Hindustani classical music brings together the best of – traditional Indian classical music that finds its roots in the diktats of Bharat muni’s Natyashastra and the Sufi philosophies. The blend of these traditions gives Hindustani classical music its richness and depth.
Every year thousands of music students enroll in Hindustani classical music courses. A sizeable segment within that, graduate as Prabhakars and Visharads. With the rise and spread of ed-tech platforms, the demands for online Hindustani music classes are also rising. There has been a surge in the music reality shows on television and cover songs posted on social media by commoners from all over the country. These factors are triggering interest in music enthusiasts to pursue Hindustani classical music. Ed-tech platforms facilitate a smooth learning process. They help the students connect with the best teachers at their convenient time and get the best curriculum and study materials.
The learning curve is infinite and hence immeasurable. Likewise, there is no end to attaining perfection. Keeping the magnanimity of Hindustani classical music in mind, here is a humble attempt to list down a few rituals that get practiced by every practitioner irrespective of their proficiency level.
Identify Your Scale
Identifying your scale is the first step towards starting your journey in vocal music. Within just a few moments of starting the class as a new student, the teacher will hear your voice and inform you about the scale that best compliments your voice.
The right scale is defined by the pitch that gives your voice the best range in all the three saptak – mandra (low/ kharaj), madya (most vividly used pitch), and taar (high-pitch). In Hindustani classical music, the most vividly recommended scale for female singers is G# and for male singers is C#.
Rhythm
When a student gets initiated to vocal music they are introduced to the notes. However, equal emphasis shall be given to developing their sense of rhythm. The tune and the rhythm go hand in hand to support one of the good melodic rendition. Hence, the students should get conceptual and practical proficiency in taal and lay. They should know how taal and lay impact the recitals. They must practice the different taal on their hand and also while singing.
Earlier in the era of offline classes, tabla players demonstrated the different taals to students in the class. Then the students would repeat the same through hand gestures such as claps, countings, and waving their hands in the air. Now thanks to technology, electronic tablas are available, complete with tempo and rhythm. These are extremely helpful for students who opt for online Hindustani music classes.
Practice
Contrary to popular belief, practice for vocal music not only includes rehearsing the musical notes! A lot of effort goes into getting a proper intonation of the voice. It involves getting all your five senses and your breath aligned with the music and the feeling (bhava) it carries.
Here are the three most important things that every student must do as a daily ritual –
- Listen to recitals by veteran singers.
Get your ears attuned before getting your voice intonation. You need to make sure that you listen to the correct rendering and the different ways of modulations. Senior practitioners and teachers of Hindustani classical music are very strict about the quality of musical content their students hear. They should only listen to the best compositions and recitals by the senior exponent.
- Vocal training
Palta or swara sadhana – is indeed one thing that has to be developed as a lifelong practice. It is importance in voice training can never be emphasized enough. It is a daily ritual that includes practicing the musical notes individually and in different combinations to create a pattern from the lowest note to the highest note of the octave and then come down to the lowest note again following the same melodic pattern! As per Hindustani classical music terminologies, this pattern is called ‘arohan’ and ‘abarohan’. It is just like breathing in and breathing out. It is all about practicing the notes till they become spontaneous as your breathing pattern.
- Breathing Exercise
The air we breathe contributes to the quality of music we create through our vocal cords. Hence, breathing exercises enhance voice quality. It increases lung capacity and helps to hold our breath as our vocal cords create different melodic improvisations.
- Good Mentoring
All of the above measures to attain perfection in Hindustani classical vocals will be effective if you do it under the expert supervision of a good mentor. Thanks to online Hindustani music classes, the students can connect with the best mentors from any and every part of the world.
Conclusion
Some people have their superpowers hidden in their vocal cords. The secret code to unleash that superpower is to train in classical music. Finding the vibration of each musical note in the voice and rendering them clearly with proper detailing is the first step to cracking that code. Therefore, you need to work on the vocal range. Parallelly, you need to understand rhythm and various melodic structures. Also, the types of musical notes in Indian music. At the preliminary stage, you practice improvisations made by senior practitioners. Later you learn to improvise on your own. The process is empowering, and the rewards are overwhelming, to say the least.
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