The purpose of this study was to examine pedagogical practices of an Indian music professor, or guru, who teaches an Indian music ensemble in a United States institution of higher learning. The role of the world music professor has been refined and redefined over the last decade. The guru-shishya paramparā system of teaching has reached a crossroad; new conditions challenge this approach. The focus of this study was to investigate, through the lens of the guru, tensions that exist between Indian pedagogy and Western pedagogy. The research design was a single-case ethnographic study that utilized participant observation in an Indian music ensemble class. I expanded Schippers’s (2009) Twelve Continuum Transmission Framework by adding aesthetics to the continuum of the framework. I used this framework as a tool to examine Indian music transmission, through a distinct pedagogical viewpoint of a guru leading a non-Western music ensemble. In this study I noted factors that influence world music transmission in Indian music education at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School. Information regarding attitudes and the reasons for certain pedagogical practices in Indian music education can provide insight to ensemble instructors and to administrators interested in building Indian music programs. This research has implications outside of Indian music education and for music department directors interested in expanding music programs.

The wave of gurus in America brought with them cultural transformations particularly in how they interpret Hinduism, how their teachings have adapted in engaging a Western audience, and the sustainability of their religious communities, thus changing the landscape of contemporary Hindu spirituality. The traditional model of the guru and disciple relationship according to Yoga and Vedanta is undergoing a transformation allowing for greater autonomy of the disciple to make decisions in how they appropriate the authority of the guru. This thesis examines the guru and disciple relationship within the institutional organization of the Yoga Research Foundation, founded by the contemporary guru, Swami Jyotirmayananda. Research of Jyotirmayananda’s unique following of Western disciples illuminates the nature of his authority through the establishment of his order and methods by which disciples navigate identity formation and experience religious transmission.