ARUL SETH

Arul Seth is a CCRT Scholarship holder awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. Of India and also a gold medalist in music from Delhi University.  He is an All India Radio empanelled artist. He has recently been awarded the first prize in the Indian Film Project festival, Mumbai in the pop category. He has also received a scholarship from the National Council of Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai recently. Arul has performed all over India in prestigious stages like Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar (the oldest and the most prestigious Indian Classical Music Festival), National Youth Festival organized by Sahitya Kala Parishad in Delhi, Bawra Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar, Bulandshahar Sangeet Samaroh to name a few.

I emphasize on the basics the most! Once the basics (Straight notes) are clear, it becomes very easy for the student to grasp anything that I teach. The idea of the frequency of each note should be very clear in the student's mind before we proceed. Once the student has a good grasp over it, I'll focus on the voice culture. In order to be able to sing good, one needs to have the knowledge of how to present your voice. The skill to use the chest voice and head voice is very important to be able to sing with ease and excellence. I'll be focusing on the correct pronunciation of the swaras and aakar. Aakar is very important because it helps in increasing the resonance in your voice and good voice throw. The correct way to do the Kharaj riyaaz (lower notes) in the morning will also be taught. After this I'll be going through the 10 thaats(scales), the perfect intonation of all the swaras (shuddha and komal) is the most important aspect of music. Various alankaars or paltas will be taught that will help in increasing the flexibility of the voice. Then we can proceed with the ragas such as Yaman, Bhairav, Bhimpalasi, Durga etc. Bada khayal and chota khayal will be taught in all these ragas. I'll be teaching a lot of bandishes (compositions) in each ragas because each composition brings out a different aspect or beauty of the raga. In the beginning I'll start with teaching some prefixed alaaps and taans(fast intonation of notes) so that the student can get an idea of how to sing them. Once the student has learned these I'll teach how to improvise taans and alaaps. For learning this art, FOUR things are very essential- 1.Guru's teachings 2.Riyaaz(Practice) 3. Listening 4. Thinking. So I expect from my students that whatever I teach them should be ready by the next class. Listening to good vocalists is also very essential. I will send you recordings of great personalities that will help in widening your view about this art. The thinking process should always be going on. You should always be thinking of the new ways by which you can do badhat or improvise in a raga or present your raga.