Indian Classical Music

"Nature has endowed this universe with many beautiful life forms, of so many different shapes, sizes and abilities. Most animal forms have the ability to produce sounds and some of them even have the capability to communicate using varied sounds. Man is unique in that he can express his thoughts using sound.", says Swami Jayendra Saraswathy, the Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram. The ability to express thoughts through sounds has evolved into an art which we call music. Music can thus be defined as an art form that arranges sounds in a fashion that follows certain natural principles and provides that special inner feeling of happiness and contentment.

The origin of Indian music is said to be rooted in the Vedas. It is said that God Himself is musical sound, the sound which pervades the whole universe which is called as  Nada-Brahma. The origins of Indian music are therefore considered divine. It is said that the musician has to cultivate an attitude of self-abandonment, in order to fuse with the Supreme Reality, Brahma.

Brahma is said to be the author of the four Vedas, of which the SamaVeda was chanted in definite musical patterns. Vedic hymns were sung in plain melody, using only 3 notes. 

It took a long time for music to come to the form found in present-day India. The most important advance in music was made between the 14th and 18th centuries. During this period, the music sung in the north came in contact with Persian music and assimilated it, through the Pathans and the Mughals. It is then that two schools of music resulted, the Hindustani and the Carnatic. Hindustani music adopted a scale of Shudha Swara Saptaka (octave of natural notes) and Carnatic music retained the traditional octave. During this period, different styles of classical compositions such as Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khayal, etc. were contributed to Hindustani music, along with many exquisite hymns, bhajans, kirtans, etc.

The Tradition of Music

The music of India is a pervasive influence in Indian life. It pervades the big and small events of Indian life, from child birth to death, religious rites and seasonal festivals. Originally, not all developments of music were reduced to writing. To keep their traditional integrity, they were imparted orally from teacher to pupil -- the Guru-Shishya tradition. In the past, there used to be a system of Gurukul Ashram where teachers imparted knowledge to deserving students. 

Swara - The note 

The most basic unit of music is the swara (or note) which simply indicates the position occupied by a particular sound in the audible spectrum. This is also referred to as the Pitch of the sound. Actually, the spectral position is better described as swara-sthana (the position of a note). Inherently, certain sounds 'go together' and certain others do not. This property was realized by man thousands of years ago and is indicated by the term harmony.

Pitch is the musical name for the scientific term Frequency. It denotes the sound of a particular frequency. Since, all musical sounds (of a given pitch) actually constitute a combination of several frequencies, Pitch is more accurately, the predominant frequency of a sound. Given two sounds of two frequencies, the way we hear them comparatively has more to do with the ratio of their frequencies, rather than their difference i.e. we deal with geometric progressions. For e.g. two frequencies which are exact multiples of two (i.e. ration of 2:1) have the highest consonance i.e. they make a pleasing sound together. In fact, in any natural sound, we not only get a fundamental (or dominant) frequency, say x, but also frequencies which are integer multiples, 2x, 3x, 4x etc, usually with decreasing intensity. This series of integer multiple frequencies are called overtones or harmonics (from which words like harmony and harmonium come). Also, the predominant frequency and its second harmonic (i.e. 2x ) are said to be an octave away from each other. Similarly a ratio of 10 is called a decade. The human audible range is usually given as 20Hz to 20,000 Hz, though with age it becomes difficult to hear the highest frequencies. Here, 20Hz and 40Hz are an octave away. 20Hz and 200Hz have a difference of a decade. 20Hz to 200Hz is called the bass decade (or just bass, pronounced base), 200Hz to 2000Hz is the middle decade and 2KHz to 20KHz is the upper decade. The middle decade is the most important part of the spectrum as for as human audibility goes.

