Sahana Gero
Clarinet
Sahana, is Founder and Artistic Director of World Heart Beat Music Academy. A highly accomplished musician and music teacher, Sahana takes music all over the world. She has performed herself in concerts in over 50 countries and specialises in playing flute and clarinet, and the Bengali music of Sri Chinmoy.
With the opportunity to visit schools and teach in many countries worldwide, Sahana has striven to make music accessible and inspirational to the lives of children everywhere. This has included work on a musical project with the children from the slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Working in music education for over 25 years – teaching over 1000 children to play musical instruments, she has also been an examiner for Trinity Guildhall for many years, and held the post of Head of Woodwind for the Wandsworth Music Service.
In December 2011 Sahana received the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Neighbourhood Excellence Initiative Award, given to only five community leaders, of whom are significantly helping to improve their local communities. With this award, Sahana turned an abandoned building into a bold and beautiful sound-proofed music school, complete with performance space and lesson rooms, and opened the doors to the World Heart Beat Music Academy in May 2012.
In 2014 Sahana was a finalist in Wandsworth’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and received a prestigious Action for Children’s Arts Members’ Award in November 2015. World Heart Beat Music Academy was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards (Oscars in Classical music) in 2016.
2017 saw the Academy win the Member’s of Parliament ‘Inspire the house’ award at the Kids Count Awards, and Sahana was recognised in the same year on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. She was presented with her MBE for Services to Music and the Community in South London by Prince Charles, at Buckingham Palace .
When it comes to learning music, Sahana works tirelessly to make every effort to remove any obstacles, seeking for all of her students to experience the freedom and belief that anything is possible for them to achieve, and that every individual has the capacity to succeed and be happy.
Greatest Musical Inspiration
In the words of Sri Chinmoy, my greatest inspiration in life…
“We are all truly unlimited if only we dare to try.”
Sri Chinmoy devoted his life to the pursuit of harmony and oneness between people and between different cultures. He believed that we are all truly unlimited in spirit and dynamically pursued this vision through the arts, athletics and humanitarian service including founding the Oneness home Peace Run.
Sri Chinmoy’s life was an expression of boundless creativity. His vast output sees the compositions of over 23,000 original songs, of which 13,00 in his native Bengali language, their lyrics and melodies, explore the length and breadth of the aspiring human experience and the offering of almost 800 free Peace concerts worldwide.
Best Musical Advice
My advice is to learn with the heart, and to love music. Everything is done with joy and engagement. Once a child starts an instrument, I really don’t expect them to ever give up! It is such a privilege to teach music, and to see that we are all truly unlimited if only we dare to try.