Vasundhara Vee on losing her voice and finding a new calling as a vocal behaviourist

Vasundhara Vee explains the physiology of vocal cords during a session

She has kept up with the rhythms of Louiz Banks and Ranjit Barot, performed across the world in France, Egypt, and Bulgaria, and yet Vasundhara Vee is happiest when busy studying. "I am a nerd at heart. I need to be awed once a day to stay fascinated by the world," she laughs. For now though, it is her turn to awe us. Now, the singer has become a vocal behaviourist unravelling the science behind the art of her own music.

From darkness

While she loved biology as a young schoolgirl, the artiste never really caught on to science. She admits, "It was 14 years ago that I lost my voice. I was suffering from recurrent nodules, and almost pre-surgical. It was a dark night of the soul."

Vasundhara performs alongside Mark Hartsuch in Delhi in 2023. PICS COURTESY/VASUNDHARA VEE

Nodules refer to bumps that form inside your vocal cord owing to repeated stress; think painful calluses on a guitarist's fingers. What confused the vocalist further was the yawning gap between medical professionals and artistes in their solutions to it.

Finding the middle path

A long programme with famed vocal therapist and coach Mark Baxter in Boston was the solution. Baxter's approach and therapy furthered her reach, tone, volume, and endurance. It also sparked an obsession with re-learning the art leading to her title as a vocal behaviourist this year. "The role of a vocal behaviourist is that of a bridge between that of a voice coach and a rehabilitator," she explains.

One might argue that for generations, knowledge of vocal hygiene and health has been passed down in the Indian classical tradition. There is a caveat, Vasundhara points out. "I believe strongly that since it is a predominantly oral tradition, a lot of the subtle aspects of training have been lost in translation," she says. One example is the familiar advice of ‘singing from your stomach'. "It refers to exploring a neurological sensation, akin to Dr Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory, that allows your vocal cords to relax. Over the years, people have begun contracting their abdominal muscles using them to push the vocal cord. Thus, the sensory cue becomes a motor cue, and things go off kilter," she explains.

Music as therapy

This understanding, fuelled by study and personal experience of the stage, has enabled her to help artistes like Vir Das, Osho Jain, and Amit Trivedi among other singers. Is there not a difference between a spoken word performer like Vir Das or a singer like Amit Trivedi, we ask? "The principles are the same. The body that sings is the body that speaks. Vocal behaviourism changes you deeply as a person, and reshapes your perspective of the art," she says.

That understanding will be part of her next album that is currently being written. "It is not preachy, but fun," she adds, "All our wisdom, all our emotional regulation, and imagination lies within our childlike self," she concludes.

Log on to: vasundharavee.com

Singers healed by vocal behaviourism

>> Steven Tyler of Aerosmith
>> Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones
>> Gary Cherone of Van Halen
>> John Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dolls)

Know the difference

Speech Therapist
>> Works on speech defects
>> Rehabilitates damaged vocal cords, age-related, or physical issues
>> Restores vocal functionality

Vocal behaviourist
>> Optimises vocal function according to artiste's requirements
>> Integrates knowledge of physiology, neurology and psychology to correct unconscious issues
>> Works on expression