Back in 2016, when I was working on "The Union" album with Blushing Satellite, I was given a diverse set of sounds to emulate with the lead voice. My friend Rama who's the band leader (& also played guitars on my own EP "Accept") envisioned my voice being used in ways I wasn't experienced with before.
 
For example, there were times when he asked me to emulate a violin for a certain part, & a flute for some other. It took a while for me to even understand what he was really asking me to do. And when I did understand it, it didn't really help with the execution bit. This brought me to a haunting thought- "I'm good at singing what I already am used to singing. But that's not the same as being good at Singing, the art/skill. My existing knowledge doesn't necessarily help me in understanding what I CAN be capable of in the future".
 
All I relied on until then to gauge my progress were a bunch of vocal exercises and my own personal judgement of good singing. I knew it helped in some way because I did sound better over time with practice; but I wasn't exactly sure how. I just had to keep at it & sorta wait and see until the exercise does its own thing.  This hit and miss approach without enough context became the prime issue in my vocal development.
 
My ego bubble burst & my voice didn't feel as reliable anymore.
 
I went back to the drawing board. I wanted to use my voice knowing exactly what I can and cannot produce. I wanted to know how I can think of a sound in my head and reproduce that very sound with accuracy, confidence and comfort. If I couldn't do it, I wanted to know exactly what it would take for me to get there. I wanted to know HOW any of these exercises that I do affect the voice in real time as I make them.
 
I wanted to use my voice as if I'm sitting inside a car with a bunch of controls in front of me knowing exactly what they are used for. 
 
Thus began my journey to Rewire.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Rewire is a vocal method which sets itself apart from other techniques in a fundamental manner. We learn to use the voice just like any other musical instrument, within the present moment. Before we focus on muscle memory building and repetition of vocal exercises, Rewire teaches you a mix of vocal technique, ear-training & mindfulness to sculpt your sound based on volume, pitch, tonality & expression. This offers a singer of any experience level to start using their voice in an efficient & healthy manner, while safely allowing you to expand those abilities, from the get-go. 
 
As they say, practicing perfectly makes you perfect. This is why Rewire puts focus on virtues such as intention/deliberation, control, consistency, comfort & presence of mind while you're singing.
 
Over the next few days and weeks, I will expand on some of the core ideas that make up the Rewire Vocal Method but also, there's a lot more on the way. Thanks to Songstuff Vocal Coaching Academy, I will be involved in delivering vocal coaching sessions, video courses, products etc and I'm super excited to share some of the things I know and use myself.  
 
As far as this blog is concerned, I'll try to keep things a mix of Rewire and my own personal singing journey.

Welcome to the SVCA!
 
 
 
Mahesh Raghunandan is a songwriter, singer, and artist. He has a well-established and well-regarded career as an independent artist, and although he might not shout his own praises, he has a cracking singing voice.
 
More to the point, Mahesh is a well-experienced voice teacher and he just happens to be a key member of the Songstuff Site Crew.
 
Mahesh will use this blog to publish tips and suggestions to enhance your voice and approach to singing. This includes old standards like improving consistency, extending range, extending power, and improving tone but also developing an improved understanding of vocal mechanics, introducing a highly effective level of body awareness, and importantly, discussing how that can accelerate your learning, improve your depth of understanding and your overall retention of anything you learn.
 
Exciting, huh?! Nothing short of a vocal revolution.
 
Time to Rewire Your Voice!