The aerodynamics of alaap, the technique of the tann…
A "first-of-its-kind" research initiative involving a city-based singer has set out to marry the art of Hindustani classical singing with "vocal science". It promises to raise performance standards and hold out hope for mediocre students of the genre the world over. Pandit Santanu Bandyopadhyay, representing the fifth generation of the Bishnupur gharana, has collaborated with the department of communication disorders, Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the US, for a research project on "the production of Indian classical vocal music", with emphasis on the taan. A release from the Bowling Green State University - with sound-treated booths where experiments with the truth of taan have been conducted - states that the study "furthers basic knowledge" about vocal use and musical aesthetics by obtaining important information about "how the body works to produce taan and other musical gestures". "Although there have been some studies on the acoustical nature of Indian classical singing, our joint work appears to be the first ever, worldwide, that not only looks at the microstructure of fundamental frequency production, but also the aerodynamics and glottal dynamics of taan," explains Ronald C. Scherer. The voice scientist at the Ohio University, along with doctoral student Nandhakumar Radhakrishnan, helped Bandyopadhyay with the research.