan, who was a disciple of (late) Shrimati M.L. Vasanthakumari, famously known as MLV and Dr. RadhaBhaskar, who is senior disciple of Padma Bhooshan P S Narayanaswamy. She was also conducting music classes at a music school run by her Guru. |
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| Mrs. Kavitha came to Singapore in August 1999, and started ol “SapthaSwaras Fine Arts” in 2000. She has been conducting Carnatic Vocal lessons since then. She was a Senior Faculty member- Part-time in “Rhythms of India” for 3 years. She is a PA (People’s Association) Registered Trainer and is conducting music Lessons in various Community Centres- CC’s. She conducted vocal classes at “Saraswathi Kindergarten - Yishun” for 2 years. She also taught music lessons at the Holy Tree Balasubramanian Temple, Yishun for 2 years.
She has given performance in “Oli – 96.8” FM and in many Indian Temples during festival times. Her students have given performances in various events, schools and in temples, as well as won prizes at various competitions. She has also presided over as a Judge in various music competitions. |
| Carnatic Vocal & Key Board / Piano |
| Mr. Raja Swaminathan |
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Swaminathan is a versatile singer with a passion to explore more about the intricacies of music. He started learning vocal music at the age of 5, under the guidance of his mother Smt Kavitha. He has participated in many competitions and at the age of 11, gave his first full -fledged stage performance in Singapore. He fine-tunes his vocal skills under tutors of SIFAS Singapore, Sri K. Vijaya Raghavan and under Dr Radha Bhasker. He also plays Piano and Key Board. Apart from classical music, he also excels in light music. He was a finalist in the Teen Singing competition “ YaarAndha Star 2012” and 1 st runner up in the Adult Singing competition “Vasantham Star 2015” both conducted by MediaCorp, Singapore.
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| Carnatic Vocal & Bharatha Natyam Dance |
| Miss Janani Raja |
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Janani is a passionate dancer and a creative singer, not afraid of challenging her limits in whatever she does. Apart from classicals arts, she also excels in western dance & music. She started learning vocal music at the age of 6, under the guidance of her mother Smt Kavitha. At same time, she also started learning dance under her first guru ArcharyaKalavipanche V Balagurunathan. Later she learnt under smtShobinyaas her guru SriBalagurunathan has relocated to India. In recent times, she again fine tuned her dance skills under Sri Balagurunathan. Janani has participated in many competitions for both classical dance & singing and won prizes.
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| Curriculam |
SFA conducts both structured courses as well as programmes customised to meet the needs of individual students.
The structured courses leading to leading to a Certificates based on the successful completion of yearly exams conducted by SFA. Those enrolling for the Certificate courses are required to adhere to a pre-set syllabus.. The syllabus can be seen from the website. The students are advised to sit for the examinations at the end of each academic year. The Certificate course are categorised into Basic, Intermediate and Advance courses which takes a total of eight years to complete. Basic course is further divided into Level 1 and Level 2. Intermediate and Advance courses will have 3 stages each. For basic course, Studentswho attain a ‘C’ grade or above in the exams to proceed to the next level. For Intermediate and Advanced levels, students who attain a “C+” or above in the exams are allowed to proceed to the next level. External examiners are invited for all examinations from the first year onwards. SFA also accepts the enrolment of students who wish to pursue a course in music but do not wish to join the formal programme. For these students, customised programmes are arranged with the tutors. Generally, students attend one hour a week classes. Students may attend Group classes (which have 4 to 10 students) or classes which have 1 or 2 students to suit their individual needs. |
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| Passing and Promotion Requirements |
Grade |
Marks |
Remarks |
A + |
85 + |
Distinction |
A |
75-84 |
Very Good |
B |
70-74 |
Good |
C + |
65-69 |
Fair |
C |
50-64 |
PASS |
D |
Below 50 |
FAIL |
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| > Admission as Students |
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Children from the age of 5 may enrol for the classes. However they will be eligible to register for the 1st year examination only when they attain the age of 7. |
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Students joining SFA from another institution are required to meet with the Principal/ who will assess the student and determine the year of admission. |
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| > General guide lines |
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Students must handle the classroom equipment and musical instruments with care. Any mishandling of the equipment will lead to penalty.
Staff and students must be appropriately attired at all times.
Students attending group classes may make only two changes to their timetable in any academic year, as frequent changes affect the progress of the other members in the group.
In cases where withdrawal of a student results in change of group class to double or single, SFA will make its best efforts for the remaining students to join another group class. In circumstances where this is not feasible, students are required to pay the fees due in accordance with the new class type. The new fee structure will be effective from the following month.
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| > Disruption of classes |
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Classes may be disrupted from time to time to hold rehearsals for students participating in external programmes/annual events. For the students who are participating in such external programmes/annual events, rehearsals will be considered part of their curriculum class time. For the students who are not participating in the external programmes/annual events, SFA will endeavour to arrange for compensatory.
Students may be allowed to discontinue classes for a specific month under special personal circumstances. A written request must be submitted to the Principal at least one month before withdrawal. However they are required to pay a re-registration fee of $30/- upon re-admission when they return to continue classes. Students who discontinue their classes and re-register later will be eligible for the examination in January / February of that Academic year based on the assessment of the principal.
A. Students
Students who absent themselves from classes without advising the Academy for one month (after payment of fees) and for two weeks (without the payment of fees) may be removed from the Student Register and cease to be a student of SFA. No compensation classes will be given to the students who are absent from classes due to personal reasons.
B. Tutors
If a tutor is not able to take a class due to unforeseen circumstances or on medical leave, students will be given compensation class to replace / rearrange such class. The classes will be taken by a SFA senior student/part-time tutor.
Students are required to complete at least 80% of the total class hours annually to be eligible for taking the examination.
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| > Concert Attendance |
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Students are strongly advised to attend the performances and annual events organised by SFA, during the academic year. This will be useful for the students in their grooming years. Students from Basic to Advanced level are required to participate in at least one performance. Please note that attending a concert is a learning process and definitely enhances students’ performance in the exam. |
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| > Theory Classes |
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After every quarter, one class will be dedicated for compulsory theory classes. Students are requested to attend the classes and get topic details from their tutors. Students must attain a minimum of 50% as pass mark for the theory paper. It is a compulsory requirement as a part of their yearly examinations.
Students following a structured course must obtain a Pass grade in the final examination for the basic level/year before proceeding to the next level/year. To enroll for the Intermediate and Advanced courses,students are required to have attained at least a C+. Examinations for all grades are conducted by SFA together with external examiners whose responsibility is to supervise and act as moderators for the exams. All decisions taken by SFA are final. |
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| > Advanced Level Examinations |
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From Advanced Level 1 to Advanced Level 3 examination will comprise of a minimum of 1 hour stage performance/concert and a 1 hour classroom examination. Students will be tested on the complete syllabus from year 1 onwards. Both parts of the examination will be based on the syllabus for each discipline.
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