RAAGA SCHOOL OF MUSIC
  • Annual Day 2022
  • Syllabus
  • Workshops
  • FACULTY
    • Carnatic Vocal Classes >
      • Smt. NCS Ravali
      • Vidwan Dr. Umashankar
      • Smt. Srirajalakshmi
      • Vishwesh Swaminadhan
      • Aarthi Ravichandran
      • Akshaya Ramanath
      • Sri Anirudh Bharadwaj
      • Ms. Sushmetha Mohan
      • Smt. Usha Prabhu
      • Smt. ​Bharathy Subrahmanyam
      • Smt. Srividhya Kumar
      • Smt. ​Yamini Indrakanti
      • Dr. Harish Ganapathy
      • Smt. Radha Srisailam
      • Smt. Pratyusha Chaganti
      • Smt. Sindhu Natarajan
      • Ms. Mayuri Vasan
      • Smt. Sunandini Radhakrishnan
      • Smt. Sreevidya Pasumarthi
      • Smt. Madhura Subramanian
      • Shambhavi Bhaskar
    • Tabla Classes >
      • Shri. Ravi Gutala
      • Smt Rama Garimella
      • Shri. Nikhil Pandya
    • Mridangam Classes >
      • Akshay Prabhakaran
    • Carnatic Violin Classes >
      • Kalaimamani Meera Sivaramakrishnan
      • Vishwesh Swaminadhan
      • Sri. Kaushik Sivaramakrishnan
      • Parur MK Ananthlakshmi
      • Abhay Anil Kumar
      • Sri. Sasidhar Madugula
      • Sri. Siddharth Ashokkumar
    • Hindustani Vocal Classes >
      • Smt. Sujata Gurav
      • Smt. Amrita Rao
      • Smt. Lalita Sharma
    • Veena >
      • Smt. Radha Srisailam
      • Smt. Srirajalakshmi
    • Sitar >
      • Shri Bruce Hamm
    • Sarod >
      • Shri Bruce Hamm
    • Carnatic Flute >
      • Sri Paddu Vedam
      • Sri Anirudh Bharadwaj
  • Testimonials
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    • Enroll - Mridangam
  • Teach Here
  • Articles
    • The Joys of Learning Carnatic Music
    • Benefits of Learning Carnatic Music
    • Carnatic Vocal: What to Expect in Beginner Lessons
    • Carnatic Music - How to Identify Swaras
    • How to use Zoom recordings to practice at home
    • Preparing for Carnatic Vocal Tests
    • Sapta Swaras: The 7 Swaras
    • Mayamalvagowla
    • Carnatic Vocal Workshops
    • Preparing for Performances
    • Vijayadashami Carnatic Lessons
    • Understanding Raga Mohanam
    • An introduction to Varnams
    • An introduction to Geetams
  • Performances
    • Sampada Exams - 2021
    • Aug 11 Performance
    • Annual Day 2019 - Students
    • Annual Day 2019 - Teachers
  • PAY/SCHEDULE

Preparing Carnatic Vocal Tests

Information on how to prepare for exams like the Sampada Exam

The purpose of Carnatic Vocal Tests

Like the other Indian classical music, Carnatic music too is also a systematically structured form of classical music. Hence people who are keen on learning this musical art need to follow a rigorous training method. This form of music was developed by musical experts and the saints like Purandara Dasa, Thyagaraja who have systemized the art of learning the Carnatic music, which is practiced even today. These experts introduced certain key ragas as the basic scale for teaching and learning this wonderful type of Carnatic music.

Every parent is interested in knowing that their child is making progress. This is why it is important to ensure that students are regularly tested to ensure that they are attending all the lessons and practicing diligently at home between the classes. There are also nationally and internationally recognized exams like the Sampada exams that 

This article is intended to share a few strategies about how to prepare for Carnatic Vocal tests and exams

How to prepare for the vocal tests

When it comes to vocal Carnatic music classes, the examinations or the tests conducted by the various institutions make you know the purpose of their learning of this magnificent art.  Good preparation makes you feel confident so that they can move up to the higher grade with ease. Undoubtedly, these tests are challenging and bring the self-belief to a great extent. Of course, they need to follow their teachers for structures instructions, which they will feel after passing the tests, which are priceless.

