A lifelong journey of music and singing
Raghuraman: “Music takes you a lot closer to something very deep and abstract, but nevertheless present.”
Photo Courtesy of Danny Goldfield
On Friday Nov. 22, The Tech interviewed Srinivasan (“Srini”) Raghuraman SM ’17, PhD ’20, an EECS Lecturer and Staff Research Scientist at Visa Research. Singing plays a central role in his life, as he dedicates his free time to music. Raghuraman is among the 30 singers selected for the inaugural Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) CitySing, a group of singers from the greater Boston area. Joining H+H, CitySing recently performed Handel’s Messiah this past Thanksgiving weekend.
During his time as a graduate student at MIT, Raghuraman was a member of the MIT Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus. In addition, he was part of the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study and took private voice lessons under Kerry Deal. Currently, Raghuraman is a student of Matthew DiBattista.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
The Tech: Tell us about your musical background.
Raghuraman: I had no knowledge of western classical music prior to coming to the U.S. I grew up singing Indian classical music ever since fifth grade, over 20 years ago. At that time, the exposure of western classical music wasn’t very prevalent.
At some point during undergrad, my mom thought it would be good to explore another kind of music, even though at the time I was very adamant that I was not interested. But she said, “No, it’s nice to have exposure.” I started studying the piano and that gave me exposure to piano, instrumental music, but not vocal music yet. I was in love with Mozart.
When I arrived in the United States in the fall of 2015, I saw someone in my department (CSAIL Theory Group) sitting there with the score, and they were singing. It was the Mozart Requiem. I was shocked that there was Mozart vocal music. This person was in the Concert Choir. This was the middle of the semester, so I joined the next semester.
Even though I never sung western classical music, I was able to read sheet music because of learning the piano. I got through that rehearsal and really enjoyed it. The nice thing about Concert Choir is that it does not expect you to be 100% there. It’s very much a welcoming community choir.
It was a learning experience for me. I noticed that the vocal timbre was quite different. The Concert Choir has a mixed bag of voices, which is also what makes its unique sound. But I started noticing there were some other more mature sounding voices. I wrote to Bill Cutter (the former MIT Concert Choir Director) after the semester was done. I told him, “I’d like you to hear what my voice alone sounds like, and then tell me if there is a way to cultivate this other sound.”
He said, “You know your sense of pitch and rhythm, but it’s just that the technique here is not one that projects.” I said, “That’s absolutely right, because when we sing Indian classical music, we have a mic, so there’s no requirement to project.” He said, “If you are interested in learning about this, you should take lessons.” So he suggested a couple of people that I could reach out to, and the first one that responded to me was Tom Gareau. I studied with him for a year before I was able to audition for Chamber Chorus and then the Emerson/Harris program.
In the fall of 2017, Tom moved to Luxembourg and then I found Kerry. My colleagues have been incredibly supportive. My teacher Bill Cutter played an irreplaceable role in my musical journey because he introduced me to Odyssey Opera. I’ve had the great fortune of working with people who introduced me to these opportunities.
TT: How did you get to participate in the inaugural H+H Society CitySing? What does it feel like to be part of this cohort?
Raghuraman: Participation in CitySing was thanks to the new MIT Concert Choir Director Ryan Turner. MIT and H+H have a strong connection. In 2020, before the pandemic in February, some singers from the Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus joined some singers from H+H to put together a visual Messiah in Kresge.
More recently, Ryan Turner was in touch with colleagues at H+H, and said that H+H is doing CitySing. He said, “You are a strong singer, and you would be a good fit for the program.” I thought it would be fun to collaborate with H+H because they are one of the standards for performing Messiah. They have been around for such a long time, and you get to perform Messiah in Symphony Hall along with the orchestra and professional soloists. I auditioned, and got the call saying that I was accepted.
We had our first rehearsal last weekend, and this week is a little more tight because we have rehearsals everyday and the concert is on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I think it’s a great community building exercise for H+H to open up to singers from outside. Different choruses get to collaborate, support each other, and build some good relationships along the way. I am very grateful to be part of it [CitySing]. This is the first one, which is even more exciting.
TT: What are your thoughts on Handel's Messiah? Which parts are challenging to practice? Which parts of the oratorio do you like the most, and why?
