Carnatic Flute: 2012

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Raga Mayamalavagowla

ārohaṇa: S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N3 S
avarohaṇa: S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Fingering Exercise

Practise the following Sequences including the Swaras of Raga Mohana:

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Varaveena

Varaveena

Composition : Varaveena                  Composer:
Raga: Mohana                                   Mela: Harikambhoji
Tala: Chaturasra jathi rupaka              Type: Gitam

Arohana: S R₂ G₂ P D₂ S || S Ri Gu Pa Dhi S
Avarohana: S D₂ P G₂ R₁ S || S Dhi Pa Gu Ra S

O	\|₄	O	\|₄
G G	P , P ,	D P	S , S ,
Va ra	vee - na -	mru du	pa - ni -

R S	D D P ,	D P	G G R ,
va na	ru ha lo -	cha na	ra - ni -

G P	D S D P	D P	G G R ,
su ru	chi ro pam -	ba ra	ve - ni -

G G	D P G R	P G	G R S ,
su ra	nu tha kal -	ya -	- - ni -

G G	G G R G	P G	P , P ,
ni ru	pa ma shu bha	gu na	lo - la -

G G	D P D ,	D P	S , S ,
ni ra	tha ja ya -	pra da	see - la -

D G	R G R S	D S	D , D P
va ra	da - pri ya	Ran ga	na - ya ki

G P	D S D P	D P	G G R S
va -	nchita pha la	da -	- - ya ki

S R	G , G ,	G R	P G R ,
sa ra	si - ja -	sa na	ja na ni -

S R	S G R S
Ja ya	ja ya ja ya

How to read notations in Carnatic music

Often music notes confuse us with the punctuation marks, upper case and lower case letters. In this post I have tried to explain most commonly used punctuation marks and tala symbols.
Punctuation marks:
, A comma indicates the space of one akshara kala or note.
; A semi colon represents two akshara kalas or space for 2 notes
Upper case letters e.g. S indicates two akshara kalas .In this example, two shadjas. Some websites also use upper case to denote upper octave swara. Note the difference in shadjas in the example below.
e.g. s r g m p d n S
Lower case notes- Just one akshara kala or note
l A simple vertical line represents the end of an angha. Be it a laghu,dhruta or anudhruta
ll Double vertical parallel lines indicate the end of an avarta of tala
- A hyphen is mostly used in varnas just to indicate how the swaras need to be split within the tala. You can see this mostly in Ganamrudha varna bodhini. They indicate where to give pause within the boundary of the tala.
Underlines: Underlines indicate that the swaras should be sung together and faster within a particular beat
Wavy lines: These are rarely used to indicate that the notes should have gamakas
Dots: A dot below a swara indicates a lower note and a dot above the swara indicates higher note. “s” without the dot denotes the adhara shadja or base shadja of our shruti. “s” with a dot above shows upper shadja. “p” with a dot below is the lower p below the adhara shadja.

Tala marks:
X : An mark indicates a beat

: A tick indicates flipping of palm
Numbers: Numbers 1, 2, 3 are used to indicate finger counts
1.A simple example of Adi tala. Each beat/finger count has 4 swaras. Adamodigalade is the lyric by Thyagaraja.
X 1 2 3 X X

P ;           D- P                ; M                G R                |  G- gr               S – R          G , – m P  M                ||
A            da  mo               - di                Gala         de Ra-  -    may          yya  Maa               -    ta

2.An example of deshadi tala:
; ;            ; G                P , g                ; R                | S ;                ;   sn               P – ns                R S                 ||
-  -          - Ra               ghunaa               - ya           ka !         -   Nee  -    Paa-    -  da
REF: http://www.shivkumar.org
Given below is another example with the tala notation ( could’n make a clear image).This is a Dikshidar kriti in Rupaka Tala. Each beat counts 4 swaras. Please note this example covers most of what I mentioned above.

How to hold your Venu

Swaras (notes) and Ragas (scales)

Carnatic swaras (16 notes)
Shadja – S
Suddha Rishabha – R1
Chatusruti Rishabha – R2
Shatshruthi Rishaba – R3
Suddha Gandhara – G1
Sadharana Gandhara – G2
Antara Gandhara – G3
Suddha Madhyama – M1
Prati Madhyama – M2
Panchama – P
Suddha Dhaivata – D1
Chatusruti Dhaivata – D2
Shatshruthi Dhaivata – D3
Suddha Nishada – N1
Kaisika Nishada – N2
Kakali Nishada – N3

Aarohana (ascending Scale): Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni,Sa.
Avarohana (descending Scale): Sa, Ni, Dha, Pa, Ma, Ga, Re, Sa.

