KORInstitute of Music
Explore the Music of the Gurus

Learn the music the Gurus composed.

An institute preserving and teaching Gurmat Sangeet to the next generation. Surrey, BC.

Begin → Hear the tradition
Gurdwara interior with warm light through ornate windows
Sri Guru Granth Sahib · Sukhasan
From the Guru Granth Sahib
The melody and the Word of the Shabad are beautiful when one focuses meditation on the celestial Lord.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 849
Featured

This term, these threads.

Program

Gurmat Sangeet Core

The foundation curriculum. Sixty raags taught in the order the Guru Granth Sahib places them — the school’s signature offering.

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Faculty

Lineage, not curriculum

Six teachers trained in the gharana, an average of fifteen years at the school. Each has sung the Guru’s shabads under another teacher for years.

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Enrol

Book a Trial Lesson

Fifty minutes. One raag. No obligation — just an hour, one raag, and a teacher who has spent twenty-five years learning how to teach this tradition.

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Numbers that matter

A school that has been at this
for a quarter century.

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Years teaching
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Students taught
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Raags in curriculum
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Weekly practice hours
Senior student in deep concentration during a Raag Yaman practice
What is Gurmat Sangeet?

The sixty raags

The Guru Granth Sahib contains 5,894 shabads set to 60 distinct raags — melodic frameworks that determine the mood, the time of day, and the emotional register of the song. Each raag is a discipline of breath and presence.

Raag, not scale

A raag is not a scale. It is a living practice — a particular arrangement of notes with rules for ascent, descent, ornamentation, and the time at which it may be sung. Bhairav belongs to the dawn. Yaman belongs to the early evening.

Kirtan, not concert

In the Sikh tradition, kirtan is congregational singing — the sangat joining voices in the Guru's shabads. It is participatory music, not performed music. The teacher does not perform; the teacher transmits.

Lineage, not curriculum

The music is taught from teacher to student, by voice, in the gharana tradition. It cannot be self-taught from books. The student must sing under a teacher, who themselves sang under a teacher, back to the Guru.

Featured Ang
In the Fear of God, the Sound-current of the Shabad resounds; the Gurmukhs sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 849
Programs as chapters

Four ways to enter the tradition.

i.

Gurmat Sangeet

The music of the Guru Granth Sahib. The foundational program. Sixty raags taught in the order the scripture places them, with attention to the Guru's original compositions and the ang from which each shabad is drawn.

Chapter i · 60-minute weekly lesson
ii.

Hindustani Foundations

Hindustani vocal foundations — raga architecture, tala, aaroha-avroha to advanced bandish — taught as discipline in service of Gurmat Sangeet. The raags the Gurus composed sit inside this wider Hindustani tradition, so we teach the foundations our kirtan students need.

Chapter ii · 60-minute weekly lesson
iii.

Instrument Studies

Tabla, harmonium, dilruba, taus, sitar, sarod. One-on-one instruction with lineage-aware pedagogy. Instruments available to rent or purchase through the school.

Chapter iii · 45 or 60-minute weekly lesson
iv.

Kirtan & Performance

For students ready to lead kirtan at gurdwaras and community events. Includes stage preparation, ensemble coordination, and the discipline of public seva.

Chapter iv · Group practice Saturdays
The Shabad is the Guru; the Shabad is the Primal Being; through the Shabad, the Formless Lord is realized.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib · Ang 943
Begin

Your first raag starts here.

Book a trial lesson at our Surrey studio. No commitment — just an hour, one raag, and a teacher who has spent twenty-five years learning how to teach this tradition.

Begin → Visit the studio