Singers throng ENT clinics during Margazhi season

Every year, when the mu­s­ic festival approaches, it is not just the sabhas that are overcrowded.

Update: 2013-12-11 12:28 GMT
Picture for representational purpose only.

Chennai: Every year, when the mu­s­ic festival approaches, it is not just the sabhas that are overcrowded, ENT cli­ni­cs too are.

“ENT surgeons are thro­ng­ed by singers - budding and also established sin­g­ers. They visit with the sin­gle problem of voice. The most important reason is lack of awareness on voice culture. Of all cl­a­­s­sical music in the world, only Carnatic mu­s­ic doesn’t have voice culture. It’s time we addre­ss­ed this issue,” says Dr Mo­h­an Ka­m­eswaran, managing dir­e­c­tor and senior con­sul­t­a­nt of Madras ENT Re­se­a­r­ch Foundation.

A workshop was condu­c­t­­ed recently by MERF for singers. “The importance of diet and how to conser­ve voice, how to deal with vo­cal and non-vocal ha­b­i­ts, lifestyle and the impo­r­t­a­­nce of breathing were dis­c­ussed at the worksh­op,” says Dr Ranjith Raj­es­w­­aran, leading audiologist and principal of the MERF institute of speech and hearing, adding that any ENT disorder will affect one’s voice. “Voice is as good as hearing. We trained singers on muscle relaxation technique,” he added.

With the increasing nu­m­­ber of concerts that sin­g­ers perform during the mu­sic season, coupled wi­th the cold weather, vocali­s­ts have also started showing interest in taking care of their voices. “Unlike before, now singers are aware that they have to treat the problem,” says Dr Rajeswaran.

Musician T.N. Seshag­op­a­l­an says that one should un­derstand the limitations of one’s vocal cho­r­ds. Apart from his routine ex­ercises in the morning, vocalist Sikkil Gur­uch­ar­an makes sure that he’s we­ll protected when he go­es out, such as sporting a sc­arf.

“Earlier, I used to be paranoid but you get used to it when you travel outside, especially in extreme cold and snow. Also, the temperature has to be maintained in the place where one performs. What we learn in the beginning like varnam is a real warm-up,” he says. Vocologists say that one has to take plenty of rest between concerts and adopt a voice-friendly method of singing.
 

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