Statement of Purpose Ashish Dharmadhikari

Last summer, while aurally interpreting the script of Lorca’s ‘Yerma’, my biggest challenge was bringing to life the ‘shepherd’s horn in the distance’. My initial choice, the authentic sound of a conch-shell horn actually used by Andalusian shepherds, was rejected by the director as not sounding ‘musical’ enough – ironic, considering a conch shell can’t produce polyphonic melodies, as I know from personal experience, and in this script, Lorca is fairly specific about the horn being a conch-shell one. After many iterations, I finally used a fragment from a melody played on the lur, a wooden tube played in Nordic countries. While its inauthenticity offended my sensibilities as a student of history, this gave me a valuable lesson on one of the key principles of all audio design disciplines. Namely, the anticipated perception of a sound effect is more important for its selection than its source, or its ‘genuineness’ for that matter.

Interpreting scripts for the theatre is something I grew up doing, initially as an actor. Acting in musicals through my school years was followed by straight plays in college. After graduating from one of India's best known liberal arts colleges with a degree in History, I started looking for work...