Tips on voice culture for Carnatic Music students

CCC thanks Smt. Kasthuri Shivakumar and Shri Shivakumar Bhat, for presenting in the Feature A Guru segment for April an interesting and most needed topic for students - Cultivating and Sustaining of Voice Culture for Carnatic music singing. Cultivating the right voice culture in the initial stages of learning is very beneficial to the vocalist. They explained the various aspects that comprise a good voice culture, such as the shruthi and laya shuddham, voice modulation, range and volume, pronunciation, and bhavam and facial expressions. Smt. Kasthuri and Shri Shivakumar also gave several tips and techniques for developing good voice culture, how to use your voice wisely, and demonstrated some exercises for voice control, improving breath control and strengthening the vocal chords.