TRAINING IN INDIAN CLASSICAL

MUSIC
RIYAZ
Dr. Rajiv C. Sharangpani
MS(General Surgery)
Diplom Sports Medicine (Germany)

WHAT IS TRAINING?

Repeated skillful movements with full

awareness.
It is a stimulus which brings about desirable
changes in neuronal circuits and
musculoskeletal apparatus during rest.
There is no end or limit to training; i.e.
Riyaz

BUT

it has to be done with total

awareness

AWARENESS
Awareness is
continuous,
simultaneous,
nonjudgmental and
total perception of
internal and external
environment.

RIGHT ACTION
Effortless Effort is the right action.
Happens out of Awareness.
Total awareness leads to absolutely
right action.

HOLISTIC RIYAZ
BODY
BREATHING

MIND

MASTER
ATTITUDE

SPIRIT

THREE STEPS to
HOLISTIC RIYAZ/
BECOMING A MASTER
Health
Fitness
Performance

HEALTH

Health is the ability

to enjoy every
moment of life
without any cause.

FITNESS
Fitness is the enhancement of
all motor functions and mental
capacities.

PERFORMANCE

Performance is the
ability of total
integration of mind
and body functions
leading to a
spirited
spontaneity in any
given task.

PRINCIPLES OF RIYAZ

Individualization
Economization
Specificity
Optimization
Recovery
Doing and Happening
Not doing
Passive observation

INDIVIDUALIZTION

Every individual is different. Her

requirements are different.
Adaptability to training loads is
different. Thus choice or technique
of Riyaz has to be chosen
accordingly.

ECONOMIZATION

More is better- This is not true in

Riyaz
Learning skill needs a pattern of
repetitions but this pattern should
be as near to exactitude as
possible.
The Quality of Riyaz is important,
not the duration. Not one minute
extra of Riyaz is necessary.

SPECIFICITY

This is the most ill understood part of

Riyaz.
Muscles respond to loads in different
ways because the muscle fibers which
respond to training load are different.
A marathon runner and a sprinter, both
run but both use different type of muscle
fibers.
Thus a singer who trains his lower
octaves uses different muscles than
when he trains his upper octaves.

OPTIMIZATION

Any movement, if it is to be done

more and more skillfully, needs
mental as well as physical
repetitions.
This balance has to be correctly
reached.
Excessive mental or physical
repetitions do not help in actual
performance but lead to injury,
fatigue or both.

RECOVERY

After any activity, there is a time lag in

which the human body recovers its spent
resources as well as restructures its
neuronal circuits & musculoskeletal
apparatus.
Training should not be instituted in this
phase.
In fact, the body changes for the better
between two training sessions if properly
placed.
Riyaz is just a stimulus.

DOING AND HAPPENING

When one understands the task of

producing a skillful sound mentally ,one
starts doing efforts to produce it at will.
Suddenly one finds that, by chance, one
is able to produce that skilful action.
However, it is not possible to physically
reproduce this happening by chance
every time.
Here mental repetition is important
because, although physical reproduction
is not possible, mental reproduction is
possible for few seconds.

DOING AND HAPPENING 2

Gradually this happening comes into the

domain of doing. The artist is able to
reproduce these sounds voluntarily.
The artist is now in search of further
happenings.
Thus at every stage of his or her career,
an artist comes across these
happenings. If she accumulates them
and brings them into doing she becomes
great. If she fails to do the same, she
remains mediocre.

NOT DOING

It is important to give complete break to

Riyaz once in a while to give your body
some time to recover. Surprisingly one
starts performing better after the break.

PASSIVE OBSERVATION

Listening to others and observing their

performance is essential to inculcate new
ideas in ones own repertoire.

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS

Paradoxically Riyaz is all about repeated

This analysis should lead to various forms

of synthesis. Like building a house and
dismantling it. Using the same bricks and
building a new house till one is satisfied
in all its aspects.
Performance is all about presenting a
spontaneous synthesis.

analysis.

SPONTANEITY

Paradoxically spontaneity has to be

trained.
It is controlled abandon.
The tools have to be polished and sharp;
their use has to be with controlled
abandon.

WHAT ARE WE TRAINING?

Body: Strength, Speed, Flexibility, Skill
and endurance
Breathing

Mind: Concentration, contemplation,

Koan
Attitude:
Spirit: Meditation

Exercises

Physical.

Doing

Breathing
Mental

Attitudinal
Spiritual

Happening

PHYSICAL TRAINING
Static strength endurance training for
good posture.

General strength training for good health

especially for females.
Balanced training for instrument players
to offset disadvantage of excessive use
of one muscle group.

BREATHING
Abdominal breathing leads to minimum
internal dialogue. This in turn effects in
increased spontaneity.

MENTAL TRAINING
Concentration to be able to appreciate
the place of the note.

Contemplation to comprehend the

intangible in Music.
Koan to just stop the mind.

ETERNAL TRUTHS FOR

CORRECT ATTITUDE
Everything changes. Change is the only
thing that is permanent.

Time to make decisions not for regrets

This moment is the culmination of the life
lived so far.
It is always Here and Now.
Work is its own reward

SPIRITUAL TRAINING
Who am I?
What is happening around me?

The awareness of the answers of these

questions is important.
It has to be there 24 hours a day.
Awareness before, during and after the
Riyaz is absolutely necessary.

