Just harmonium! Took a class online during a time I wanted to be a kirtan wallah. Yes I did get into play kirtan, but never had an audience. Was just doing it for my own practice. I don’t play kirtan much any more, I’ve shifted it into hymn singing in the Christian tradition which resonates with me more. But I remember the 10 thaats exercise and how fun it was to fly up and down the keyboard singing “sa re ga ma pa da ni sa” in different scales.
Oh I can image how difficult it would be to do with the voice. I have a problem skipping whole steps when I sing much less half steps which you would have to do frequently haha.
Shanti Shivani is the woman that I briefly studied Nada Yoga with a few years ago. She was a wandering hippie Sadhu in India for a time back in the 60’s and 70’s (very unusual for a Western woman!). After a period of seeking with a number of teachers and practices she discovered Nada Yoga and Dhrupad singing as her path. It was interesting to study briefly, but it’s a demanding path that I didn’t really have the time to pursue. She lives in Oregon.
I would say that the easiest instrument to learn music theory on is a keyboard because all of the notes are layed out before you in an orderly way. However, this would be the Western scale. Indian ragas have subtle “in between notes” that don’t exist in Western musical scales.
I learned something about Indian raga scales by taking workshops in Nada yoga, where you learn to sing these scales. All Indian musicians learn to sing these scales as a prerequisite to playing them on their chosen instrument.