Saptaka - The Octave 

A note is a sound of a definite pitch. It is also sometimes called a tone. The Indian name for a Note is Swara (or svara). An Octave refers to a range of notes, with the highest one being two times in frequency compared to the first. Traditionally, in both Indian and western music, music is thought to be made of seven notes. The note after that, i.e. the eighth note would be double in frequency compared to the first. That is the reason for the name Octave (Okt- the root meaning eight in Indo-European). The Indian name for the range of frequencies forming one octave is Saptak i.e. made up of seven notes. Other names for saptak are Sthayi (Sanskrit) or Mandala (dravidian).
Just a note and its overtones can't be used to create music. We need a series of notes. The series of notes have to be such that when used with each other, a pleasant experience results. This series of notes is called a scale, or more correctly, a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme is called a scale. Traditionally, the Octave is made up of, or divided into, 7 basic notes, the Indian name being Sapta Swara (sapta - seven, swara-note). They are denoted as Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. After Ni comes Sa', this time, double in pitch compared to the first Sa i.e. an octave higher. Usually three octaves are recognized. The middle octave, most used, is called Madhya Saptaka. The lower octave is called Mandra Saptaka and the higher one Taara Saptaka. So, for e.g.., if the basic reference note Sa is at 240Hz, Mandra saptak would be 120-240 Hz, Madhya Saptak would be 240-480 Hz and Taara Saptak would be 480-960 Hz.

Shruti & Saptaka 

The Indian musical scale is said to have evolved from 3 notes to a scale of 7 primary notes, on the basis of 22 intervals. A scale is divided into 22 shrutis or intervals, and these are the basis of the musical notes. The 7 notes of the scale are known to musicians as Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni. These 7 notes of the scale do not have equal intervals between them. A Saptak is a group of 7 notes, divided by the shrutis or intervals as follows – 

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

The first and fifth notes (Sa and Pa) do not alter their positions on this interval. The other 5 notes can change their positions in the interval, leading to different ragas.


Raga - The Soul of Classical Music 

A raga is identified by specific tonal material consisting of a particular combination of musical phrases that gives it its distinctive melodic character which is very pleasing to the ear. The number of tones it possesses is fixed; these pitches can often be presented in the form of ascending and descending scales. Many ragas are associated with certain standard musical phrases. It is this trait that most closely ties the raga concept to the ancient Samaveda. Many of these standard phrases are so well known that the informed listener is able to tell immediately which raga is being performed. Regardless of whether the raga performance is vocal or instrumental, a drone (a sustained tone of fixed pitch) is invariably heard in the background. The drone instrument is usually the tambura, which has a long neck and four strings tuned to the basic tones of the raga. Each raga creates an atmosphere which is associated with feelings and sentiments. Any random combination of notes cannot be called a Raga. 

Raga is the basis of classical music. A raga is based on the principle of a combination of notes selected out the 22 note intervals of the octave. A performer with sufficient training and knowledge alone can create the desired emotions, through the combination of shrutis and notes. 

The raga forms the backbone of Indian music, and the laws laid down for the ragas have to be carefully observed to preserve and safeguard their integrity. 

The following points are required in the construction of a Raga – 

1. Thaats or sequence of swaras or notes, 
2. Jaatis or classification 
3. Vadi , Samvadi and Vivaadi , the sonent, consonent and dissonant notes
4. Aroha and Avaroha , the ascent and descent of the notes
5. notes that are clustered in a specific way 
6. Shruti, the tone or pich (specific frequency) 
7. Speed. 

Some Important points about Raga

• Every Raga is derived from some Thaat or Scale. 
• Ragas are placed in three categories
  • Odava or pentatonic, a composition of five notes 
  • Shadava or hexatonic, a composition of six notes
  • Sampoorna or heptatonic, a composition of seven notes
• Every Raga must have at least five notes, starting at Sa, one principal note, a second important note and a few helping notes. 
• The primary note, is the note on which the raga is built. It is emphasized in various ways, such as stopping for some time on the note, or stressing it. The second important note or the secondary corresponds to the primary as the fourth or fifth note in relation to it. 
• The aroha (ascent) and avaroha (descent) of the notes is very important in every raga. Some ragas in the same scale differ in aroha and avaroha. 
• In every raga, there is an important cluster of notes by which the raga is identified.
• There are certain ragas which move in a certain pitch and if the pitch is changed, the raga fails to produce the mood and sentiment peculiar to it. 
• The speed is divided into three parts : Vilambit (slow), Madhya (Medium) and Drut (fast). 

