Indian classical music is essentially a tradition inspired by vocal music — and unique in its extensive use of microtones, which are inherent to the voice mechanism. And for a tradition inspired by vocal music, I believe that voice culture is crucial.
Dhrupad — one of the branches of our pristine tradition — is a good case in point. Our musicological texts also emphasised voice culture in musical aesthetics. Sangita Ratnakara describes the first qualities expected of a good singer, as ‘hrdya-svara’(attractive voice) and ‘susaarira’ (good tonal quality), and also lists out 25 defects of singers — including clenched teeth, loudness, whistling tone, upward tilt of the head, unsteady voice and poor pronunciation.
Challenges faced
Cramped schedules, shifting time zones, changing food and water, pollution and acidity are among the challenges faced by today’s performing musicians.
‘Voice culture’ in this context, needs an approach that goes beyond the singing voice. Abhyasa varisai-s and compositions alone are not enough to develop a good voice.
First, these varisai-s were developed with the veena in mind. Secondly, we have to go deeper into the science of how the varisai-s are to be sung — i.e. the right voice arrangement for each note. Do we, for instance, have a term in pedagogy, to describe ‘resonance’ — a basic ingredient of voice culture?
Today, many musicians train in voice techniques for singing; most do not train the speaking voice. But the fact is — we have only one voice and shortcomings in ‘speaking voice’ usage will automatically affect ‘singing voice’ as well.
Yoga has long recognised ‘body’ and ‘mind’ as two sides of a coin, a fact that modern science has agree upon too.
In music too, culturing of the physical voice, and development of musical content, can be seen as two sides of a coin — if only we adopt a holistic approach.
As a practitioner, I can share that on days when my voice is in good shape my mind goes to a higher zone of immersion, where creativity flows easier. Because again — voice and content, body and mind — are two sides of a coin.
At a fundamental level, I also believe that voice culture is crucial to make our music intuitively appealing.
Pre-amplification-era vidwans had no choice but to push their voices, and often sang with a loud, harsh tone, appreciating which, undoubtedly, takes some “getting used to,” or conditioning. But with the advantages of amplification and acoustic design, voice can be cultured to enable a more intuitively appreciable aesthetic experience.
The writer is a young Carnatic musician and academic