There are 72 parent scales in Carnatic Music.They are called Melakartha Ragas and are systematically classified in a scheme. A Melakartha, also known as Mela or Janaka Raga, is a set of scales from which other ragas may be generated.

Ragas must contain the following characteristics to be considered Melakarta.

They are sampurna ragas – they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both ascending and descending scale
They are krama sampurna ragas – that is the sequence is strictly ascending and descending in the scales, without any jumps or zig-zag notes
The upper shadjam is included in the raga scale (ragas like Punnagavarali and Chenchurutti are not melakarta as they end with nishadham)
The ascending and descending scales must have the same notes

We can broadly divide the ragas into Sudhamadhyama ragas and Pratimadhyama ragas based on the madhyamam they use.

prati madhyamam - the higher ma, M2, used in the second 36 melakartas and their janyas, which corresponds to F# of the Western key of C
shuddha madhyamam - the lower of 2 ma's (M1), used in the first 36 melakartas, which corresponds to F natural in the Western key of C

Now let us determine all possible combinations of Rishabham and Gandharam in a melakartha. There are 6 possible combinations of the 3 Rishabhams and 3 Gandharams.

Let it be noted that the Raga format has to be in ascending order of frequencies. Rishabham has a lower frequency than Gandharam. Multiplying with the earlier division we get 12 unique combinations of S R G M. These are referred to as Chakras.
Each chakra will accomodate a unique combination of Daivatam and Nishadam. Repeating the same Rishabham – Gandharam experiment with Daivatam and Nishadam, we get 6 unique combinations. Each chakra accomodates 6 unique combinations of S R G M P D N. We have 6 * 12 i.e. 72 Melakartha ragas in all. Refer to the chart given below for a clearer view of this concept.

The 72 Melakarthas charted according to the systematic classification

The above given chart follows the notation sequence given in the table of the 16 swarasthanas. The chakras are named to maintain the sequence of the Rishbham – Gandharam combinations in the following manner -

The first chakra is named Indu which means moon owing to the fact that the earth has only one moon.
The second chakra is called Netra owing to the fact that we have two eyes.
The third chakra is named agni due the existence of 3 agnis according to our scriptures (namely fire, lightning and sunlight ).
The fourth chakra is called Veda as the Vedas are four.
The fifth chakra is called Baana owing to the 5 arrows used by Kamadeva.
The sixth chakra is called Rutu as there are six seasons in nature.
The seventh chakra is called Rishi after the Saptarshis.
The eight chakra is known as Vasu after the eight sons of Ganga.
The ninth chakra is known as Brahma due to the existence of nine brahmas
The tenth chakra is called Disi due to the 10 directions.
The eleventh chakra is called Rudra after the 11 Rudras.
The twelfth chakra is called Aditya after the 12 Adityas.

The names of the chakras are ordained using the numerical significance of those terms.

Translation: na (न), nya (ञ) and a (अ)-s i.e. vowels represent zero. The (nine) integers are represented by consonant group beginning with ka, ṭa, pa, ya. In a conjunct consonant, the last of the consonants alone will count. A consonant without vowel is to be ignored.
Explanation
The assignment of letters to the numerals are as per the following arrangement.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
ka क ക	kha ख ഖ	ga ग ഗ	gha घ ഘ	nga ङ ങ	ca च ച	cha छ ഛ	ja ज ജ	jha झ ഝ	nya ञ ഞ
ṭa ट ട	ṭha ठ ഠ	ḍa ड ഡ	ḍha ढ ഢ	ṇa ण ണ	ta त ത	tha थ	da द ദ	dha ध ധ	na न ന
pa प പ	pha फ ഫ	ba ब ബ	bha भ ഭ	ma म മ	-	-	-	-	-
ya य യ	ra र ര	la ल ല	va व വ	śha श ശ	sha ष ഷ	sa स സ	ha ह ഹ	-	-

Consonants have numerals assigned as per the above table. For example, ba (ब) is always three 3 whereas 5 can be represented by either nga (ङ) or ṇa (ण) or ma (म) or śha (श).
All stand-alone vowels like a (अ) and ṛ (ऋ) are assigned to zero 0.
In case of a conjuct, consonants attached to a non-vowel will not be valueless. For example, kya (क्या) is formed by k (क्) + ya (य) + a (अ). The only consonant standing with a vowel is ya (य). So the corresponding numeral for kya (क्या) will be 1.
There is no way of representing Decimal separator in the system.
Indians used the Hindu-Arabic numeral system for numbering, traditionally written in increasing place values from left to right. This is as per the rule aṅkānām vāmato gati (अङ्कानाम् वामतो गति) which means numbers go from left to right.