Another aspect of the ragas is the appropriate distribution in time during the 24 hours of the day for its performance, i.e. the time of the day denotes the raga sung a particular time. Ragas are also allotted a particular time space in the cycle of the day. These are divided into four types 

1. Sandi-prakash ragas or twilight ragas when the notes re and dha are used -- such as Raag Marwa, Purvi. 
2. Midday and Midnight ragas which include the notes ga and ni(komal). 
3. Ragas for the first quarter of the morning and night which include the notes re, ga, dha and ni(komal). 
4. For the last quarter of the day and night, the reagas include the notes sa, ma and pa. 

All the ragas are divided into two groups -- Poorva Ragas and Uttar Ragas. The Poorva Ragas are sung between 12 noon and 12 midnight. The Uttar Ragas are sung between 12 midnight and 12 noon. The variations on the dominant or ``King" note help a person to find out why certain ragas are being sung at certain times. 

The beauty of the raga will not be marred by the time of the day it is sung. It is the psychological association with the time that goes with the mood of the raga. The object of a raga is to express a certain emotional mood and sentiment without any reference to time and season. For a student of classical music, this classification may give an idea as to how to base his reasons for the traditional usage of ragas. 

Another division of ragas is the classification of ragas under six principal ragas -- Hindol, Deepak, Megh, Shree and Maulkauns. From these six ragas, other ragas are derived. The first derivatives of the ragas are called raginis, and each of the six ragas have five raginis under them. Further derivatives from these ragas and raginis resulted in attaching to each principal raga 16 secondary derivatives known as upa-ragas and upa-raginis. 

All the ragas are supposed to have been derived from their thaats. Every raga has a fixed number of komal(soft) or teevra(sharp) notes, from which the thaat can be recognised. In other words, a certain arrangement of the 7 notes with the change of shuddha, komal and teevra is called a thaat. 


Tala - Rythmical Grouping of Beats 

There is a perfect balance in the universe. This balance is the essence of Tala and therefore Tala is in classical music is an important factor. The Tala is the theory of time measure. It has the same principle in Hindustani and Carnatic music, though the names and styles differ. The musical time is divided into simple and complicated meters. When accompanying the dance, vocal and instrumental music, the Tala maintains the balance which is the most essential function of music. Tala is independent of the music it accompanies: it has its own divisions. It moves in bars, and each beat in it is divided into the smallest fraction. 

Rhythm has three aspects: Tala, Laya and Matra. Tala is a complete cycle of Metrical phrase composed of a fixed number of beats. There are over a 100 Talas, but only 30 Talas are known and only about 10-12 are used. 

The Laya is the tempo, which keeps uniformity of time span and it has 3 divisions -- Vilambit, Madhya and Drut. 

The Matra is the smallest unit of the tala. 

Tala is the most important aspect of classical music, and it can be considered to be the very basis or pulse of music. To appreciate the structure of simple and complicated divisions, the improvisations of Tala and its theory, one should listen to an accomplished solo drummer. A classical drum player requires at 8-10 years of methodical training and another 4-5 years of hard practice.

Music of the North India 

The raga and tala are realized within distinctive musical forms. Although a number of these are prevalent in both north and south India, the major types of each region have certain traits in common. The northern classical music (Hindustani music) usually opens with a prelude, the alap. Here only the soloist and the drone instrument are heard; the drum is silent, and the rhythm is free (there is no tala). The purpose of the alap is to explore the essential features of the raga--the important tones and the characteristic phrases--and to establish the appropriate mood. After the alap a short song is sung or played, and here the drum enters for the first time with the tala. The rest of the performance varies, depending on which formal type is being employed. But usually a great deal of improvisation is interspersed with recurring material from the song. The speed gradually increases, often leading to a rousing, extremely quick conclusion. In the north the chief melody instruments are the sitar, a stringed instrument with a body usually made of a gourd split approximately in half, a fingerboard about 1 m (3 ft) long, and seven main strings; the sarod, a stringed instrument about 1 m (3 ft) long, made of wood, with a metal fingerboard and six main strings; the shahnai, a double-reed wind instrument about 0.6 m (2 ft) long with seven finger holes; and the sarangi, a bowed stringed instrument used both for solo playing and for accompanying vocal music. The most common drum in the north is the tabla, which is actually two small drums, each having a single head (membrane).

