From: Mike & Vicki Bryant
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: Teaching voice to student of Indian music
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>


Veena Sahasrabuddhe wrote:

VD> This is very interesting. How long have you been teaching her? Besides
VD> the Indian songs and vocalises she wants to do, do you give some other
VD> exercises too? How is her progress judged? Does she have a music
VD> teacher there in Illinois or is she practicing what she learnt earlier?
VD> There may be other singers in the west who can benefit from her
VD> experience.

Veena,

My student is eleven years old and has been studying with me for six
months. She came to me for voice lessons because she has been singing
the South Indian classical music for a few years and was having
trouble reaching all the notes. Her whole family is very musical; I
believe she has taught herself most of the vocalises and songs. She
participates in competitions and programs within the Indian community
here.

The reason she couldn't hit all the notes was because she was trying
to sing everything in chest voice - when she first came to me,
everything was pushed and forced, and she had enormous amounts of jaw
and throat tension. She has half hour lessons; the first half is the
same exercises and vocalises I use with all my students, based on
Western scales, and designed to free vocal production. The second
half is devoted to her vocalises and application of the techniques
we've just explored to what she is trying to sing. I'm happy to
report that she can now produce tones with minimal tension in a
blended registration and has added nearly an octave to her usable
range.

By the way, she once mentioned that she often spends 3 to 4 hours a
day practicing. Every vocalise and song she has ever worked on with
me was memorized.

Vicki Bryant
Naperville, IL