MUMBAI: Subhash Ghai's Film, Fashion and Communication school- Whistling Woods International Film School, will soon add a music school to its offering. Called ‘Whistling Woods School of Music', it will be headed by D Wood, who is also the head of the music department at Whistling Woods International Film School.

Confirming the news, Wood said, "We are launching our music school in the summer for the July intake. I will be playing a very active role as a mentor and helping musicians to get their skills together. This will be the start of a new chapter for the school." There will be core faculty members and also special guest musicians. The core faculty consists of Wood, Dr. Sangeeta Shankar- an international acclaimed Hindustani violinist and Vijay Kurien- a pro audio video consultant.

Wood also said, “The program we are launching will focus on music production for film, but will also have the potential to help musicians develop their performance ability and vocal capabilities.” The two-year diploma course will accommodate around 20 students. He said that the course is open to people who are well versed with music and people who are new comers and are really passionate about music.

He revealed that the school has been developing the project for a while now. “It has been coming together for a very long time. Earlier, the aim was to develop music production skills for film-making. Then we thought about taking it to the next challenge and creating a course that is based on music. Right now, music is an ancillary course that we teach our students so that they are well informed about it. Starting in July, we will be training people in the intricacies of music,” Wood said.

Talking about the present scenario in the Indian film-making industry, Wood highlighted the music side of film-making. He said, “There is great technical output which helps music sound better. There are a lot of new influences sneaking in, and the way musicians are using folk and classical music in their films is very interesting and innovative. There is a nice mixture of traditional sources that India is famous for and there are all these new sounds from all over the world that are finding their way into films. It is really nice to see new ideas coming out in music."

Wood, a multi-instrumentalist and musician, along with teaching can also be seen performing at various live gigs. He is also the creative director of Bandra Base, which is a performing art studio where musicians across various genres gather to play music. Along with this, Wood is working on several compositions which he hopes to release when the time is right alongside the right musicians.