Notes to remember

In the city for a piano concert and a master class at the Bangalore School of Music, Belgian artiste Aveline Gram gets chatty with us...

One thing that you think people completely misunderstand about the piano?  

It is not a bar.  It is not a piece of furniture to put your beer or cocktails on.

What’s the weirdest thing you've used your piano for?

I was once doing  a photoshoot and the photographer insisted I pose by lying down on the piano. I felt so odd!

One unusual place where ideas for compositions come to you?

During my solo backpacking trip through India, being inspired, by the sights, sounds and colours of your beautiful country, India.

The song that is playing on your iPod on loop right now?

Janam Janam from Dilwale by Arijit Singh.

If you could bring one dead musician back to life, who would it be’

Mozart. I would love to meet him once and get a peep into his brilliance!

If there’s one musician from India that you would collaborate with, who it be? What do you hope to do?

The Rajasthani folk musician family I met in Jaisalmer. I would love to perform with them  and combine our two worlds. And I would also like to learn to play some traditional Indian instrument.  

In the music world, what’s the one piece of advice someone has given you that has stayed with you?  

Don’t overplan your life.

If not for a musician, what would you have picked for your alternate career?

I  would have been a doctor, or definitely something in the humanitarian field.

One word that best describes Bengaluru audiences and musicians.

Warm.