Students get tips on thumri by noted singer

Lucknow: Students learned technicalities of thumri on the second day of a three-day music workshop organised by the vocal department of Bhatkhande Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya on Tuesday.As many as 60 students of masters of performing arts participated in the workshop. Renowned singer Astha Goswami taught students about various techniques, expressions and rhythm of thumri. She also shared her experiences and gave useful suggestions to students on voice culture. "Nowadays we have the facility of mics, so a singer does not have to scream and sing. In older times singers sang at a very high pitch as there were no proper mics," she said. She suggested students to try to sing well at a lower voice so that the voice remains good till old age. A participant of the workshop, Shivani Prakash, said, "The workshop is very enthralling. We learned interesting facts about singing which could be very helpful for us in the future." Another participant Pradeep Rai said, "With thumris, we got to know how to modulate voice, which is highly important while performing on stage."Goswami used three musical instruments, such as tabla, harmonium, and tanpura to teach students different thumris.