Raghuraman: It’s timely for me to experience the piece for the reason that it has a lot of fast music. Growing up, singing Indian classical music made fast notes not a problem. One of the choruses (All we like sheep have gone astray) has these insanely long runs with a bunch of sixteenth notes. I remember talking to Bill and we were battling the thing of how to get the voice to move, especially when you have 60 voices all trying to move. It’s a challenging thing to do as a conductor.
He was talking to me, and I was telling him, naive as I was back then, “It’s not that hard.” He was like, “Well, can you sing it that fast?” He asked me to stand up in choir one day and sing that line for them. And then I sang it. The style was still a little inflected with my Indian classical singing, but it was all the same notes and tempo. I remember everyone was a little shocked. That’s why I really liked it. It was this use of ornaments along with harmony, which came to me more easily.
At the very end of All we like sheep, there’s a moment it transitions to an adagio section, and you have these incredibly dissonant suspensions that draw over the bar lines. The very last word resolves in a way that lifts the whole thing up and creates this atmosphere that I can’t really describe in words. Every time we sing it, it’s like getting the chills. The placement of that adagio section after all that fast music gives it a unique color and it ends in that really beautiful sort of resolution.
TT: How do you balance your musical interests with work and teaching?
Raghuraman: It is definitely a challenge with the Messiah. I have an advantage because I have learned all the choruses already. I keep listening, and it hasn’t fallen out of memory yet. In terms of having to practice, you have specific things that change from performance to performance. Which vowels to use? Do you want vibrato or not? Also, the tempo and dynamic choices vary. It’s more specific work rather than having to learn the notes or lines.
However, with all the other things, that requires time. In the beginning of the semester, I did Odyssey Opera, a jam packed couple of weeks. We had to learn two full Gershwin musicals. I did a gig last night of Indian classical music fusion with jazz. Chamber Chorus is on Saturday, and H+H is the next weekend.
A few of us formed this little group to put together operas of our own. It’s going to be totally staged and memorized, with sets, props, and costumes. It’s the whole deal. This particular music commitment takes up most of the time. Not only am I singing in it, I am also running the rehearsals, directing, and producing. It’s a small group which is taking on a gargantuan task.
Do I feel overwhelmed? Sometimes. It’s just a lot of things jam-packed aside from my regular job, conferences, teaching deadlines, and recommendation letters. Nonetheless, do I regret taking up these things? Not really. The timing is a little unfortunate. I took them up because I really enjoy doing these things, and I really do learn and take away a lot from these things. There are days you are basically working on something from start to finish and you don't get to sit down and take a breath, but I think it’s worth it.
Every time I feel overwhelmed or very busy, I ask myself, “I got here because I wanted to do these things, so just plan out your time, right?” When I go to sleep, I am thinking about the next day. I think about all the things I have to get done and how I am going to plan it. Then you have a plan, and you just kind of stick to it. Even if it is tough, it will get done. If you like something a lot enough, you will find time for it.
TT: What do you like the most about singing, or music overall? What has driven you to keep pursuing music to this day?
Raghuraman: That is such a great question. There are definitely concrete things about learning to play an instrument or singing that translates to other parts. It instills a certain sense of discipline and order in how you approach things. For any instrument you study, you need a practice regimen. Especially when you go and work on music outside of MIT, you have to be prepared when you show up. If you take this and apply it to other aspects of life, it’s super helpful.
The other thing is, of course, that it develops this creative aspect. Depending on the art form, you will learn how to improvise or interpret a line. You’re singing the notes on the page or you are playing the notes on the page, but you shape the line. There is a creative aspect to that. Again, I think that transfers to other parts of your life.
Even though I enjoy performing, I wouldn’t say that is my primary motivation. Most of the time, my answer is “I want to get better.” When you look at any piece of art, you want to put forth your interpretation of it from a singing perspective. What you feel internally is not what is heard externally. I hear myself singing and it doesn’t always sound like what I thought I sounded like. For me, part of continuing to take lessons is learning how to be better at the expressive part of the art form.
At the end of the day, we are all striving to express ourselves in some way or another. That is how we give back to society. This is me and I want to tell you or show you something about me. I think music is one of those ways. It is coming through the lens of some piece or some art. It serves as an outlet to put something out there, and it is somehow more tangible for a lot of us than, say, writing a theorem.
Music takes you a lot closer to something very deep and abstract, but nevertheless present. There are times when you are listening to a piece and time just compresses. You are just there with that one thing, and it’s a very special feeling. I think we just yearn for that. You keep wanting to recreate that moment, because it’s something that’s so special. That’s why I keep doing it.