The following are some tips that can be handy who are planning to go for the vocal test in Carnatic music. 

Make a perfect bit-by-bit practice:
Never let the test becomes an overwhelming prospect. Make the lessons into manageable portions and start practicing one bit at a time. If you make each bit separately and work perfectly the same it can become an easier meal to digest. The key thing that needs to be followed id the structured lessons as prescribed by the teacher, not the book.  By this type of practice, you can easily understand how the vocal test all fits together. 

Manage singing expectations: 
The act of managing their expectations seems to be very important. Here one has to pay attention to the pronunciation of every song they learn. Also, they ought to break the long phrases and make them manageable easily. Reputed Carnatic vocal schools like Ragga school, trains you in this area to deal with all kinds of long phrases that come during the recital. If this basic is clearly understood for you, managing new materials can be easier. 

Practice outside the music school: 
Perfect practice makes perfect. Hence you need to do practice their vocal skills at home. Practicing away from the music school allows you to sing in the outside environment which is a very important feature for every singer. Remember the fact, all famous Carnatic singers excel in the large gathering and even perform better than doing it in their homes. Such precise practice makes things permanent in the memory cells of the brain.

Musical expression is vital: 
In any classical music, especially Carnatic vocal music examinations, the aspect of communications and expression are vital in getting higher grades. Hence, you need to understand the importance of the given song and they need to stretch the song emotionally that shows the right expressions. Remember, every song has a unique story with its set of emotions built in it.  Hence the meaning of the song should be well known to express the emotions. Such expressions need to come from the inner soul rather than from the mind. 

Learn the song instead of memorizing: 
This skill is of great importance when delivering the stuff during the vocal tests. Memorizing has its limitation. Marks are awarded for learning the song and not for memorizing it. Once you learn the song, good performance is guaranteed for you and the case is not true with memorizing. Evaluators can able to distinguish the difference when you undergo Carnatic vocal tests. 
​
Carnatic Instrument learning 
Learn Carnatic Violin Flute from online classes: If you are keen on knowing the Carnatic flute and Carnatic violin classes you can join the course offered by special schools. After completion of the course, you can play Carnatic songs in the form of kirthis on the violin. Or any other instruments like flute, drums or mridangam   and so on. Many vocal training schools also run these classes to supplement the main vocal training. After learning these basic classes, you are eligible to learn Varmams and Kirthis. At advanced levels.

Choose the right School and Guru

Interestingly, a few of the Carnatic vocal singers run schools to train people like you. Joining in these schools has many benefits as they train at different levels to complete the courses not only vocal but also other Carnatic instruments like violin, flute, mirudhangam, ganjeers, morsing, veena and many more. One has to pass the grade to go to the other level.

If interested, you can contact
https://raagaschool.com for more details.  If you are interested in more than two skills like vocal and instrument, you can as well join here as the school offers all classes under one roof. You can also read the testimonials shared by the people who have completed the courses.

Conclusion:
Having learned some basics of Carnatic music and its training techniques, it is time for you every to have a good knowledge while finishing all the stages of the training program. After completing the entire course they can perform in a small way before rendering big stage performances. At any stage, the performance of Carnatic music offers the vocalist to feel the rhythm of joy. As per the famous Carnatic vocal artists, Carnatic music is divine and hence it has to be practiced properly so as get perfection. Good training will certainly make you become a good singer. Also, the selection of the right teacher plays a significant role to master this wonderful musical art.
Students of Carnatic Music spend many months learning fundamentals and then making progress on the tests and in these national and international exams. 
​

For a no-obligations  trial with one of our esteemed Gurus, please fill out the form below. We can help you schedule a Carnatic Music lesson (Carnatic Vocal, Flute, Vioin, Mridangam). You can also visit our studios here in one of our four location in San Jose, Saratoga, Fremont or Foster City. Qutie a few of our students also attend our online-only lessons. 
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West San Jose / Saratoga 