Music of the South India

The music of southern India (called Carnatic music) is also based on the concepts of raga and tala, but the style of singing and playing and the musical forms are different from those of the north. South Indian music is often dance like in character. Southern ragas are not equivalent to those of the north, and the manner of performing them is characterized by much ornamentation. The talas also are different, and they are performed on a different kind of drum--the mridanga, a cylindrical barrel drum about 0.6 m (2 ft) long with two heads. The principal southern forms begin with a rhythmically free introduction called alapana, which is followed by three main sections: pallavi, anupallavi, and carana. The pallavi melody serves as a refrain throughout, intermingled with a great deal of melodic and rhythmic elaboration and improvisation. The major melody instruments of the south are the vina, a stringed instrument similar in shape to the sitar of the north; the venu, a wooden transverse flute; the nagasvaram, an outdoor double-reed wind instrument with a conical bore, flared bell, and seven finger holes; and the Western violin.

Carnatic music

Carnatic music, known as karnātaka sangītam (in Indian languages ) is the classical music that originated in Karnataka, South India.

Lyrics in Carnatic music are largely devotional; most of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are, besides, a lot of songs emphasizing love and other social issues which have been composed in Carnatic music, although some of them, especially with the 'Rasa' (emotion) of love, continue to be composed and are widely popular, that rest on the concept of sublimation of human emotions for union with the divine. Thus, for instance, a young woman in a modern classical composition, will be yearning for one of the deities, such as Krishna, as her 'lover - the purpose of such musical pieces being at once to provide an outlet for human emotions and, unlike in the normal run of motion pictures, to address God rather than another human being. Carnatic music as a classical form is always thus required to be a culturally elevating medium.

As with all Indian classical music, the two main components of Carnatic music are raga, a melodic pattern and tala, a rhythmic pattern. (One might want to read these pages before proceeding.)

History of Carnatic Music

Carnatic music, whose foundations go back to Vedic times, began as a spiritual ritual of early Hinduism. Hindustani music and Carnatic music are one and the same, out of the Sama Veda tradition, until the Islamic invasions of North India in the late 12th and early 13th century. From the 13th century onwards, there was a divergence in the forms of Indian music — the northern style being influenced by Persian/Arabic music.

Carnatic music is named after the region in southern India what is today known as Karnataka. Carnatic was the anglicized spelling of Karnataka and hence it has come to be known as Carnatic Music. The great Kannada composer Shri. Purandara Dasa is known as the Sangitapitamaha or 'Father of Karnatik music'. The roots of Carnatic music was sown during the Vijayanagar Empire by the Kannada Haridasa movement of Vyasaraja, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and others.

Important concepts of Carnatic Music

Śruti

Sruti in Indian music is the rough equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely key) in Western music; it is the note from which all the others are derived. Traditionally, there are twenty-two śrutis in Carnatic music, but over the years several of them have converged, so that now they are but the chromatic scale.

Swara

The swara of Carnatic music is "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" (compare with the Hindustani sargam: sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadjam, rishabham, gandharam. madhyamam, panchamam, dhaivatam and nishadam. Unlike other music systems, every member of the solfege (called a swara) may have up to three variants. The exceptions are shadjam and panchamam (the tonic and the dominant in Western music), which have only one form, and madhyamam, which has only two forms (the subdominant). In one scale, or ragam, there is usually only one variant of each note present, except in "light" ragas, such as Behag, in which, for artistic effect, there may be two, one on the way up (in the arohanam) and another on the way down (in the avarohan). A raga may have five, six or seven notes on the way up, and five, six or seven notes on the way down.

