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how to improve voice for kirtan


jasonsingh
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Guest Kirtan

 

On 4/9/2020 at 6:05 PM, Akalifauj said:

Increase love for Guru Sahib and your voice will show this.  Do this by having a deep yearning to understand Gurbani.  Do lots of paath.

This is best advice. When you learn what the shabad means you can sing it from heart and emotion/feeling comes into your voice. This is what makes the best kirtani

My local gurdwara had a very young jatha (early 20s) come from India once to do seva for 1 yr. It was their first time ever doing seva in gurdwara as resident Gianis/jatha. They couldn’t even do katha, we had a separate Giani for that. But their kirtan raas was out of this world. The voice wasn’t even that special, only one of them had studied raags.

But it was the way in which their kirtan touched you inside. Lots of sangat had ‘experiences’ during that time. People would cry when their 1hr kirtan haazari on Sunday finished and beg them to read another shabad.

They did kirtan soaked in the love of Guru Nanak, that’s all. But sometimes good things end. These Sings went back to family life in India, got married, got regular jobs and now got kids to raise.

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5 hours ago, Guest Kirtan said:

 

This is best advice. When you learn what the shabad means you can sing it from heart and emotion/feeling comes into your voice. This is what makes the best kirtani

My local gurdwara had a very young jatha (early 20s) come from India once to do seva for 1 yr. It was their first time ever doing seva in gurdwara as resident Gianis/jatha. They couldn’t even do katha, we had a separate Giani for that. But their kirtan raas was out of this world. The voice wasn’t even that special, only one of them had studied raags.

But it was the way in which their kirtan touched you inside. Lots of sangat had ‘experiences’ during that time. People would cry when their 1hr kirtan haazari on Sunday finished and beg them to read another shabad.

They did kirtan soaked in the love of Guru Nanak, that’s all. But sometimes good things end. These Sings went back to family life in India, got married, got regular jobs and now got kids to raise.

thank you for sharing this I hope I can improve

 

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On 4/9/2020 at 5:09 PM, jasonsingh said:

waheguru ji ka Khalsa waheguru ji ki fathe

iv been doing kirtan and I really enjoy it and want to advance In kirtan but my voice sounds very bad and I need to improve it so is there any advice form any one how to improve my voice so I can do kirtan better 

if you are using harmonium, then I recommend stop using harmonium and start using authentic sikh string instruments such as Rabab, Saranda, Dilruba, Saranghi, Taus etc.

 

The string instrument will help improve your voice.

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Guest Singh

Practice, you need to practice and practice

Attend kirtan lessons at your gurdwara. If not available ask people who are good for some 1-1 lessons

Classical kirtan is helpful - a bit harder to find people to learn this from. But there are people and organisations available, like Gurmat Sangeet Academy (uk)

Do some research into good academy/places/people to learn from. When your life circumstances allow you could go spend a few weeks or months learning at that place

I also recommend you read path of Raagmala daily and do ardaas to receive kirtan di daat.

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15 hours ago, Guest Singh said:

Practice, you need to practice and practice

Attend kirtan lessons at your gurdwara. If not available ask people who are good for some 1-1 lessons

Classical kirtan is helpful - a bit harder to find people to learn this from. But there are people and organisations available, like Gurmat Sangeet Academy (uk)

Do some research into good academy/places/people to learn from. When your life circumstances allow you could go spend a few weeks or months learning at that place

I also recommend you read path of Raagmala daily and do ardaas to receive kirtan di daat.

than you so much ,I will be going to a professional to learn after the lockdown , thank you  do you know what to practise I a bit confused and thank you for suggesting reading path of ragmama I will thank you was there any special reason why you said ragmalal ?

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On 4/9/2020 at 9:09 AM, jasonsingh said:

waheguru ji ka Khalsa waheguru ji ki fathe

iv been doing kirtan and I really enjoy it and want to advance In kirtan but my voice sounds very bad and I need to improve it so is there any advice form any one how to improve my voice so I can do kirtan better 

I had the same problem. My voice was horrible. And I gave up kirtan because of it. But years later I picked it up and only sing for myself and guruji. That took the pressure off and I started to enjoy it. 

And i noticed my voice has gotten better with practice. What really helps is to do riyaaz. Which is like scales. SA Re ga ma pa da ni sa. Stay on the SA key for as long as you have breath and try to match ur voice to the key. Do this for each sargam/scale. And each time you sing a shabad, try to match ur voice with the keys too. The more u practice the better. I used to have trouble hitting the high noted. My voice would squeak or crack. So i learned that if u sing from ur abdomen on the high notes, its more powerful then just sknging from ur throat. 

 

 

If u dont know the sargam/scales u can google them, find many youtube videos and even books. You can learn new shabads from youtube or kirtan raag books. There are tons of sikh libraries online. Search for it. 

Also raagmala is a bani about raags. The musical melodies. So if you read it. You should be more easily able to master music. 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Not2Cool2Argue said:

I had the same problem. My voice was horrible. And I gave up kirtan because of it. But years later I picked it up and only sing for myself and guruji. That took the pressure off and I started to enjoy it. 

And i noticed my voice has gotten better with practice. What really helps is to do riyaaz. Which is like scales. SA Re ga ma pa da ni sa. Stay on the SA key for as long as you have breath and try to match ur voice to the key. Do this for each sargam/scale. And each time you sing a shabad, try to match ur voice with the keys too. The more u practice the better. I used to have trouble hitting the high noted. My voice would squeak or crack. So i learned that if u sing from ur abdomen on the high notes, its more powerful then just sknging from ur throat. 

 

 

If u dont know the sargam/scales u can google them, find many youtube videos and even books. You can learn new shabads from youtube or kirtan raag books. There are tons of sikh libraries online. Search for it. 

Also raagmala is a bani about raags. The musical melodies. So if you read it. You should be more easily able to master music. 

 

 

thank you so so much for advice 

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