Voice Therapy

A self instructional DVD for professional voice users (Singers and Teachers)
Dr. Prakash Boominathan

Participants : Shruthi Ravi & Navneeth
Concept & Direction : Mala Mohan
Voice health is becoming important as many people rely on their voices for their work. Professional voice users like singers, teachers, radio jockeys, theatre artistes, etc. are more prone to laryngeal pathologies and voice related disorders than the general population due to the nature of work and lifestyle. Most voice disorders can be prevented with vocal hygiene measures, conservative voice use and regular vocal workouts. This product developed by Dr. Prakash Boominathan presents a set of postural, breathing, and vocal warm up exercises developed using principles of yoga, exercise physiology and vocal muscle function exercises. These are believed to develop breath support for singing and speaking, improve vocal texture and clarity, increase vocal endurance that resists tissue damage.
Dr. Prakash Boominathan, a reputed speech pathologist is well known among the community of Indian classical singers. He obtained his graduate degrees from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore and his PhD (Vocal dynamics in singers) from Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai. He has been instrumental in the establishment and development of voice related clinical, academic and research activities at the University. As part of the prestigious Fulbright Research Fellowship he visited the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and other voice centers in the United States. Dr. Boominathan is a qualified clinical educator at University of Toronto and an international collaborator at the Human Performance Laboratory, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, US. He has conducted several workshops and seminars on ‘voice care and management’ in India and abroad. He is master clinician who works exclusively in the area of professional voice care in India.

Contents of the DVD

Know your speech / song apparatus
Physical warm up / cool down exercises
Breathing exercises to improve breath support
Vocal warm up exercises
Vocal function exercises (adapted)
Tips for vocal health – vocal hygiene
Special tips for singers