COMPONENTS OF RIYAZ
Time: Rhythms of the Body, time and
duration of performance.
Space
Posture
Breathing
Duration
Dreaming

COMPONENTS OF VOCAL RIYAZ

All notes

In natural octaves
In a, aa, e, ee, u, ae,o and with mouth closed.
In all volumes
Have to be trained for

Ability to move and stop at will

Ability to express permutations and
combinations of all notes.
Good pronunciation of the words of a
composition
Training the a and h component

PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
All individuals strikes a different Sa
Even the same individual has slightly
different Sa every day.
Lowest note on a day should be taken as
Pa and the rest of the notes should be
adjusted accordingly.
This leads to effortless singing.
Training a false voice is strenuous.

Damage to Physical Health

Hypokinesia
Bad Posture
Addictions
Wrong breathing: Breathing through the

chest as opposed to the stomach.

Damage to Mental health

Desire
Anger
Conceit
Temptation
Avarice

S
T
R

Jealousy

Fear

DAMAGE TO SPIRITUAL
HEALTH
Unawareness
Inability to search for the answers to the

question - Who am I?

PREPARATION BEFORE
PERFORMANCE:
Starts on the day of the programme
Managing internal and external
environment.
Internal: Nature of presentation
External: Coping up with the
accompanying artists, stage, hall, cultural
background of the place.

ON THE DAY OF PERFORMANCE

Correct breathing: Through the Stomach
Correct eating
Inspecting the stage, mike, volume etc.
No discussions with anybody, especially no
laughing.
Getting into the zone of the performance.

QUALITIES OF A TEACHER
Always a student.
Without ulterior motives
Minimum attachment
Knowing the two aspects of training : skill
and general training of Individual
Able to adjust and adapt his training
according to every individual students
needs.
Egoless.

QUALITIES OF A STUDENT
Ability to completely trust and doubt a
teacher at the same time.
Aware of his own shortcomings and strong
points.
Egoless

LEARNING

Making new neuromuscular connections and

musculoskeletal adjustments.
Younger the age quick is the learning process as
there are no established patterns of movement.
Unlearning is extremely difficult as the set
patterns refuse to break.
Simple to complex but not necessarily.
One can learn from almost everything around us

TEACHING
Nobody can teach.
Everybody can learn.
Teacher just produces a conducive
environment for learning.

UNLEARNING
Unlearning

is the breaking of pre-established

neuromuscular connections.
It is rather difficult to break these
connections.
Thus, it needs great awareness to unlearn.
In a sense, unlearning can be a great training
in Awareness.

VIOLIN PLAYERS ADJUSTMENTS

Sit higher than the ground level. Press violin
between chest and stand.
Lumbar lordosis. Right hand pronated with
pressure on second phalanx of index finger. Left
hand supinated,palmar flexion and ulnar
deviation without holding the violin tight. Left
hand correct position and light pressure, right
hand variable pressure.
General adjustments of shoulder, knee etc.

Mistakes of a Teacher
Pretending to know something when ignorant about it.
Egoistic.
Ceases to be a student
Unaware
Attached to his art and students
Rigid in his outlook
Excessively methodical.
Suppressing spontaneity of his students
Excessive and continuous criticism or out of place praise
of himself and his students.

Mistakes of a student
Inability to doubt and trust a teacher at
the same time.
Gullible
Prone to excessive effort or little effort
Has ulterior motives
Gets disheartened quickly
Compares his or her progress with others

CAUSES OF MEDIOCRITY
Wrong person in wrong type of discipline
Wrong training as far as intensity and
extent is concerned
Lack or suppression of spontaneity during
training
False ideas regarding individual talent
Affected by six enemies and fear

CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE

Poor or no preparation.
Poor appreciation of space and time
Poor choice of presentation
Technically incorrect presentation
Technically correct but non-spontaneous
presentation.
All attention to result and not process.
Analyzing the performance instead of
synthesizing it.

STATE OF PERFORMANCE
Excellent posture, peripheral vision
Still mind with no internal dialogue and
an effortlessly moving body.
Pleasure in the body of the performance
and joy in the mind leads to a blissful
experience to all concerned.
Allowing the spirit to perform with no
hindrance from either the mind or the
body.

PERFORMANCE
Today's performance is audiovisual. Thus,
the performer must have a pleasant
expression on his face.
He or she must be well-dressed
Performer must observe time schedule
assiduously.
Practice should be done keeping in mind,
that a mike is present during performance
though it is not there during Riyaz.

QUALITIES OF GOOD PERFORMANCE

Technically and theoretically correct
presentation
Spontaneous happening
Correct selection vis--vis the audience
Correct duration of each presentation
Controlled abandon

EFFECTS OF WRONG RIYAZ

Pain in various body parts especially backache, neck

pains and knee pains and specific pains like wrist pains
for tabla players.
Increased blood pressure found in vocalists who are
doing wrong breathing,
Menstrual disorders in female singers due to wrong
breathing.
Sleep disorders.
Anxiety and mood disorders
Disinterest, fatigue, irritability
Loss of spontaneity in performance. Performance is
technically correct but their is no fun or joy. This is the
most serious effect of a wrongly done riyaz.

WRONG POSITION
LEADING TO
BACKACHE AFTER
MANY HOURS OF
PRACTICE

CORRECT POSITION

WRONG POSITION

CORRECT POSITION

WRONG POSITION
FOR SINGING

CORRECT POSITION FOR

SINGING

All our endeavours are in the known.

We do riyaz to bring something of the unknown in our repertoire but
very few even venture to comprehend the unknowable.
We can perceive the world through our five senses.
There is lot more to this world beyond these five senses and
this is the unknowable.

A master gets in this realm through his riyaz.