In November 2001 I was reunited with Tom Dennehy, a friend from my open mike days in Bloomsburg in the early 90s. Besides being a brilliant piano player and accomplished guitarist, Tom is an outrageously funny songwriter who writes his own brand of novelty and intellectually challenging music. Weird Al meets Monty Python.
During college, Tom studied music in India for two years. After graduating from Berklee School of Music, he lived in Chicago for a while, and taught English in Japan for a year. Tom recently returned to Central PA for a two month "break" (although he has still been busy teaching, recording and performing). Tom offered to give me vocal lessons in the Hindustani tradition before he heads off to Spain for another teaching assignment.
So far the lessons have been very helpful, and challenging. Using the tambouras (a 4-stringed sitar-like instrument) as our reference, we have been exploring "sargam", the Indian equivalent of the Western solfa:
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do
My first "raag" or mode, from which many "ragas" are composed, is known as Yaman. "Raag" and "raga" are two different ways of spelling the same word. (Tom says: There are many ways to write Hindi and Sanskrit words in our alphabet because certain aspects of the phonetic system cannot be accurately transliterated.)
Yaman is really just a Lydian mode, in this case, in the key of A. I seem to have the most trouble with Ni… thus the title of this entry "In Search of Ni."
We went over the "sthai" and "antara" sections of one specific composition in Yaman. So far, after only a few lessons, I've noticed a difference in my vocal tone and my instrumental performance.
I had a total of nine lessons with Tom between 11/16/01 and 1/15/02. The lessons were interrupted by Tom's visit to New Orleans, and may continue when he returns. I'm really not sure. I get the feeling that like our friendship, this teacher/student relationship will be a sporadic one, since Tom travels so much and I tend to b busy with projects. That is OK with me.
Each lesson was taped (though pieces of a couple got cut off) and I would practice each lesson in the car on my drive to and from Tom's house. Usually I would listen to the tape from the previous lesson when going to a new lesson. It's a real eye opener when you listen to yourself sing like that…
During the lessons, we worked on three ragas:
Yaman
SRGMPDNS
Parts of a composition in Yaman, using the syllables:
Part I (sthai)
Part II (antara)
(Coming soon...) Bhoopali (early evening) SRGPDS
Malkauns (late night) SGMDN (an evening pentatonic (5 note) -
I really liked that one!)
Over the course of the lessons, I had trouble with Ni in Yaman, and Ma in Bhoopali. Tom would also reprimand me (nicely) for the facial movements that I use when singing, because those movements taint the sound of the voice.
For the longest time, we just worked on the saregam for Bhoopali. There were times when, either because of pure musical ignorance or stuffed sinuses, I was just not getting Bhoopali. Tom was very patient with me, and I admire his resolve. In the last few lessons I was given the words to the composition I was learning (roughly translated):
"Today the beautiful rainy season has come
The girlfriends are singing their wedding songs
The bees are humming in the branches of the mango trees.
In the forest, the peacocks are making their "papiha"
sound.
The cuckoo is singing its song in the garden."
Overall, I enjoyed the vocal lessons very much. Of all the things I've done to better myself as a musician, I think these lessons were the most effective. I gradually noticed a more comfortable singing sensation when working on music outside of the lessons, and I think I may have improved my vocal range.
Each winter, I typically suffer from severe sinus problems. This year, I was still sick, but the vocal lessons seemed to keep my voice in shape more. There were a few days where I knew I shouldn't sing, so we moved the lesson to another day. In other cases, when I was feeling good enough to sing, but still under the weather, the lessons helped me clear my head and kept my spirits up. I felt like I was acquiring the ability to sing under any circumstances.
More than the direct vocal benefits, or health effects, the ear training that came out of the lessons was amazing. While I have been singing and playing for 10+ years, only now to I feel I am starting to grasp how everything is related. In the case of Yaman, I was able to graft the saregam onto the guitar, and came up with a number of simple exercises that enhanced my playing and my signing. And even though my lessons with Tom did not involve guitar playing, I felt that my guitar playing improved during the few months when I was taking the lessons. I noticed a change in my confidence level on the instrument, and was thinking less (or maybe more?) about where my fingers were going, and more about the sound coming out of the instrument. And that's the point of it all anyway, right?
There was one lesson in particular that really stood out as a kick in the pants. I was having trouble with a phrase, and I felt like giving up. When I listened to the tape, I couldn't believe how off I was. I had less trouble singing it afterward, and I wondered how I could have been so dense the first time around. Listening to the tape made me realize that I simply wasn't listening to what Tom was doing in the lesson. From that point forward, I knew that there was more than just vocal training going on. I also started to hear differently. Rather than just hear with my ears, I felt like I had to perceive the sound with my other senses. I had to see the notes. I had only experienced this feeling when writing free-form compositions at home. Now I had to take that sensation and make it tangible enough so I could use it to command my voice, and whatever other instrument I was going to play. This may seem strange until we see that the saregam are meant to give us names for the pitches, just as we use words to describe objects. Only by knowing the names can we communicate.
I really can't say enough about how this has helped me as a
musician and artist. I think anyone who wants to get closer to
their instrument should take vocal training. While I favor Tom's
approach (because of my love for Indian music), other methods
are probably just as effective. Western Classical, Rock singing,
etc. probably work the same way. The trick is to find something
that helps you intellectually grasp what you tend to do by instinct.
Then, only after you have an understanding of where you are going,
can you return to the instinctual side of music and perform at
your best. Unlearn what you have learned, as Yoda would say.
12/30/01 - Here's a sample of how these lessons can be worked
into my compositions: