Leela Floyd is the author of Indian Music (ISBN 0193213303), published by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 in 1980.

Early life

Born in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 as Leela Charles, she went to school in India and the UK. In 1958, her parents took her on a journey across the world by car from Southern India to England. Hers was the first Indian family to have successfully completed this extraordinary adventure and a photograph of their arrival was printed in The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 of 2 August 1958. She completed her schooling in London, where she was the first Indian pupil to attend Clapham County Grammar School.

Academic history

At sixteen, she began her studies at the Royal Academy of Music and graduated with an L.R.A.M., followed by a post graduate teaching qualification from Trent Park College, Middlesex. A few years later, she left for Southern India to study the Vina. When she returned to London, she won a Leverhulme Scholarship to conduct a survey of music in inner city schools based at the Institute of Education, University of London, under Professor Keith Swanwick; she was awarded an Associateship for her work.

Career

During her time at the Academy, she met her first husband, the composer John Barham

John Barham

John Barham is an English pianist, composer, arranger, producer and educator.Born in London, and educated at London’s Royal College of Music and London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies , he has played and / or collaborated with a number of significant figures in the entertainment...

, through whom she met several important figures including George Harrison of the Beatles

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

, Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

, Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...

 and others. For a brief period, she worked for Apple

Apple Corps

Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...

, transcribing pop records for the archives. With John Barham she transcribed Indian music into western notation, an example of which is published in Peggy Holroyde's book, Indian Music, A Vast Ocean of Promise.

In 1982, she was employed as a music researcher on a series of innovative children's programmes on Channel 4 called Everybody Here, created by the children's poet laureate, Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen

Michael Wayne Rosen is a broadcaster, children's novelist and poet and the author of 140 books. He was appointed as the fifth Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held this honour until 2009....

, and produced by Telekation International. She introduced several ethnic artists as well as authentic music into the soundtrack of the series.

She taught music for several years and has written for newspapers and magazines including the Times Educational Supplement

Times Educational Supplement

The Times Educational Supplement is a weekly UK publication aimed primarily at school teachers in the UK. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in The Times newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 1914, the supplement became a separate publication selling for 1 penny.The TES...

, The Observer

The Observer

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

, ArtRage

ArtRage

ArtRage is a bitmap graphics editor for digital painting created by Ambient Design Ltd.ArtRage, currently in version 3, is a painting package designed to be used with a Tablet PC, but it can be used with a regular mouse as well...

, and Yours

Yours

Yours may refer to:* The possessive pronoun version of you* "Yours", a 1943 commonly used but incorrect name of the World War II poem "The Life That I Have"* Yours, a form of valediction...

 magazine; she is a regular adjudicator at the Music For Youth

Music for Youth

Music for Youth is a British charity which provides free access to educational and performance opportunities for groups of young musicians and audiences through a series of festivals and concerts throughout the UK. 2 million children have taken part in Music for Youth events since 1971...

 festival in the UK.

Work

The book Indian Music was commissioned by Oxford University Press in 1979, and was the first school textbook on Indian music published in the UK. It has been widely used all over the world, including the USA, Canada, Australia and Sweden. There is also an audiobook (ISBN 0193213400) published by Oxford University Press.

Throughout her career as a lecturer, writer and researcher, Leela Floyd's main focus has been on bringing other cultures into mainstream education. She has contributed chapters to Music in Practice (edited by Paul Farmer

Paul Farmer

Dr. Paul Edward Farmer is an American anthropologist and physician. He is currently the Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard University, formerly the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician and Chief...

), published in 1984 by Oxford University Press and Pop, Rock and Ethnic Music (edited by Graham Vulliamy and Ed Lee) published in 1982 by Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

.