Ngawang, the Chant Master

As all of you who have attended rituals will know, Ngawang has an excellent chanting voice; the true sound you associate with the Gyuto Tantric choir.

In the monastery, all of the monks chant but the Chanting Master listens to see who has the special voice needed for leading the chants. These monks receive additional training, practice hard and unofficially compete to show how good they have become. Ngawang himself was trained by highly accomplished Tibetan Chant Masters and over time became a Chant Master at Gyuto and trained other monks. Of the 400 monks at Gyuto, Ngawang estimates that about 30 have the first class voices needed to lead chants.

In western music, we use a notation system on a scale for people to read in order to sing or play music.
However, in Tibetan ritual music this is replaced by swooping curves and wave forms that indicate changes in pitch with which a syllable should be chanted. This system is called Yang Yig.

Each Puja, besides having a written text, will have an associated text with musical notation. For instance, the Mahakala Yang Yig is 25 pages long. Ngawang says it takes 3 months of intense study to learn this system.
Besides chanting, Ngawang can also play all the ritual instruments; the drums, cymbals, and the short and long horns.

As part of Gyuto’s tours Ngawang has been to many European countries and Singapore.