Rama Kumaran initially intended to study both science and flute when he came to Vanderbilt. He says he didn鈥檛 come expecting to know everything. 鈥淏ut I expected to do everything. I thought I knew what I wanted,鈥� he says.
Under the tutelage of Philip Dikeman, an associate professor of flute who was a revered teacher at before his death in 2017 from cancer, Kumaran realized music 鈥渨as not just a thing I was interested in; it was a thing I could spend my life doing.鈥� In 2015, after his first year at Blair, he became the youngest person to win first place at the National Flute Association鈥檚 annual Young Artist Competition and appeared on the NPR radio program From the Top.
Despite his achievements, however, Kumaran felt something was amiss.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 just that I鈥檇 stretched myself too thin,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 treating my teachers with honor. I knew I needed to make some big decisions, and I wasn鈥檛 in a position to do that. So, I went home.鈥�
鈥淲hen I could go into a corral with a horse who was skittish and, just by learning to exercise the right presence, get the horse to approach me and make him comfortable鈥攊t鈥檚 that feeling that I took with me back to school.鈥�
Taking a gap year in the middle of his studies to return to Hemet, California, turned out to be 鈥渙ne of the best decisions I鈥檝e made,鈥� he says. During that year he directed a troupe of high school students in Shakespeare鈥檚 Taming of the Shrew through the Leadership Education Mentoring Institute. He tutored students through his own Bel Canto Studio. He worked with producer Herman Beeftink to gain studio recording experience, practiced piano and violin, and taught himself guitar and banjo, all instruments he could sing with. (鈥淪omething you can鈥檛 really do as a flute player,鈥� he adds, laughing.) And he took care of horses on a local ranch.
鈥淲hen I could go into a corral with a horse who was skittish and, just by learning to exercise the right presence, get the horse to approach me and make him comfortable鈥攊t鈥檚 that feeling that I took with me back to school.鈥�
Since returning to Vanderbilt, he has traveled with the Vanderbilt Wind Symphony to Colombia, South America; released a CD called Seeing It Through; and, through a stipend from his Harold Stirling Vanderbilt Honor Scholarship, last summer he attended the Medomak Conductors Retreat in Maine; the Galway Flute Academy in Switzerland; and 鈥�(R)evolution: Resonant Bodies鈥� at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada.
At Blair he has found many of his most influential mentors. For his senior year, new hire now leads the Blair flute studio. 鈥淪he is exactly the teacher I need right now,鈥� says Kumaran, 鈥渂ecause of her perspective on the field of contemporary music.鈥�
And from , associate professor of choral studies, he has learned to communicate clearly. 鈥淗e uses a perfect economy of language. And if I鈥檝e developed toward anything in the last five years, it鈥檚 whittling away from excess to economy.鈥�
Kumaran will pursue a master’s in music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam starting in September. Until then he is mentoring a few students of his own. 鈥淥ne is an intensely bright 10-year-old,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 able to meet with him weekly and let conversations freewheel enough that we connect his math to his science to his music to his acting.
鈥淢y best mentors here are the ones who foster those kinds of connections in me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way of paying it forward.鈥�
–Bonnie Arant Ertelt
Video by Pat Slattery and Amy Wolf
