Education

Music

Manisha is grateful to every person who has supported and contributed to her development. When she was six years old, her mother coached her for her first public appearance in the Collinsville Primary School Talent Show, in which she sang My Favorite Things. In addition to listening to musicals such as The Sound of Music, Manisha was exposed to a collection of vinyl records and cassette tapes that spanned Bollywood music from the 60s, 70s and 80s, North Indian Classical music, and bhajans. A handful of contemporary American artists, such as The Carpenters and Captain and Tennille, plus some Western classical composers, also made it into her parents' library. There were probably a few jazz compilations, as well, but this music did not feature prominently in her childhood. During most of her teens, she listened to a lot of radio featuring Top 40 songs and rock music of the South. Only during college did she experience variations on rock, such as "alternative" and "progressive".

She attended fourth grade in Mumbai, India, during which her paternal grandmother taught her the 'Saptha Swarams' (seven notes which are the Indian classical equivalent of the Western solfege notation) on the harmonium and, while visiting her maternal grandparents in Indore during the school holiday, she picked up numerous film songs from an older girl, Poonam, who lived next door. With the help of her aunts, she also learned to read and write in Marathi and Hindi; knowing how to read in these languages made it easier for her to learn the pronunciation of song lyrics.

In sixth grade, Manisha joined the junior high school choir. Her father could see how much she enjoyed singing and he thought her musicality would benefit from learning to play an instrument. When she was 11, he suggested that she begin taking piano lessons. Manisha continued regular study of Western classical piano throughout high school, mostly with Claudia Switzer-Deans of Henry County in Virginia. She vividly remembers her 15th birthday when her parents surprised her with the gift of a new piano to replace the electronic keyboard on which she had been practicing initially.

In contrast, Manisha's vocal training was largely informal during her youth, with Fieldale-Collinsville High School choral director Dyna McGriff serving as her key mentor outside of her family. During college, she took private Western classical voice lessons for one semester through the music department and she also sang in the musical, Sugar. However, while singing with the “Virginia Belles”, a different musical sound captured her attention. Jazz music, with its "crunchy" chords and improvisation, inspired her to take her writing in a new direction.

After college and during graduate school, Manisha engaged in periodic instruction in voice, guitar, piano, and dance. Only after completion of her graduate studies, did she begin her transition from classical to jazz voice and piano by working and studying with pianist Frank Wilkins (formerly of Berklee College of Music). To further develop her performance skills, she took classes at the New England Conservatory’s (NEC) School of Continuing Education. She also benefited from the professional development available to her when she served as a choral director with the Urban Voices program of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Eventually, in 2004, she began making the weekly pilgrimage to the North Shore studio of Charlie Banacos (on faculty at NEC and Longy School of Music), a master of jazz theory & improvisation, with whom many other professional performers study. Around the same time, she also began to take greater interest in North Indian Classical music, gradually harvesting the seeds sown by her grandmother so long ago.

Today she is focused on reaching her full potential as a singer and composer, while continuing to explore varying styles of music that inform her work.

A Sphere Within

At first brush, one might dismiss Manisha's formal educational background as irrelevant to her pursuits in the world of music. Yet the spiritual sphere of music engulfs the planetary sphere in which our conscious learning begins.

Initially, Manisha was drawn to pursuing a career in sustainable development, i.e., economic growth and human development that take the environment into consideration. During her formative years, she witnessed the stark contrast in standards of living between the United States and India. She attended the University of Virginia, where she recorded and toured with the Virginia Belles, a female a cappella group, for which she also wrote and arranged original compositions. After she obtained a BA in economics and foreign affairs, she joined ICF, an environmental consulting firm in Washington, DC.

In the summer of 1995, Manisha launched her career as a solo artist in Washington, DC, singing standards/covers to help supplement her salary. She was trying to make every dime possible, in order to help her pay for the top-ranked joint masters degree program that had accepted her application for that fall. She believed this unique program in New England was a natural extension of her undergraduate studies, thus preparing her for a career in sustainable development and giving her the opportunity to improve resources and opportunities available to at-risk populations.

The venue owner was familiar with the rock band, Distraction, with which Manisha formerly performed as a lead singer. He supported Manisha’s efforts by offering her the opportunity to perform her own show. She sought out pianist Vince Evans to accompany her. A dream-come-true, Manisha believed she had reached a “high” in her musical career development. After this experience, she was ready to let her musical pursuits take a backseat to her other plans. Or so she thought.

