India has a long and hallowed tradition, going back millennia, of the art of music being handed down from guru to disciple. Now, two Indians are trying to bring the music guru to the mobile phone.
Varsha Ashok and Himanshu Singh began working on the Vanido app in January of 2016. Last November, the two launched the app on the App Store for iOS users. Since then, the response from around the world has been tremendous.
"The aim of the app is to make the beginners aware of the pitch and the tone they are singing in, along with increasing their vocal range," Ashok, a singer herself, said, speaking with HuffPost India.
The app is divided into bite-sized daily sessions to help singers work on different aspects such as foundation, vocal heat and more. Once a user signs up, the app measures her or his vocal range and creates lessons accordingly. A notable feature of the app is that singers can hear themselves with the instant feedback facility, so they know how they are progressing. Every day, the user has to perform three different exercises.
After each exercise, the user gets a score. She or he can take the exercise again for improvement. "The singing needs constant practice," Ashok explains. "Our aim is not to make the user finish certain lessons and earn a badge. Rather the stress is upon fine tuning the various aspects of singing."
Vanido was in the top-10 list among Free Education apps in the App Store in 45 countries, including the US, UK and Canada.
"Our focus right now is concentrating on the iOS version and making our app address the global user base," Singh said. "We will surely launch an Android version later this year." He added that many actors are using the app to train their voice.
The app is certainly a work in progress. While using it, there are times when you feel that your voice is lagging. You can find out more about the app at the Vanido website.