MUMBAI: Jan Graveson, an award-winning international acting and singing star from the UK is known for her innovative music teaching process. Her extensive performing and musicality are what hold this unique worldwide performer in a class of her own. The artist was recently at Whistling Woods International for a 5th Veda session on Jazz Music where she interacted with the students of the institute and shared insights about music.

“My mother told me I sang before I spoke. While I started off with a piano in our house in the North of England,” says Graveson who comes from an Irish heritage. This is also one of the reasons for music becoming an unquestionable part of her life.

The Jazz singer comes from a family of musicians with her father and my grandfather being musicians. “I inherited the musicality very naturally and started learning the piano with Royal Schools at seven years of age. I had memorised most popular songs on the charts and used to sing them all the time,” explains the singer.

But, Graveson did not begin her career as a singer, she first stepped into acting. She was cast in musical theatres with shows in London and West End after rising to fame with her television work. She was known as a highly acclaimed musical theatre performer as she could act, sing and dance to a very high standard and perform all three disciplines at once.

She explains, “I am from a musical theatre background which involves all genres of singing and performing. I have been performing as an actress and musical theatre performer most of my life from West End Europe and Broadway. So, I can now sing in most genres and teach the same, while Jazz is one of my favourite areas of performing arts.”

She also balances her acting and music career while she adds, “I have learnt music and pursued different aspects apart from singing like voice-overs and more. My whole life has been attaining skills toward performance.”

The singer is now looking forward to collaborating with Indian artistes. “I want to teach invaluable music skills to others who are as passionate about performing and a career in the same. A career in any performing medium must be one with devotion, determination, and focus. Musical theatre is a wonderful medium. It’s fairly new to India. Actors who can sing and singers who can act at the highest level is the final outcome,” says Graveson.

She further shares her expertise of hosting and teaching workshops in the field of exclusive performance arts. These innovative informative master classes and workshops will offer students an exciting rare opportunity in gaining knowledge in the art of performance.

Speaking on her urge to start musical workshops, she says, “Musical theatre is acting and singing and the outcome combines the two disciplines done together. It’s an art on its own. I began teaching musical theatre to three to four-year-olds in UK and adults. On coming to India, I noted a very strong infrastructure to film but very little toward musical theatre. Real live performers acting and singing and having the skills and ability to do this. This is my seed of wanting to bring about an opportunity for people in India wanting to learn these techniques and skills and those who aspire to perform on stage in a highly professional manner.”

Teaching wasn’t the plan initially for this talented singer. She gradually developed into a coach and teacher in musical theatre as it was her background. “The Art of Performing is a medium I am hoping to collaborate with art schools in Mumbai,” adds Graveson.

She further shared, “This was an inspirational session, while students gained a lot. They were quite shy but they overcame it with the help of workshops. They had to present and perform and get on to the stage. It was pleasurable to meet the students and encourage them to sing, move and lose their inhibitions on a stage. They seemed to love it. Subhash Ghai sir seemed impressed and I feel he could see the potential of the session and what could be done. I have many ideas that I would like to bring to Whistling Woods regarding music, performing and musical theatre."