Classical music, Carnatic in particular, is tagged as fine arts and considered part of humanities subject, but it has a scientific perspective too. A research paper from Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV) not only unearthed the scientific angle behind the South Indian music form, but also bagged the ‘Best Paper Award’ at the global level for the same.
The research paper presented by Raghavi Janaswamy, a Ph.D. scholar, and Saraswathi K. Vasudev, professor and head at the all-women university’s Department of Music and Fine Arts, at the 15th International Conference on Classical Music and Music Education (ICCMME 2021) conducted by the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology (WASET) at Rome (Italy) recently was adjudged the best. In the paper titled ‘Vocal training and practice methods: A glimpse on the south Indian Carnatic music’, the duo narrated some of the traditional training methods with an emphasis on the advanced practice methods for articulating vocal skills, continuity in the voice, ability to produce ‘Gamakams’ and gaining command in multiple speeds.
Health benefits
“Some sounds are produced from the tongue, some from the throat and some come from deep within. Strengthening the vocal chord is a skill, which we have been imparting to aspiring vocalists. There is immense science behind vocal music,” Prof. Saraswathi Vasudev told The Hindu. While music has a primary role to evoke emotional human responses, mainly the self-evaluative cognitions and attitudes such as self-esteem, self-confidence and self-efficacy, it also has the power to ensure intricate balance between consciousness in the mind and the organ system of human body, the paper concluded.
This apart, the duo presented another paper titled ‘Carnatic music Ragas and their role in music therapy’, wherein they dwelt on ‘Raga Chikitsa’, explaining how raga Ananda Bhairavi is used for post operation pain therapy, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is influenced by raga Neelambari and Sankarabharanam and the impact of Hindolam and Todi on normalising blood pressure.
“Bagging the international acclaim is certainly music to our ears,” Prof. Saraswathi Vasudev said.