Raga

Melakartas:  In Carnatic music, the sampurna ragas (the ones that have seven notes in their scales) are classified into the melakarta system, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty-six of whose subdominant is a perfect fourth from the tonic, thirty-six of whose subdominant is an augmented fourth from the tonic. The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ("wheels", though actually sectors in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. This scheme can very well understood and remembered by Katapayadi sankhya

Classification:  Ragas may be divided into two classes: janaka ragas ("parent ragas") and janya ragas ("child ragas"). Janaka raga is synonymous with melakarta (because the melakarta ragas each have seven notes in their scale, and use each note only once). Janya ragas are subclassified into various categories themselves

Tala

In carnatic music, singers keep the beat by moving their hands in specified patterns. These patterns are called talas. All of the which are formed with three basic movements: lowering the palm of the hand onto the thigh, lowering a specified number of fingers in sequence (starting from the little finger), and turning the hand over. These basic movements are grouped into three kinds of units: the laghu (lowering the palm and then the fingers, notated as 1), the dhrutam (lowering the palm and turning it over, notated as 0), and the anudhrutam (just lowering the palm, notated as). Only these units are used.

There are seven kinds of talas which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:

Dhruva tala 1 0 1 1  Matya tala 1 0 1  Rupaka tala 0 1  Jhampa tala 1 ☾ 0  Triputa tala 1 0 0  Ata tala 1 1 0 0  Eka tala 1 

You may ask how many fingers must be lowered in a laghu. That is determined by the jathi, a number showing how many fingers to lower. It can only be 3, 4, 5, 7, or 9. (For numbers greater than five, the "sixth finger" is the same as the little finger.) Five jathis times seven patterns gives thirty-five possible talas.

Compositions

Composers of Carnatic music were often inspired by devotion and were usually scholars proficient in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. They would usually include a signature, called a mudra, in their compositions. For example, all songs by Tyagaraja have the word Tyāgarāja in them, all songs by Muthuswami Dikshitar (who composed in Sanskrit) have the words guru guha in them, songs by Syama Sastri have the words "Syama Krishna" in them and Purandaradasa, the father of carnatic music (who composed in Kannada), used the signature 'purandara vitala'.

Kīrtanas

Carnatic songs are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three verses:

Pallavi: This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music. Two lines. 

Anupallavi: The second verse. Also two lines. 

Charana: The final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song. The Charanam usually borrows patterns from the Anupallavi. Usually three lines. 

This kind of song is called a keerthanam. But this is only one possible structure for a keerthanam. Some keerthanas, such as Sārasamuki sakala bhāgyadē have a verse between the anupallavi and the caraam, called the ciaswaram. This verse consists only of notes, and has no words. Still others, such as Rāmacandram bhāvayāmi have a verse at the end of the caraam, called the madhyamakālam. It is sung immediately after the caraam, but at double speed.

Varnas

A Varna is a special kind of song which tells you everything about a raga; not just the scale, but also which notes to stress, how to approach a certain note, classical and characteristic phrases, etc. A varna has a pallavi, an anupallavi, a muktāyi swara, whose function is identical to that of the chiTTeswara in a kriti, a charaNa, and chiTTeswaras, after each of which the charaNa is repeated.

Special compositions

Some special sets of compositions deserve to be noted here, the Pancaratna Kīrtanas of Tyagaraja, Kamalamba Navavarna Kritis and Navagraha Kritis of Muttusvami Dikshitar.

The Pancaratna Kīrtanas (lit. five gems), composed by Tyagaraja in Sanskrit and Telugu, are a set of five compositions regarded as the masterpieces of the great composer. The first one is in Sanskrit, while the rest are in Telugu. They deviate from conventional structure in that they all have between eight and twelve caranas. Sādincanē Ō Manasā, the third of the compositions, deviates even more in that after the anupallavi, there is a short phrase after which the caranas are sung. Also, instead of repeating the pallavi after each caranam, the phrase between the anupallavi and the first caranam is sung.

