Singing struggles

Dharavi Rocks is stepping up its teaching program, looking at the basics of music - rhythm, pulse, pitch etc. So with this in mind Ayush and I spent the week before last identifying everyone's vocal range. We ended up with 2 groups and since then the singing has been far better.

It's really interesting hearing the kids try to pitch a note and sing a scale - it seems such a struggle for an untrained voice, and there really are only one or two kids who find it easy to sing back in tune. One thing that really helped however, was introducing the boomwhackers. Using these to help the kids understand the scale helped no end and the concept of getting higher by step started sinking in. Perhaps more tuneful times are on their way!

Teamwork is also really developing further with the kids taking turns to lead the boomwhackers or lead a group of singers. It's fantastic to see the way the respond to each other and follow a leader with concentration!

The future for Dharavi Rocks holds exciting times with the prospect of recording an album with Indian and International artists in order to fund further work. Ayush started working on a song that he wrote, inspired by the group, with the kids. He's going to work on some Hindi lyrics with the kids to incorporate into "Yellow Moon" over the next few weeks.

Other future plans include getting a junk percussion maker to come and work with the group to improve their unusual instruments and develop Dharavi Rocks' sound! This will add to the unique dynamic of the band.