Fort Collins Sitar

Area Served

About Fort Collins Sitar

Andy has been studying the sitar and Hindustani (North Indian) classical music for the past 18 years with some of the world’s foremost musicians including Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Roshan Jamal Bhartiya, and Ustad Shujaat Khan. Andy has performed at numerous public and private venues in the US, Canada, and India. Since 2004, he has traveled numerous times to India to study music. During 2011-2012, Andy conducted research in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata on the changing role and performance of lullabies in India's mega-cities, funded in part by a Fulbright-Nehru grant. Andy holds a Bachelor of Music in viola performance from the University of Colorado, a MA and a PhD in ethnomusicology from UCLA, where he also taught performance and academic courses related to Indian music and culture. Currently, Andy teaches at CU Denver in the Music and Entertainment Industry Studies Department.To learn more about the specific style of Hindustani music Andy teaches, visit the About Indian Music page. Andy's experience performing and teaching both Western and Hindustani instruments makes him the ideal tutor for those looking to branch out from their current musical path and try something new. He has taught individual and group music lessons which have incorporated instruments such as the violin, viola, flute, voice, sitar, and sarod. Able to draw on a reservoir of knowledge about the practice, the history, the theory, and the culture surrounding Hindustani music, Andy's lessons can touch on any musical/historical/cultural component that interests you. From the melodic and rhythmic systems (raga and tala) that have been refined over centuries, to the techniques of composition and improvisation in the Hindustani style. All levels of experience and all ages will benefit from lessons with Andy.