Revathi Murthy is a senior at the International Community School in Kirkland. She has been learning Carnatic music for thirteen years. Her first teacher was Mrs. Padma Kutty in Irvine, California. After moving to Seattle, she enrolled in the Sadhana School of Arts, where she was taught by Swapna. Currently she is a student of Ashok. In addition to studying Carnatic music, Revathi participates in her school drama, plays the violin, and volunteers at Evergreen Hospital. She enjoys applying ideas from Western classical music to Carnatic music, and vice-versa. An example of this is her incorporation of harmony in the song “Bhavayami Raghuramam” which she sang with Ashok, her teacher. Recently, she applied her background in drama to help create the first Carnatic play at the Sadhana School, “Mohini Bhasmasura”. She hopes to continue participating in this innovative combination of music and drama in the future. Revathi is not only an accomplished musician, but also an accomplished student. She has won many academic awards, such as first place this year at the Biotechnology Expo in Seattle for her research on the efficacy of organic bactericides against E. coli. She is also an AP Scholar and a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. After graduating, Revathi will be joining the University of Washington, and major in bioengineering. Afterwards, she aspires to become a doctor and have a career in public health and relief work.
Revathi's message to students
From my years here at Sadhana, I’ve realized that creativity is infinite, and that one has to relax completely, in mind and body, in order to realize its full potential. This is something I still struggle with. To experience the spontaneity and beauty of music, you have to consider yourself more as a vessel for music than the instrument. Ashok uncle once used a metaphor that has always stuck with me—well, he’s used many through the years that have helped me—but he mentioned going to the Himalayas, and seeing a river flowing in between two mountains. He realized that without those mountains, that river wouldn’t exist. You don’t necessarily have to be the glacier, or the ‘source’ of your music, in order to express it. It takes a leap of faith, and trust in your own abilities as a singer, to improvise.
