The following is an exclusive interview with Rani Sethupathy, a freshman musician, and now program director of her music education initiative, “Accelerando.”
Accelerando’s rollout has been carefully planned since last spring, and Rani is excited to announce a tentative start date of November 1, 2023. If anyone would like to get in touch with Rani and discuss Accelerando, she would be more than happy to do so! The best way to reach her is by email, at rs12@icsd.k12.ny.us.
Caedmon Sethupathy ’25: So Rani, let’s start with the basics. What is your musical background?
Rani Sethupathy ’27: I started playing oboe at Caroline Elementary School in fourth grade. Before that, I took piano lessons at the age of five, and I have been playing oboe ever since, and recently just discontinued piano lessons.
CS: What is the mission of your new musical program, and why is it called Accelerando?
RS: So, this program is called Accelerando because it’s inspired by the musical term. Some of you may know that “accelerando” means to gradually increase or speed up the tempo, or pace, of a musical excerpt or piece. And so, the goal of this program would be to speed up everyone’s musical career. So, Accelerando is meant for everyone really, but it is especially targeted to those elementary students who might not be able to afford private lessons because it’s really important to gain a lot of good instruction in music from a very young age. I was fortunate enough to have a private instructor back when I was starting oboe and I know if I didn’t have that I would have been very tempted to quit. It’s very hard to learn a new instrument if you are not getting very good consistent individualized instruction. So I want to start this program, Accelerando, to provide elementary school kids without access to private lessons the opportunity to get extra musical instruction from high school students who are interested in mentoring.
CS: Where and when did you get the idea to start Accelerando?
RS: I did a very small version of Accelerando two years ago when I was in seventh grade at DeWitt Middle School. I mentored a Caroline Elementary School oboe band student in fifth grade. Every Tuesday I would go there in the morning and help her with her band music, her embouchure, technique, and the way she was holding the oboe, just little things. And I think we both gained a lot from that experience. She grew a lot as an oboist and a musician in general, and I really improved my mentoring skills and communication.
CS: How has your reception been thus far? Are students interested?
RS: Yes, I’ve received a lot of interested high school students, which has been really encouraging. One thing is that we’ve had to shift the time of the program. Originally, it was going to be after school at around four o’clock. But, due to some legal constraints, such as that we cannot be on the Fall Creek property (where the program will take place) after school, the program was switched to high school zero period from 8:20 to 8:40. And, many high schoolers have classes then, so that has limited the amount of participants available, but I still have some numbers.
CS: You mentioned mentoring a young oboist. Do you have any other experience teaching? If so, what has that been like?
RS: Yes, so right now—I have actually been doing this for about a year now—I tutor my cousins weekly in Spanish. I am also a member of Circus Culture, which is an acrobatic studio in downtown Ithaca. I am currently an apprentice teacher for an 8-14 year old class and a 3-4 year old class. So, I feel like I have some experience working with multiple different age ranges.
CS: Where do you see Accelerando going in the future?
RS: So, ideally this program would be spread across all the elementary schools in Ithaca. Right now I am starting a little smaller. The program is taking place at Fall Creek Elementary this year mainly because it’s a walkable distance from the high school. Transportation has been the biggest issue when planning this program. For example, if we try to get high schoolers to Enfield or Caroline, that’s obviously not a feasible walk. That would be something I would have to think about in the future.
CS: Would you ever consider expanding Accelerando beyond band students? For instance, do you foresee orchestra and choir involvement?
RS: Yes, I think that would be great and the goal is obviously just to get as many willing participants as possible to try to help everyone in their musical careers. I chose to start it in band because that is the program I am most familiar with and I feel like I could have the most success there for the first year, while I am just getting things rolling. But yes, as many people as possible and as many programs as possible would be the ideal situation.
CS: Thank you so much for your time. How can interested students get involved with Accelerando?
RS: There are several posters around the school with information about the program and QR codes that you can scan that will lead you to a Google Form to indicate your interest. Also, if you are already a band student, Ms. Zawel, band teacher at IHS, has posted an announcement in Canvas about Accelerando with the Google Form linked, so you can check that out.
Agha knew right away that she disliked traditional styles of art. Fortunately, just as she was becoming bored of the art that she was being taught, Mario Perlingieri entered her life. A former pupil of Picasso, the prisoner-of-war encouraged Agha to paint her own inspirations and stray from objective reality in her work. Eventually, Agha went on to display her work at a 1946 exhibition at the Lahore Museum and then in her solo exhibition in 1949, the latter nearly causing a riot because of how modern and striking her art was.
After this explosive exhibition, Agha developed her view of art by embarking on a three-year trip to Europe, where she learned new techniques at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and Saint Martin’s in London. She was intrigued to learn that while the European aspects of her art were criticized in her home country, they were the very aspects that were applauded in Europe. After this experience, Agha continued to expand her artistic horizons and diversify art in Pakistan.
She became known as a feminist icon, but ironically Agha hated the term. She did draw inspiration from her gender identity, telling one reporter in an interview that “the sensitive delicacy of her color may owe something to her gender.” Still, Agha is regarded as a pioneer for women and Pakistani people in modern art today.