BENGALURU: Did you know that eating bread or dairy before getting on stage to sing can affect your performance? Or that science has a big role to play when it comes to how well you can sing? Combining her bio-chem background with her passion for music is Divya RT, who runs a school, called VoxCoach, dedicated to those wanting to strengthen their voices.
From chemistry prof to voice coach
VoxCoach has been operational since June this year, with 13 students. “I have an education background, I taught chemistry at Mount Carmel College for over six years before wanting to test new waters. I was trained in Carnatic music as a child, and my passion for it never faded away,” she says, adding that she would post renditions and anything else related to music onto her Facebook page, which then slowly shifted towards subjects more related to professional training and music education. Having seen all this, a former chemistry student requested Divya to train her, and that’s how she attempted to develop a syllabus in vocal training.
VoxCoach is a school that delivers training in vocal techniques for professional singing, and this can be done both online and face-to-face. “The aim is to make available vocal techniques training to singers so as to help them with achieving their singing goals, through full courses. Not many people in India are fully aware of the impact and application of vocal techniques on singing, or anything else related to sound production by the human body. This is the only pure vocal techniques school, and the second one in the country to be delivering full courses online, the first one being Shankar Mahadevan Academy,” says Divya. VoxCoach offers beginner-level and crash courses, of 10 and five sessions each respectively.
What exactly is the course about?
The approach of the course is skill-based, and students are (i) made aware of the science behind sound production by the human body (ii) trained in vocal techniques or warm up exercises for professional singing (iii) facilitated throughout the course of their association with VoxCoach on how to practise these exercises, as a result be led to discovering those aspects of the body that can be controlled and used as per the requirement of the individual (iv) facilitated through the process of application of these exercises in making different kinds of songs sound professional.
Out of the 13 students, seven are online students and the remaining are face-to-face. Language is not a barrier, as Divya has students wanting to sing in English, Hindi, Kannada and even Telugu. “Apart from singers, I have even got enquiries from aspiring Sandalwood actors.”
Online voice training?
Divya says that through the use of technology, educators can reach out to people the world over. “Now is the time to take diversification of approach to another level through mass launches of online schools that cater to education on different topics. The only thing that might technically get in the way of efficient online training is the internet connection. It’s the element of strong passion and belief, and fairly good marketing strategy that will sow the seed of blind faith in stakeholders. It’s then up to us to do justice to the promises we’ve made.I work on this day in and day out,” says Divya, whose main musical influences are Michael Jackson and the late rapper Tupac Shakur.
Divya says that although performing is something she has thought about over the years, the lack of like-minded people to collaborate with has been what has stopped her from getting up on stage. While she still does perform with other bands, her own group, where she can sing songs that inspire her, is something she is looking at pursueing.If you’re an aspiring singer who wants to improve your voice, Divya can be reached through her website www.voxcoach.in or through her Facebook page.