While she earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, she remained musically active. During her time at the Tuck School, she sang with the Executones and was the lead singer of No Equity, a rock band. At the Fletcher School, as the founder and musical director of the Ambassachords , she ran weekly rehearsals. She and her fellow singers gave various performances at school, culminating in a benefit concert for the International Institute of Boston, which was in need of a refrigerator for keeping food for immigrants who temporarily sought shelter there.

Just before she completed the MBA portion of the program, she experienced something that, in retrospect, was a major turning point. When visiting her home in Virginia over spring break in 1997, she sat down at her piano and out came the song, “Willows.” She performed her first version that June at the Tuck Talent Show, accompanying herself publicly on the piano for the first time in 10 years. (She later wrote the instrumental section that was subsequently recorded on the Peace in Progress album version.) Afterwards, her fellow students inquired about her performance, wanting to know who wrote the song. They didn’t know they had witnessed Manisha’s debut as a performing songwriter. She didn’t know it either.

Following her graduate studies, she settled in Boston where she gradually established herself as local singer/songwriter from 1999 to 2002, while holding full-time career-track positions. In the fall of 1999, Manisha invited over 100 persons by regular mail to her first presentation of original piano/vocal compositions. She performed to an audience of 35 to 40 persons that filled the Cezanne Café and Bakery in Cambridge, MA, following which she shyly passed out a mailing list “just in case” she continued to perform. And, indeed she did continue to perform in the area, eventually event hosting two series. As music assumed an increasingly larger role in her life, she had difficulty reconciling her idealistic visions with a seemingly selfish pursuit. In 2002, she began to focus more of her time pursuing her original music, while maintaining a variety of part-time teaching and consulting engagements to help support herself, in addition to working with other bands.

During this transitional phase, Manisha decided to move forward with production of a full-length album instead of a demo. She co-produced her debut solo album, Peace in Progress, with Dan Cantor of Notable Productions. The album, completed in December 2003, was funded entirely by Manisha. Rooted in folk, jazz, and Indian traditions, this CD contains a message about recognizing the progress of peace within ourselves, our homes, our communities, and the world - instead of focusing on conflict. The project unified her many dimensions and helped her to acknowledge the musician within her.

Outside the US, Manisha has studied, worked, or performed in Austria, Hungary, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Israel, and England. Her activities have included analyzing emissions trading and averaging programs and other market-oriented environmental programs, examining technology transfer for sustainable development, including the use of renewable energy technology for rural electrification, debating the pros and cons of socially responsible investing, and following the evolution of the energy and financial markets in the Asia Pacific. In March 2001, she was asked by Professor James Clad to provide comments on the Georgetown University India Forum's Summary Report for the New Administration on Future U.S.-India Relations. Additionally, she has closely studied the negotiations leading to the 1947 partition of India in order to cut through misconceptions surrounding the original demand for a Muslim state now embodied in present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh—these events have left an indelible mark on South Asia, making it a microcosm for viewing the communal violence that haunts the world. Prior to leaving Boston, she also had the opportunity to participate in urban education, specifically in the arena of Research, Evaluation, & Assessment.

She is especially thankful to Sugata Bose, currently Chair of Harvard University's South Asia Program, for his insight and support of her pursuits in all spheres and to the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, India, for granting her affiliation during the course of her independent research for her thesis, Division of Economic Powers in India: Testing the Dogma of Decentralization (view introductory excerpt). Manisha believes there is an increasing threat to nation-states and centralized political and economic power. Although she is a believer in capitalism, she does wonder about how increasing shifts in power to formal and informal sub-national units and the private sector will affect the world's prospects for equitable distribution of scarce resources and peaceful coexistence.

Over the last two decades, while pursuing her degrees and engaging in work in arenas such as environmental consulting, finance, energy, and education, Manisha has taken music courses and private lessons, and participated on professional and amateur projects providing her the opportunity to perform at venues ranging from obscure coffeehouses and reputable clubs to the legendary Carnegie Hall, where she performed as a member of the Chorus pro Musica. Chorus pro Musica is also responsible for making her introduction to a fellow singer who is now her husband. Together they have written “Still”, a song that will be featured on the upcoming album.