Dikshitar's nava-aavarana-kritis (literally,'nine-veils compositions') are addressed to the supreme divine in its female principle according to which the male-female division, so universally observed in life forms, is essentially the manifestation of one and the same Divinity. The Navagraha kritis are respectively sung in devotion to the Sun, the Moon, and the other planets, which thus popularises in a subtle manner, that Man owes his very existence to a highly remote chance - maybe one in a billion - for living on earth in a precisely conducive environment of celestial configuration, and he must understand this fact with his rational and spiritual makeup, with Kritis of this unique type. This set of Dikshitar creations, like most of his others, are considered remarkable for recalling the sastra-ic aspects - the scriptural profunditions of Hindu religious philosophy - and the lay listener either sings them with implicit faith either even without an understanding their meaning, or with some effort, gets to know by attending scholarly lecture-cum-demonstrations and/or reading books or papers (nowadays rather widely available online on the WWW.). It is said that the mature Carnatic musician sees the multidimensional charm of the special and non-special Kritis that are at once rich musically, educative philosophically, and disciplining religiously to the singer, player and the musician, provided the necessary inputs at appreciating the many charms.

Another prolific composer in Carnatic Music, King Swati Tirunal, too, has composed hundreds of songs which are particularly noted for their lyrical charm, and Swati too has to his credit a set of special compositions which are sung on the festival occasion of 'Navaratri' (lit., nine nights) in which three days each are devoted to the three deities, Durga, Lakshmi and Sarasvati.

Improvisation

There are four main types of improvisation in Carnatic music:

Raga Alapana: This is usually performed before a song. It is, as you may expect, always sung in the ragam of the song. It is a slow improvisation with no rhythm, and is supposed to tune the listener's mind to the appropriate ragam by reminding him/her of the specific nuances, before the singer plunges into the song. Theoretically, this ought to be the easiest type of improvisation, since the rules are so few, but in fact, it takes much skill to sing a pleasing, comprehensive (in the sense of giving a "feel for the ragam") and, most importantly, original ragam. 

Niraval: This is usually performed by the more advanced concert artists and consists of singing one or two lines of a song repeatedly, but with improvised elaborations. (A similar thing used to be done in Baroque music).  (Kalpana)swaram.The most elementary type of improvisation, usually taught before any other form of improvisation. It consists of singing a pattern of notes which finishes on the beat and the note just before the beat and the note on which the song starts. The swara pattern should adhere to the original raga's swara pattern, which is called as "arohana-avarohana" 

Taanam: This form of improvisation was originally developed for the veena and consists of repeating the word anantham ("endless") in an improvised tune. The name thaanam comes from a false splitting of anantham repeated. When the word anantham is repeated, i.e., "anantham-anantham", the laws of sandhi dictate that the consonant at the end of the first word be dropped, hence "ananthaanantham" When the rule is applied to a long string of ananthams, you get "ananthaananthaananthaananthaa..." which got falsely split as "thaananthaananthaanan...", or "thaanamthaanamthaanam...". 

(Ragam Thanam) Pallavi Pallavi means: words (padam), rhythm (layam) and improvisation (viñāsam)  This is a composite form of improvisation. It consists of Ragam, Thanam, then a line sung twice, and Niraval. After Niraval, the line is sung again, twice, then sung once at half the speed, then twice at regular speed, then four times at twice the speed. 

Concerts

Carnatic concerts are usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, who usually (but not always) meet only on the stage. The group usually has a vocalist, a primary instrumentalist, and a percussionist, in that order of importance. Primary instruments are usually string instruments, such as the vīṇā and violin, although wind instruments such the flute may also be used.

The importance given to the vocalist in performances is a reflection of Carnatic music's focus on the singer and its rooting in the poetry of the Sama Veda; any instrumental rendition is merely a transcription of the vocal line. However, in recent years, purely instrumental concerts have become popular.

Support

The tambura, the most common kind of drone instrument, is traditionally used at concerts to remind the singer of the tonic, so that the singer may stay in tune throughout the performance. However, not only is the tambura unwieldy, it is also fragile, and is thus increasingly being replaced by the more compact śruti box (also known as the "electronic tambura").

In addition to the tambura, there is almost always a violin or a veena to provide support for the artist. Besides playing along with the main vocalist, the violinist or vina player also gets the chance to take part in the improvisation. All of the support instruments take turns while elaborating or while exhibiting creativity in sections like Niraval, Kalpana swaram and such.