Raaga School of Music,
Saratoga

​1428 Saratoga Avenue, 
​San Jose, CA 95129
(Behind Heritage Country Inn)

South San Jose / Almaden 

Raaga School of Music, Almaden
5353 Almaden Expressway, 
Suite D208
San Jose, CA 95118
(Next to PetSmart, inside Almaden School of Music & Art campus)

Peninsula / San Mateo

Raaga School of Music, 
Foster City

803 Taurus Drive, 
​Foster City, CA - 94404

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Raaga School of Music,
Fremont

​47631 Hoyt Street, 
​Fremont, CA - 94539

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Contact Us

Phone: +1.408.337.2245
​email: info@raagaSchool.com

  • Annual Day 2022
  • Syllabus
  • Workshops
  • FACULTY
    • Carnatic Vocal Classes >
      • Smt. NCS Ravali
      • Vidwan Dr. Umashankar
      • Smt. Srirajalakshmi
      • Vishwesh Swaminadhan
      • Aarthi Ravichandran
      • Akshaya Ramanath
      • Sri Anirudh Bharadwaj
      • Ms. Sushmetha Mohan
      • Smt. Usha Prabhu
      • Smt. ​Bharathy Subrahmanyam
      • Smt. Srividhya Kumar
      • Smt. ​Yamini Indrakanti
      • Dr. Harish Ganapathy
      • Smt. Radha Srisailam
      • Smt. Pratyusha Chaganti
      • Smt. Sindhu Natarajan
      • Ms. Mayuri Vasan
      • Smt. Sunandini Radhakrishnan
      • Smt. Sreevidya Pasumarthi
      • Smt. Madhura Subramanian
      • Shambhavi Bhaskar
    • Tabla Classes >
      • Shri. Ravi Gutala
      • Smt Rama Garimella
      • Shri. Nikhil Pandya
    • Mridangam Classes >
      • Akshay Prabhakaran
    • Carnatic Violin Classes >
      • Kalaimamani Meera Sivaramakrishnan
      • Vishwesh Swaminadhan
      • Sri. Kaushik Sivaramakrishnan
      • Parur MK Ananthlakshmi
      • Abhay Anil Kumar
      • Sri. Sasidhar Madugula
      • Sri. Siddharth Ashokkumar
    • Hindustani Vocal Classes >
      • Smt. Sujata Gurav
      • Smt. Amrita Rao
      • Smt. Lalita Sharma
    • Veena >
      • Smt. Radha Srisailam
      • Smt. Srirajalakshmi
    • Sitar >
      • Shri Bruce Hamm
    • Sarod >
      • Shri Bruce Hamm
    • Carnatic Flute >
      • Sri Paddu Vedam
      • Sri Anirudh Bharadwaj
  • Testimonials
  • Enroll Now
    • Enroll - Carnatic Vocal
    • Enroll - Hindustani Vocal
    • Enroll - Flute
    • Enroll - Tabla
    • Enroll - Sitar Sarod
    • Enroll - Carnatic Violin
    • Enroll - Mridangam
  • Teach Here
  • Articles
    • The Joys of Learning Carnatic Music
    • Benefits of Learning Carnatic Music
    • Carnatic Vocal: What to Expect in Beginner Lessons
    • Carnatic Music - How to Identify Swaras
    • How to use Zoom recordings to practice at home
    • Preparing for Carnatic Vocal Tests
    • Sapta Swaras: The 7 Swaras
    • Mayamalvagowla
    • Carnatic Vocal Workshops
    • Preparing for Performances
    • Vijayadashami Carnatic Lessons
    • Understanding Raga Mohanam
    • An introduction to Varnams
    • An introduction to Geetams
  • Performances
    • Sampada Exams - 2021
    • Aug 11 Performance
    • Annual Day 2019 - Students
    • Annual Day 2019 - Teachers
  • PAY/SCHEDULE