Indian Classical Music - Ragas - Music Therapy - Voice Production

    Since my specialization is in music, I always want me to listen to different kinds of musicians or instrumentalists and their music, to enhance my classical knowledge and notes-accuracy, as I've been told from my own teachers that listening adds up to better singing. In fact, listening to classical music is more beneficial in singing than just practicing rigorously. The more we listen, more musical notes are grasped in our brains which leads to better perception while singing.     My teachers always insisted me that I should listen to different classical artists but initially I neglected their advises, as I found the classical singing boring and hackneyed. I pushed myself towards listening and issued the cassettes from the audio library but they were nicely kept in my bag at home for three days when I went back to reissue them. Gradually, I understood the importance of listening by my own introspection and interests, when I started atten...

  W hile focusing on the proper western voice training these days, I came to know that western discipline regarding voice production and sound texture is pretty different from the Indian one. Although, I am still analyzing the concept of how the voice should be exactly produced and my instructor is trying hard to teach me, but what I've analyzed till date is that they try to produce full-throated and firm voice through false tone structure. I might have perceived it wrong, but usage of El-Prado on the sustained notes in almost all the songs (I've learned) looks  like they avoid to exhibit their incapability of singing in smooth consistency like we've been taught in Indian discipline. Whereas in Indian classical, we are taught that the sustenance of notes should be smooth, plain non-shaky or quivering.  However, its a bit unreasonable to be judgmental and especially when El Prado suit the songs in here to enhance the feel and flow of a particular composition. Also, each ...

Music is a  sound or nada generating particular vibrations which moves through the medium of ether present in the atmosphere and effects the human body. Sarangdev mentions in his Sangeet Ratnakar that ahata-nada or music is always produced by striking or aghata by a living being on an instrument of any kind So music is a power or universal energy in the form of raga. We might be familiar with the word music therapy or Sound healing, which is practiced globally these days.  Raag therapy is basically Indian music therapy as the base of Indian classical music rendition is RAG. Healing through the rendition of ragas is Rag therapy. Indian classical music is recited in ragas which is the reason ragas play an important role in treatments too. The therapeutic procedures through ragas comprises of making a patient listen to tunes or a specific tonal structures and notes  in which a particular raga has been created.  In India, legend has it that Thyagaraja, the famous m...

Hanser and her more than 3,200 colleagues of the American Music Therapy Association practice two types of music therapy: active and passive. Familiar and, most importantly, likable, music elicits the best responses. For example, Big Band music motivated social interaction more than making a puzzle in one 1993 study, and another study that same year found playing music of a patient's choosing six days a week reduced his or her agitation. Music therapists work directly with family members, caregivers, and patients to find the best music for a desired goal of dementia therapy, such as to "improve memory," "lower agitation," or "improve cognitive skills." According to Tomaino, music can be used mnemonically to "retune" the brain to remember certain tasks during early stages of Alzheimer and dementia. But in later stages, music is most helpful in maintaining motor skills. In all cases, music is known to reduce anxiety and stress while incr...

 Indian traditional systems of health and healing include various musical treatment approaches. Few healing traditions are also integrated in modern music therapy practice in India.  All these approaches integrated with music not only prayer, but also yoga and meditation and guide the participant in the art of living. There are some rituals and traditional practices which are en-vogue even today reflecting strongly that music and sound are used to alter states of consciousness to reduce perception of pain. It is popular for the Hindu devotees to perform the troublesome acts in order to impress Gods in the festivals. For instance, Fire-walking. Fire-walking by thousands of Hindu devotees is an integral part of religious Hindu festivals. The devotees, fully pierced by silver pins on their body carrying heavy burdens, walk on coal fire. Although, it can be considered as a superstition in today's era, but the devotees performed this act to signify that the pins destroy all t...

Listening to Jazz Pianist Keith Jarrett' interview on npr news. He had been interviewed on the launch of his album of six standards called somewhere which was recorded in 2009 when he performed live in Switzerland along with the bassist Gary Peacock and the drummer Jack Dejohnette. After four long years of the live show they revisited the track and launched as an album. Reason being the terrible hall, ineffective in fact horrible sound arrangement and some other loads of unpleasant experiences, they kept on delaying. The three had a disastrous experience while performing live. They realized  that the hall was too congested that Keith's wife viewed the show standing behind the spotlight, whereas Gary was not happy with the sound. Ultimately they all were vexed with the situation, especially Gary being the most adamant and particular in having perfect circumstances, was in hell. Mostly, Jarrett says the hardest part was convincing Peacock that the recording was good. ...

I recently came to know about a pretty logical interpretation of ‘self-respect’ and ‘ego’ which I would like to share. Self respect and ego are the opposites. Self-respect means ‘my own respect’, whereas ego is ‘not respecting my own self’. Where there is ego, self respect cannot come into existence and vice-versa. We create feeling of ego when we lack self respect. When we are unable to love and respect our own self, we try to find the same in the outer world; and ego takes place when those external expectations or honor-seeking desires are unfulfilled by the external sources (people, situations etc.)…coz the world cannot go according to you. A self respecting person would never feel insulted or less honored when he does not achieve good amount of respect from the world. Anyways there is an ample of respect and love in his heart for himself that he does not need any external being to come and praise for him. His expectations from others are zero. On the contrary, his full fo...