Carnatic music

Melakarta chart as per Kaṭapayādi

system

The melakarta ragas of the Carnatic music is named so that the first two syllables of the name will give its number. This system is sometimes called the Ka-ta-pa-ya-di sankhya. The Swaras 'Sa' and 'Pa' are fixed, and here is how to get the other swaras from the melakarta number.

Melakartas 1 through 36 have Ma1 and those from 37 through 72 have Ma2.
The other notes are derived by noting the (integral part of the) quotient and remainder when one less than the melakarta number is divided by 6.
'Ri' and 'Ga' positions: the raga will have:
- Ri1 and Ga1 if the quotient is 0
- Ri1 and Ga2 if the quotient is 1
- Ri1 and Ga3 if the quotient is 2
- Ri2 and Ga2 if the quotient is 3
- Ri2 and Ga3 if the quotient is 4
- Ri3 and Ga3 if the quotient is 5
'Da' and 'Ni' positions: the raga will have:
- Da1 and Ni1 if remainder is 0
- Da1 and Ni2 if remainder is 1
- Da1 and Ni3 if remainder is 2
- Da2 and Ni2 if remainder is 3
- Da2 and Ni3 if remainder is 4
- Da3 and Ni3 if remainder is 5

See swaras in Carnatic music for details on above notation.

Examples

Raga Dheerasankarabharanam

The katapayadi scheme associates dha $\leftrightarrow$ 9 and ra $\leftrightarrow$ 2, hence the raga's melakarta number is 29 (92 reversed). Now 29 $\le$ 36, hence Dheerasankarabharanam has Ma1. Divide 28 (1 less than 29)by 6, the quotient is 4 and the remainder 4. Therefore, this raga has Ri2, Ga3 (quotient is 4) and Da2, Ni3 (remainder is 4). Therefore, this raga's scale is Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni3 SA.

Raga MechaKalyani

From the coding scheme Ma $\leftrightarrow$ 5, Cha $\leftrightarrow$ 6. Hence the raga's melakarta number is 65 (56 reversed). 65 is greater than 36. So MechaKalyani has Ma2. Since the raga's number is greater than 36 subtract 36 from it. 65-36=29. 28 (1 less than 29) divided by 6 : quotient=4, remainder=4. Ri2 Ga3 occurs. Da2 Ni3 occurs. So MechaKalyani has the notes Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma2 Pa Da2 Ni3 SA.

Exception for Simhendramadhyamam

You can see that, as per the above calculation we should get Sa $\leftrightarrow$ 7, Ha $\leftrightarrow$ 8 giving the number 87 instead of 57 for Simhendramadhyamam. This should be ideally Sa $\leftrightarrow$ 7, Ma $\leftrightarrow$ 5 giving the number 57. So it is believed that the name should be written as Sihmendramadhymam (As in the case of Brahmana in Sanskrit).

Recommended websites for further reading & listening:
• http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Hindu_Music.htm
• http://www.karnatik.com
• http://www.carnatica.net
• http://www.carnatica.net/composer-main.htm
• http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/music/
• http://www.carnaticcorner.com/about.html
• http://www.sangeethapriya.org/
• http://www.itcsra.org

Introduction to the Tãla

The term tãla literally means rhythm. Tala is the measure of time in music. It sets the time limit within which a particular note is to be rendered. Basic exercises in Carnatic music are done in different speeds to get a grip over tala.

Taalangas: There are six components/anghas to tala.

1.Anudhruta : Just a tap on lap (1 beat). The sign is U
2.Dhruta: A tap followed by flipping the palm. The sign is O
3.Laghu: 1 beat and counting fingers. The sign is I

Laghu is based on the jaati of tala.The following are the 5 jaatis:

S.No	Jaathi	No .of counts	Jathi
1	Trisra	3	Ta ki ta
2	Chaturashra	4	Ta ka dhi mi
3	Khanda	5	Ta ka Ta Ki ta
4	Mishra	7	Ta kit a Ta ka dhi mi
5	Sankeerna	9	Ta ka dhi mi Ta ka Ta Ki Ta

Depending on the jaati, laghu is fixed and fingers are counted. E.g. Tisra jaati has 3 counts.So laghu has 1 beat followed by 2 finger counts. Chaturashra jaati has 4 counts.Laghu will have 1 beat and 3 finger counts.

Suladi talas: There are 7 Talas – dhruva, matya, rupaka, triputa, jhampa, ata and eka tala and 5 jaathis as explained in my previous post. Applying 5 jaathis to 7 talas will give totally 35 talas in the following manner. They are called suladi talas.

