This is a self-paced video course with 7 Modules of Lessons. Course Access begins immediately upon enrollment. Each Module is designed to be worked through in 1 week, but you can go at your own pace.

There is a community forum where you can ask questions, get support and post videos of yourself practicing for feedback (optional).

If you purchase this Course a-la-carte, you will have lifetime access to this Course. You will have access to the Bonus Course - Deities of Yoga - for as long as we continue offering it through our school. 

If you purchase the Sacred Sound Lab Membership, you will have access to all our core curriculum & membership bonus content for as long as you're a member.  

We're so glad you asked! No! A harmonium is NOT required. Any keyboarding instrument, like a piano, organ, keyboard, electric piano, etc, will do!

A small keyboard (that you can order online, or pick up at a store like Target) will do to get started!

Click Here to Go to Our Harmonium Buying Guide

Purchases of Courses are non-refundable and non-transferable. For terms & conditions for monthly or annual subscription payments to the Membership, click here. 

If you have financial barriers to enrolling, fill out the form below letting us know your interest in scholarships opportunities. 

BIPOC and trans/queer/non-binary people especially encouraged to attend!

Trust us, you want to learn it! The 7 sargam syllables are the musical language of Indian music. They are the building blocks of melody. Through learning to sing and identify the syllables, you learn melody deeply. You become best friends with the 7 notes! 

In some ways yes, and in some ways no. 

What you learn with me (Sheela) is a unique Indian - Western hybridized style of playing. Like the instrument itself, I am bi-cultural, and so is my style.

Let me explain a bit more.

From a young age growing up in Colorado, I was trained in Indian classical, devotional and Western music (jazz & classical) music. I have been playing the piano since I was 6, and I taught myself how to play the harmonium to accompany our family’s Satsang community when I was 12.

If you peek over my shoulder while playing harmonium at a gig, you will find some blend of the following:  

• Indian classical raga-based melodies  

• Indian kīrtan/bhajan/folk melodies 

• Western & Jazz harmony & chordal movement 

A traditional Indian classical/devotional style of playing uses lots of intricate, beautiful, fast, ornamentation. Players often play in the key of C# for bass voices or A#/B for treble voices. Classical players typically play large concert-sized harmoniums with a scale-changer mechanism if they need to change keys. 

I have found that this style is just not practical for beginning students in the West who are seeking to sing and play in a devotional / bhakti context... for their own spiritual practice or in ashrams, yoga studios, retreat centers, etc. 

In my teaching I use the North Indian sargam (solfege) & ṭhāṭ (scale) system as a framework, and include both Indian and Western components. 

In the beginning 100-level courses:

• you learn foundational kīrtans, bhajans and mantras - both traditionally Indian AND Western-sourced.
• You learn the Indian sargam (solfege) syllables from Indian Classical Music: Sa Re Ga ma Pa Dha Ni Ṡa.    
• You start off playing in the key of C, and in HM 111 you are introduced to playing in A.
• You learn how to play melodies, dyads (2 notes played at once), and dyads + melody tones.
• You are introduced to the idea of rāga and ṭhāt (Indian mode & scale).
• We give you tips on sanskrit pronunciation and easeful use of the Voice.
• We use a contemplative approach emphasizing ease and embodiment while playing & singing.

In future 200-400 level courses, you will be introduced to the concept of ornamentation, you dive deeper into rāga-based bhajans and kīrtan. You become fluent in several ṭhāṭs (Indian scales). You explore standard Western chord progressions and extended jazz harmonies.

Yes.

The Sacred Sound Lab supports Embracing the World's Worldwide Humanitarian Projects, Society for Arts and Culture of South Asia, and other initiatives in alignment with our values & lineages.