Percussion

Percussion instruments, such as the mridangam, ghatam, kanjira are used to help the singer in keeping the beat, but they may also improvise. The morsing is also seen in some concerts and it accompanies the main percussion instrument and plays almost in a contrapuntal fashion along with the beats.

Content

Carnatic concerts, these days, last for typically no more than 3 hours. The artist may render about 10 to 15 songs. The richness and depth of artistry of the content may vary greatly based on the artist and to an extent based on what the audience request.

The teaching of Carnatic music

Traditionally, a student of Carnatic music goes to the house of the teacher for lessons. Both student and teacher sit cross-legged on the floor (usually on a mat). The teacher either starts playing the tambūrā or turns on the śruti box. The student sings an elongated "Sā...Pā...Sā (upper octave)...Pā...Sā..." and the class begins. Mayamalava Gowla is traditionally the first raga taught to the student.

With the advance of telecommunications, new ways of teaching Carnatic music have arisen. It is not uncommon now for a student to receive lessons by telephone or even webcam.

Since the late 20th century, there has been some attempts to create Carnatic music grades by music conservatories, which provide standardized tests between different Carnatic teachers. Although such attempts have not met with great popularity in India, standardized exams are often used in countries, like Canada, Great Britain, and France, where there is a high concentration of South Asian expatriates. One of the most widely recognized conservatories of music, is the Toronto-based Thamil Isai Kalaamanram which was formed in 1992. In 2005, it held exams for over 2000 applicants ranging from grades 1 to 7.


History of notation in Carnatic music

Contrary to what many people think, notation is not a new concept in Indian music. In fact, even the Vedas, although orally transmitted, were written with notation. However, the idea of notation in Carnatic music was not well-received, and it continued to be transmitted orally for centuries. The disadvantage with this system was that if one wanted to learn about a kīrtanam composed, for example, by Purandara Dasa, it involved the formidable task of finding a person from Purandara Dasa's lineage of students.

Written notation of Carnatic music was revived in the late 17th century and early 18th century, which coincided with rule of Shahaji II in Tanjore. Copies of Shahaji's musical manuscripts are still available at the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore and they give us an idea of the music and its form. They contain snippets of solfege to be used when performing the mentioned ragas.

Form of modern notation

Melody

Unlike Western music, Carnatic music is notated almost exclusively in tonic solfa notation using either a Roman or Indic script to represent the solfa names. Past attempts to use the staff notation have mostly failed. Indian music makes use of hundreds of ragas, many more than the church modes in western music. It becomes difficult to write Carnatic music using the staff notation without the use of too many accidentals. Furthermore, the staff notation requires that the song be played in a certain key. The notions of key and absolute pitch are deeply rooted in western music, whereas the carnatic notation does not specify the key and prefers to use scale degrees (relative pitch) to denote notes. The singer is free to choose actual pitch of the tonic note. In the more precise forms of Carnatic notation, there are symbols placed above the notes indicating how the notes should be played or sung; however, informally this practice is not followed.

To show the length of a note, several devices are used. If the duration of note is to be doubled, the letter is either capitalized (if using Roman script) or lengthened by a diacritic (in Indian languages). For a duration of three, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and followed by a comma. For a length of four, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and then followed by a semicolon. In this way any duration can be indicated using a series of semicolons and commas.

However, a simpler notation has evolved which does not use semicolons and capitalization, but rather indicates all extensions of notes using a corresponding number of commas. Thus, Sā quadrupled in length would be denoted as "S,,,".

Some Artists

One of the earliest and prominent composers in South India was the saint, and wandering devine singer of yore Purandara Dasa (1480-1564). Purandara Dasa is believed to have composed 475,000 songs in Kannada and was a source of inspiration to the later composers like Tyagaraja. He also invented the tala system of Carnatic music. Owing to his contribution to the Carnatic Music he is referred to as the Father of Carnatic Music or Karnataka Sangeetha Pitamaha.

The great composers

Thyagaraja (1759?-1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar (1776-1827) and Syama Sastri (1762-1827) are regarded as the trinity of carnatic music. Prominent composers prior to the trinity include Vyasaraja, Purandaradasa,Kanakadasa. Other prominent singers are Annamacharya,Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, whose exact lifespan is not known, Swathi Thirunal, Narayana teertha, Mysore Sadashiva Rao, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Mysore Vasudevacharya, Muthaiah Bhagavathar and Papanasam Sivan, to name a few.

