Sruthi for male singers

[Unnykrish]

I am looking for some information about perfect pitch for male singers. Currently, i am not able to sing beyond B. Even in B, i find M2 and P (upper) very difficult. I am very comfortable to sing in A# where even lower notes (D and P) are manageable for me. One difficulty i find is that, i do not get accompanist (specifically mridangam) to sing in A# or rather they compell me to sing in B. i also noticed that C is the common scale used by male singers.

Should i gradually increase my pitch? I find it very strenuous and slowly develop head ache and discomfort
Do i have to consult some voice therapist?

Please could someone guide me on how to proceed with this?

Unny

[ganesh_mourthy]

Unni , can you answer these questions so that I or one of our forumites can guide you. It looks like you are groping in the dark .

Have you just started? How old are you? Do you have a teacher? Why do you need a Mridangam already? can you hum along a song or do you have problem or pain in throat even for that. ?

Best

[Unnykrish]

Ganeshji,

I am 34 now. I learnt Carnatic Music under a trainer till my UG. I belong to an area in Kerala where there is no much exposure to Carnatic Music and so my learning was not that systematic. From my graduation, i had been learning myself listening and referring in internet. In the past three years, i gave the kutcheris where i had issues as my accompanists preferred me to sing in scale B. I have throat pain and head ache when i sing upper notes in B scale (G3, M1, M2 and P) Few of my songs are uploaded in the below site, you may listen and suggest me opportunities for improvement.

https://soundcloud.com/unny-ambadi

Thanks
Unny

[ganesh_mourthy]

Dear Mr. Unni,

I listened to your singing and definitely it is a soothing voice. You do not have to change your pitch to higher ranges if you are absolutely comfortable with this. I think not many mridangist carry a compatible shruti instrument and that could be a reason. But, that does not mean you have to shift your shruthi. Hope you are well aware of the great MDR who also sang in such a low shruti and he had a huge fan following.

As far as increasing by a half note and feeling head ache could also mean you could be doing the shift wrongly. I started with C# and later moving to D flat was never a problem, except that if I sang without shruti box , my voice may go back to C#, by force of habit. But , yes I used to have head ache even while touching Ni 1 earlier as I was doing it wrong. We will discuss this step by step .

I am so glad that you self learnt with perseverance and this little glitch should not hinder your prospects.

However , do you have problem while singing speeds. Are you able to sing Dhattus and Alankarams in Akarams at a speed of 3rd Kalam comfortably? And also the melsthayi varisais?

Rasikas on the Mridangam side, can you please throw some light if availability of appropriate mridangam should have a bearing on someone's singing pitch?

[Unnykrish]

Thank you Ganeshji,

Yes, i do have problems while singing speeds. But its not in some consistent manner. In 3rd kaalam, I can sing some of the tough 'sangathees (patterns) easily, but the same time struggle with some easy ones. What i feel is patters in 'Arohanams' come easier than avarohanams.