“Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.” – Plato

What is Riyaz

Riyaz is a term used in Indian classical music to describe the practice of singing.

Assume you have a good physique and aspire to be an international athlete. However, even if you are blessed with a muscular body, you cannot become a great athlete unless you put in a lot of effort into training your body.

In Indian classical music, Riyaz is the type of instruction that can help you become a great singer.

There are many tips for singing riyaz which is taught by Asha Bhosle ma’am in her online singing foundation course

Benefits of Riyaz

It makes your vocal cords stronger and more flexible (The vocal cord is muscle tissue in the neck that produces sound).

• As you progress through the octaves, your voice range or scale will improve.

• You can master numerous singing ornaments such as meend, kan swar, Andolan, gamaka, khatka, murki, and so on.

• Your vibrato singing ability will vastly increase.

• Most importantly, Riyaz will increase your desire to learn singing more, which you have always desired.

Preparation before starting Riyaz/practice

• Find a quiet spot at home for at least 1 hour where you will be disturbed very little or not at all.

• Prepare your instrument. Tanpura is regarded as the best instrument for Riyaz classical music. You can do the same thing with a Harmonium, Keyboard, or Piano. Don’t worry if you don’t have an instrument yet; simply download the Tanpura droid app for Android or the iTanpura Lite app for iPhone.

How to do Riyaz at home?

“Riyaz” is divided into several steps that you must follow each time you sit down to practice. Let’s get started…

STEP 1: Get your vocal chords warmed up.

Choose a scale that you are familiar with and begin singing OM (35) for each note. Do this for at least 2 minutes. This will prepare your voice for practice and provide you with a relaxing connection to music.

STEP 2: Alankar and the practice of aakaar

Let us now look at the main pillar of Indian classical music, namely the Alankars.

Alankars are tiny swaras exercises. Every aspiring singer should practice this to improve his or her voice, and the ideal approach to practice alankar can be divided into two categories.

• Notation/swara practice: You will practice Sa Re Ga Ma notation patterns while pronouncing each note in this category.

• Akaar practice: Once you’ve mastered the notation, you can move on to the next step. For each note, you’ll need to practice the same notations pattern pronouncing (3r).

Your mission now is to practice each alankar and its aakaar at least 100-500 times. Alter the speed of your tempo/teal from slow to fast during the alankar practice. Do this for at least 30 minutes every day. If you follow the steps below for three months, you will notice a significant improvement in the melody and range of your voice.

STEP 3: Raaga practice

We all know that if someone wants to learn English, he or she must first understand English grammar in order to construct English phrases. In the same way as alankars are the grammar of Indian classical music, they are also the grammar of English sentences. Similarly, alankars are indian classical music grammar, and raag is similar to the English language.

Raag practice is the application of alankars that will lead you to the real world of music. Raga practice helps you learn many musical technicalities that will eventually help you sing any genre of music. Raag practice helps you create a wide range of emotions in your singing.

What is the best way to practice Raaga?

Three steps are for beginners: –

• Slowly begin with Aaroh, Avroh, and Pakd.

• Practice the raaga’s Aalap.

• After that, practice a raaga-based bandish.

For advance level, you have follow the below given steps: –

• Swaras explanation according to the raaga rule

• Taan training

• Chhota Khayal

• Bada Khayal

STEP 4: Rehearse the song

There are numerous songs based on raaga. Choose one song based on the raaga you have been practicing and rehearse it. This will permanently imprint the raaga in your mind.

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