Tisra jaathi Dhruva Tala

Tisra jaathi matya tala

Tisra jaathi triputa tala…..etc

Then,

Chaturashra jaathi Dhruva tala

Chaturashra jaathi Matya tala,….etc

Same applies for rest of jaathis viz. Kanda, Mishra and Sankeerna.

1	Tisra Jaathi Dhruva
2	Tisra Jaathi Matya
3	Tisra Jaathi Rupaka
4	Tisra Jaathi Triputa
5	Tisra Jaathi Jhampa
6	Tisra Jaathi Ata
7	Tisra Jaathi Eka
8	Chaturashra Jaathi Dhruva
9	Chaturashra Jaathi Matya
10	Chaturashra Jaathi Rupaka
11	Chaturashra Jaathi Triputa
12	Chaturashra Jaathi Jhampa
13	Chaturashra Jaathi Ata
14	Chaturashra Jaathi Eka
15	Kanda Jaathi Dhruva
16	Kanda Jaathi Matya
17	Kanda Jaathi Rupaka
18	Kanda Jaathi Triputa
19	Kanda Jaathi Jhampa
20	Kanda Jaathi Ata
21	Kanda Jaathi Eka
22	Mishra Jaathi Dhruva
23	Mishra Jaathi Matya
24	Mishra Jaathi Rupaka
25	Mishra Jaathi Triputa
26	Mishra Jaathi Jhampa
27	Mishra Jaathi Ata
28	Mishra Jaathi Eka
29	Sankeerna Jaathi Dhruva
30	Sankeerna Jaathi Matya
31	Sankeerna Jaathi Rupaka
32	Sankeerna Jaathi Triputa
33	Sankeerna Jaathi Jhampa
34	Sankeerna Jaathi Ata
35	Sankeerna Jaathi Eka

Sri Purandaradasa has composed alankaras, Swaravalis, Gitas, etc in these talas.

Following table charts out symbols of Tala anghas and the 7 talas with their respective formats.

	Tala Angha	Symbol	Description
	Laghu	I	One beat and finger counts
	Dhrutam	O	One beat and flipping palm
	Anudrutam	U	One beat

	Tala	Format
1	Dhruva	IOII
2	Matya	IOI
3	Rupaka	OI
4	Triputa	IOO
5	Jhampa	IUO
6	Ata	IIOO
7	Eka	I

As discussed earlier, laghu is based on jaati. A Kanda (5count) jaathi eka tala will have 1 beat and 4 finger counts as Eka tala just has Laghu (refer table above) Tisra jaathi Rupaka Tala will have 1 beat and flip followed by a beat and 2 finger counts .

Laghu is further broken down and denoted as X for the beat and 1, 2, 3 …for the finger count based on jaathi. Dhrutam is again denoted as X for the beat and a tick mark for flipping of palm. Example : Chaturashra jaathi rupaka tala is denoted as :

X V (Read V as tick symbol)	X 1 2 3
S R	S R G M

Chaturashra jaathi Triputa tala is populary known as Adi Tala.

Avarta: One of the frequently used terminology in Carnatic music. An avarta is one complete cycle with all anghas of tala. E.g. Adi tala has one laghu and two dhruthas 4+2+2 = 8 counts, otherwise the number of aksharas/notes in adi tala is 8. In first speed it is 8, second speed will have 16 notes and third speed will have 32 notes in one avarta. after each angha (viz. laghu,dhruta,anudhruta), a vertical line l is drawn to indicate the end of an angha. Two parallel lines are drawn to indicate the end of avarta ll.

Deshadi Tala: Many of Sri Thyagaraja’s compositions are in deshadi tala. This consists of one nishabdakriya (Kriya means action.Nishabda kriya is silent action)The lyrics start after three aksharas in nishabdakriya E.g. Brovabarama in Bahudari,Bantureethikolu in Hamsanadham are examples of Deshadi.The lyrics start after two aksharas in sashabdakriya.

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Shasank

Friday, 13 April 2012

3 Generations concert Raag Yaman

The Carnatic Flute

One of the oldest musical instruments of India, the instrument is a keyless transverse flute made of bamboo. The fingers of both hands are used to close and open the holes. It has a blowing hole near one end, and eight closely placed finger holes. The instrument comes in various sizes. The venu is capable of producing two and half octaves with the help of overblowing and cross fingering. The flute is like the human voice in that it is monophonous and also has the two and half octaves sound reproduction. Sliding the fingers on and off the holes allows for a great degree of ornamentation, important in the performance of raga-based music.

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