Meet Sukanya Madhav

We recently connected with Sukanya Madhav and have shared our conversation below.

Sukanya, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I found my purpose through doing choir. I started choir when I was in 3rd grade, and joining choir helped me find my passion for singing. Through the year I have continued choir and my passion for singing has only grown. So far, I have done many singing competitions like All Region and Solo and Ensemble, and I have also done many performances as well. When I came to high school, my parents thought it would be a good idea to sign up for voice lessons to help improve my singing abilities, and so since my Freshmen year of high school till now, I have been doing voice lessons, and so far I have seen huge improvement in my voice. Earlier last year, my friend got the idea to start a organization called Sing For Stars. Sing For Stars is a program that helps kids improve their singing abilities, and also help grow their passion for singing and confidence. I knew I wanted to be a part of this because I wanted to help instill their passion of singing. This was my purpose in Sing For Stars. I really enjoyed helping kids find their passion for singing, and being able to help them improve their voice, like my voice teacher did for me, and also be able to teach them about music. I loved working with all of my students, and seeing them improve and grow as singers, and I hope to help many other kids with their passion of singing as well!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Throughout high school I have been a part of an organization called Sing For Stars, which teaches kids aged 4-13. We do voice lessons virtually once a week and all of out services are free of charge! My friend, Aadhvika Madula, was the one who created this organization, and she is also one of the voice teachers. We both have been in choir for many years, and we also both take voice lessons of our own, so we understand the teaching process. In a students first lesson, we usually get to know them and also figure out their range (how high or low they can sing) so that way we can choose songs that are best fit for them. During the lessons with the kids we usually do warm-up in the beginning, and then we also do a lesson each class to help them learn about music and sightread, which is reading notes off of a music sheet. We also let them choose a song of their liking to start practicing every class, while also giving tip to become better singers. My main goal in this program is not not only help them become better singers, and instill confidence, but also get them to go out of their comfort zone, and try new things. Our organization also does post on Linden and Instagram and this month we will be posting weekly for Woman’s History Month!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Three qualities that were most impactful were patience, flexibility and the most important, passion. Most of the students we teach do not have any experience with singing, so patience is really important because many are new singers, and it may take time to help them be the best singer they can be. Also we work with students that are very young, so it is very important to be patient with younger children when learning new concepts. We also get students with learning disabilities, so that is why it is important to be patient so they can get the best learning experience. Another quality is flexibility. It is important to work around the kids schedules, and you may need to change many lesson timings so they can do their lessons, so it is important to be flexible and help work with the parents and students. It is also important to be flexible with the students in lessons, because you may need to make a lot of changes in order for students to have the best experience with the voice lessons as possible, like having to change the song their are learning because it may be to high for their voice, or changing a song because they may not like the song. It is important to understand the students needs. In our organization, it is more important to us that the students enjoy the lessons! The last and most important quality is passion. It is hard to teach about something if you have no enthusiasm for it, and the students will end up not feeling any enthusiasm either. One of my main goals as a teacher is to help kids get excited about singing and music. Without the passion and enthusiasm, it will be hard to not only teach students but also help them feel passion and enjoyment of singing.

How would you describe your ideal client?

My ideal student is a student who already has some passion for singing. Even though as a teacher it is my job to help them find their passion in music, it is much easier to work with a student who willingly wants to sing and learn about music, rather than a student who does not enjoy it at all. Many students parents may force them into doing these lessons because it is something helpful to fill the time, but also because it is free and there is nothing to lose if they try, but if the students have no passion at all, they may want to cooperate or try to improve their singing, which even with all my efforts as a teacher, it may be hard to get them to enjoy singing because they feel forced to do the lessons. When I started choir, I already had a small passion for singing, and so I joined choir on my own, and that is why I still am in choir, and still love singing today, is because I chose to do choir on my own free will. I think it is important to let the kids decide whether or not they want to participate in something because it is hard to have that enthusiasm to do something when you are forced to do it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://singforstars.wixsite.com/website
• Instagram: singforstars_organization

Image Credits

The first photo is me (Sukanya Madhav) taken by me.
The second photo is me and my sister who also works for Sing For Stars as a content creator and also helps us with collaborating with others (Anasuya Madhav)