WHY RIYAAZ? - Page 12

abhi, in western classical, they do sing the same songs a multiple different ways. each person sings even the anthem differently, with their own feeling and their own personality. that is being fairly creative. and the example of celine deion, yaar, some of them, especially from a certain racial background do get training thru church choir, but the vast majority especially in the pop/ rock world do not. last i checked, mick jagger and the various beatles had not started out their careers with a church choir.

again, do read the point made about tuning between inner creativity and field of pursuit. i think it is an important one, as also some of the earlier ones.

to stir up some more-

goal of some of our education and/ or riaz, at least in terms of practice as opposed to intellectual theoretical content -> perfection is primary focus, creativity is supposed to be by-product?

goal of western education -> stress is on individual, which is assumed to lead to personal creativity, perfection is supposed to follow if one is motivated enough?

so, does it come down to focus and goals? rememer, a lot of what is humanly possibly and what we do achieve is based on what we focus on primarily. hard work is a given in any methodology

what we often do -> bring up ancient practices and claim why these are the best practices even today? for sure, they were the best in the world thousands of years ago, but have others caught up and surpassed us?

if we spend a lot of our lives just perfecting ourselves, does it leave a lot of time, energy and focus for creativity, provided that is indeed an objective. do we have a lot of folks who have surpassed their masters, do we lose something each time we pass on the torch to the next gen?

another saying- engineers have the "desire for perfection" syndrome. ever thought why that desire is sometimes considered a problem? btw, that the goal of a lot of our education is "perfection" might also be borne out anecdotally. after all, we do have parity with others in IT/ engineering fields. these fields are more about computational precision/ perfection than others.

Why Riyaaz?

First of all thanks for the PM and apologies for delay in posting my views punjini ji.

I'm not sure what was the input from others but....here is what I think.Riyaaz, for me, is essentially to keep your voice (in case of singing) or fingering(in case of instruments like veena, sitar) in a state where u can execute your thought process during your performance to the T.Practise helps keep your vocals in shape and avoids getting shaky in standing notes.

For a student of Carnatic music, the vocal exercises recommended for daily practise like the alankara, akaara sadhana(helps sing the jumping notes in their perfect places).This is taught in Mayamalavagaula raagam as part of training.But as we go ahead and start learning more raagams, the same technique shud be applied in every raga and practised.This will help in swara prayogam during the ragam-swaram rendition.This is done most essentially to get a grip on swara sthaanams of the particular raga.For a better understanding of raaga and swara prayogams, the varnams (in the particular raga of interest) are practised in 2 kaalams(speeds) and in akaaram(where u sing the progression using only 'aaaa' and note the notes like sa ri ga ma).This kind of practise also helps one to understand and draw comparisions between raagas.For example Maayaamaalavagaula, the raga in which the basics are taught, when the ma is changed to 'prati madhyamam' becomes pantuvaraali.So essentially to bring out the difference if the landing note is made 'ma', it gives a clear picture to listener.

Also riyaaz is essential to keep your range intact.As long as the practise is on, the vocal chords are in control and one can execute ones graph in brain perfectly.If one doesnt practise, voice tends to move away from the actual note, it shivers at low notes and sustaining notes.

What is the quantity of practise required is always a subject of arguement.From what is seen and observed, I can say that long hours of practise like say 7 hrs- 8hrs might give one a satisfaction that they have practised well, but in the long run, voice gets out of control.I had seen this happen to some fantastic singers.If one wants to sing for long then regular and systematic practise is quintessential.

Thankyou one and all on this forum.I had the opportunity of knowing views of knowledgable people on various topics in this forum ever since I joined here.This is my last post on this forum.I'm thankful to all who responded to my views.Thankyou once again.

Bumping this for Vijey Umang.
Vijey, I know you don't like long articles, but hopefully after reading this thread, you might get inspired to take the riyaaz route.

Thanx Sahana for bringing this topic up. i was looking for this one to bump it to the first page. It may help a lot to the contestants too.

Wish Kishore Bhakta and other luminaries could come back to IF. This thread became informative because of them.

Originally posted by: punjini

Bumping this for Vijey Umang.
Vijey, I know you don't like long articles, but hopefully after reading this thread, you might get inspired to take the riyaaz route.

First of all thanks very much. I am touched by care shown by senior members to a newbie !

I would request you to check my reply posted to topic - Singing Tips For IF Srgmp Singers.

http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=531594&g et=last#9210361

As I have said in it that only way to achieve powerfull and controlled singing can be achieved only by Guruji & Riyaaz,no short cuts for it.

I have also said in it I feel like thrown into an ocean when I see all articles over here. I have solved this problem. I decided to read only little a day from here but will affirm it in my understanding & mind firmly. By this slow but steady approach I will reach somewhere at least.

Today's lesson is extraction of Topic # Why Riyaaz by punjini ji :

Riyaaz

> Is something which gives control & stamina

> Is something which can't substitute Talent

> Is important because Talent alone doesn't give control & stamina for singing performance.

That's it for today. It was Lesson#1. I will continue it everyday by concluding some points from an article of our forum. I also thought of starting a new topic in which I would post a lesson daily. Lesson would be a simplified extraction( e.g. Riyaaz in above case ) of an article already existing in Forum ! What are your opinions over this idea , Moderators ji ?

You guys really have done a great job by creating a beautiful world of Music in IF Saregamapa. You guys also play guruji to me over here so accept my regards !

See you soon 😊

Originally posted by: Vijey Umang

Today's lesson is extraction of Topic # Why Riyaaz by punjini ji :

Riyaaz

> Is something which gives control & stamina

> Is something which can't substitute Talent

> Is important because Talent alone doesn't give control & stamina for singing performance.

That's it for today. It was Lesson#1. I will continue it everyday by concluding some points from an article of our forum. I also thought of starting a new topic in which I would post a lesson daily. Lesson would be a simplified extraction( e.g. Riyaaz in above case ) of an article already existing in Forum ! What are your opinions over this idea , Moderators ji ?

You guys really have done a great job by creating a beautiful world of Music in IF Saregamapa. You guys also play guruji to me over here so accept my regards !

See you soon 😊

Vijeyji, I agree with you.. This section is full of people who have great knowledge over music.. If im in touch with learning music, its only because of this section.. 😊

Also related to the topic - Riyaaz is very important.. I hv learnt it in my own personal experience.. I couldn do riyaaz because of my time constraints and studies and now i have totally lost my voice quality.. It is very important that we keep our voice tuned and for this riyaaz is very imp.. In my own personal experience i have noticed that - even if we do not practice the songs for few days, there is a change in the voice quality..

Thanks for reply !

But its wierd that if we don't riyaaz we loose control on own voice !

Why does it happen ! I ask you because you have more knowledge of music n I am just a new comer !

Originally posted by: Vijey Umang

Thanks for reply !

But its wierd that if we don't riyaaz we loose control on own voice !

Why does it happen ! I ask you because you have more knowledge of music n I am just a new comer !

Vijey, Im not sure if im right.. But my analysis goes here..

U are not tuning your voice, your throat basically.. The tissues become tough without tuning them.. While you speak you are not using that much of your tissues, but while you sing, the muscles of ur throat are also tuned and main is the breathe control which is important.. when u leave the riyaaz, ur breathe control is lost.. that is the reason why people in the olden days used to sing in the river in the early morning.. that will tune your throat, strengthen your throat muscles and also gives u good opportunity for controlling ur breathe.. Im not sure wat im saying is right..

It would be really greatful if someone can provide us with an extra knowledge on this..