Open the chant page and go to the Listen to SRF Recordings section. Most pages have two kinds of recordings:

• Videos on YouTube, often from Convocation kirtans, so you can hear the chant in a group setting.

• Audio Recordings on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal, usually from SRF albums, including some instrumental tracks.

Listen all the way through at least once without trying to sing. Notice the tempo, the mood, and which lines come back. Then listen again and hum or sing quietly along. You can start with an audio recording if you want a clear studio rendering, and use a YouTube kirtan to hear how the form is stretched or repeated in a live setting.

The recordings are a guide to the melody, words, and spirit of the chant. They may not follow the Song Form on the page in every detail, especially in a long kirtan, so use both.

Read the words on the chant page, including the short introduction at the top when there is one, and the lyrics in the Song Form. Say them out loud at a spoken pace before you sing them. Notice any line that is easy to mix up with a similar one.

This is not a Guide to the teachings behind the chants. It is only to help you sing the words as they are written, and to know what you are offering as you sing.

On the harmonium, find the starting note of the melody and the key of the chant.

The piano rendering at the top of many chant pages plays the melody and lights up each key. You can also use the score in Cosmic Chants. For reading the notes on the staff and finding them on the keyboard, see the Reading Notes Guide. For naming the key from the key signature, see Key Signatures & Major Scales.

Play the first phrase slowly until the opening feels comfortable under your hand. If you will chant with a group, you may later choose a different key so the range sits better for everyone; that is covered in Choosing a Key for a Chant. For learning, start in the written key so what you see and what you play match.

Read the Song Form and the Notes on the chant page before you try to sing the whole chant.

The Song Form tells you the order of the lines and which ones repeat. The Notes flag rhythm traps, first and second endings, useful loops, and a good place to end. For how to read that map, see How to Read a Song Form. For counting, time signatures, and dotted notes, see Reading Rhythm.

It helps to speak the form once, without the melody: for example, “A twice, B twice, A once, C once, D twice,” as in Today My Mind Has Dived. Then clap or count the meter line so the bars are clear before you add the tune.

Now put the pieces together. Play the first line once on the harmonium without singing, then sing as you play, as described in the Harmonium for Beginners Guide.

Go slowly. If a rhythm is flagged in the Notes, isolate that word and practice it by itself. In I Am the Sky, the Notes warn you about the rhythm on “little”; in Dawn Chant, about “Guru’s.” Sing the standard form several times before you add any extra loops or an ending.

If your goal is to play the harmonium at home by yourself, this step isn’t necessary. In your own practice, you can render the chant however you feel most devotionally inclined.

If you are going to lead, the next step is to bring the chant to someone you trust, or to chant it with friends. This helps you work through any nerves or distractions that come up when you chant with another person. It also develops the ability to make the chant clear for others to follow.

For example, when you repeat a section more times than the Song Form calls for, you might emphasize it a little with your voice, or play a little louder, so people notice that you are doing something different from the standard form.

Chanting with others is also a chance to practice how you begin and end the chant.

Beginning. It’s nice to play the first line of the melody once before you sing, so people get the melody in their ear and hear the tempo you are going to play. Then start singing. For a chant in free time, you may wish to simply sound a chord or a melody note on the harmonium, and then begin to sing.

Ending. In a metered chant, practice repeating the ending section in a steady tempo. Lower your voice and get quieter without letting the chant drag to a halt. Then gradually slow down just the last few words, so it’s clear to everyone that you are ending.

Be sure the note you hold at the end is one you want to be on. In some chants, the last melody note isn’t a resolved note. If you are playing a chord, it may sound better to move to a resolved chord; if you are playing a melody note, to resolve the melody note. Or you can stay on the final note of the melody, and practice pumping the bellows so the sound doesn’t cut off immediately, but carries a little into the silence.

When you lead with a kirtan group, you don’t need to decide on a key together. The leader has already chosen the key (see Choosing a Key for a Chant), so you only need to say what key you are in. If there is a tambura player, tell them the tambura note. If there is no tambura, the percussion players don’t need to know the key at all; for them it is mostly the rhythm they need to tune in to.

What the leader should be able to do is describe the key characteristics of the chant that will help the kirtan players succeed: the meter and the feel, and, in a mixed-meter chant, any trouble spots. The Meter and Feel for Kirtan Players Guide covers these.

Leading a group also brings extra responsibilities. Practice any tempo or dynamic changes you plan to make, so you can guide the group through them clearly. The Harmonium & Vocal Aptitudes for Leading Kirtan Guide has more on starting, cueing, and keeping time with accompanists.