Indian Devotional and Raga Singing

Catalog description

Singing, first of sixty-four traditional Indian arts, is an ancient system of yoga. Students learn to sing OM; chants that consist of naming and manifesting god; svaras-seven goddess tones, the notes from which all traditional scales are derived; ragas-crystals of pure sound. We study sonic transformation, or the means of transforming consciousness and awareness using sound, such as Shabda Brahma [word is god], Nada Brahma [sound is god], etc. All students play the tambura, a stringed drone instrument. Cross-listed as TRA114.