Modern vocalists

Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna and DK Pattammal are some of the art's greatest living (as of 2006) performers. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, a doyen of Carnatic music, who had taught three generations of acclaimed musicians, and who was often acclaimed as the second Pitamaha of Carnatic music, passed away on October 31, 2003. M.S. Subbulakshmi, who enthralled audiences across language barriers, is usually credited with popularizing the Carnatic tradition outside South India. She passed away on December 11, 2004. Legendary singer belonging to the Dhanammal school of music T. Brinda was known for her gamaka laden interpretations of core carnatic ragams and also her vast repertoire. She was awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1976.

The pre-Independence era had doyens like Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar and Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, G.N.Balasubramaniam were quite popular post-Independence alongside the named veterans in the field. Another great singer who made his own mark with soulful rendering was M D Ramanathan.

Contemporary vocalists include Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan, T.V.Sankaranarayanan, Sarojini Sundaresan, Sudha Ragunathan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Rose Muralikrishnan, Priya sisters (Haripriya and Shanmukhapriya), Kiranavali Vidyasankar,Gayathri Girish, Aruna Sairam, Ranjani & Gayatri, R. Vedavalli, and Bombay Jayashree. (For a full list, see this page. Large festivals of Carnatic music always include performances by such people.

To date, there is only one Westerner who became a Carnatic musician of some popularity. His name is Jon B Higgins ("Higgins bhagavatar").

Description

A raga functions both as description and prescription. It describes a generalized form of melodic practice; it prescribes a set of rules for how to build a melody. It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam) the scale, which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka, phrases to be used, phrases to be avoided, and so on.The result is a framework that can be used to compose or improvise melodies, allowing for endless variation within the set of notes.

Although notes are an important part of raga practice, it by no means exhausts what a raga is. A raga is more than a scale. Many ragas share the same scale.

The underlying scale may have five, six or seven tones made up of swaras. This provides one method of classifying ragas. Ragas that have five swaras are called audava ragas; those with six, shaadava; and with seven, sampoorna (Sanskrit for 'complete'). Those ragas that do not follow the strict ascending or descending order of swaras are called vakra ('crooked') ragas. (To see the order of notes, check the article on swara.)

The basic mode of reference is that which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode (this is called Bilawal thaat in Hindustani music and shankarabharanam in Carnaitc music). All relationships between pitches follow from this basic arrangement of intervals. In any given seven-tone mode, the second, third, sixth, and seventh notes can be natural (shuddha, lit. 'pure') or flat (komal, 'soft') but never sharped, and the fourth note can be natural or sharp (tivra) but never flatted, making up the twelve notes in the Western equal tempered chromatic scale (but without Western pitch equivalencies like, for example, A# and Bb). A Western-style C scale could therefore theoretically have the notes C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab, A, Bb, B. Ragas can also specify microtonal changes to this scale: a flatter second, a sharper seventh, and so forth. Treatises from the first millennium report that the octave used to be divided theoretically into 22 microtones ("shrutis"), but by the 16th century, this practice seems to have died out. Furthermore, individual performers treat pitches quite differently, and the precise intonation of a given note depends on melodic context. There is no absolute pitch; instead, each performance simply picks a ground note, which also serves as the drone, and the other scale degrees follow relative to the ground note.

Some Hindustani (North Indian) ragas are prescribed a time of day or a season. During the rains, for example, many of the Malhar group of ragas--associated with the monsoon--are performed. Some musicians take these prescriptions very seriously. However, since the majority of concert hall performances take place in the evening and night, musicians often have to make concessions for the sake of public performance.

The two streams of Indian classical music, Carnatic music and Hindustani music, have independent sets of ragas. There is some overlap, but more "false friendship" (where raga names overlap, but raga form does not). In north India, the ragas have recently been categorised into ten thaats or parent scales (by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, 1860-1936); South India uses a somewhat older, more systematic classification scheme called the melakarta classification, with 72 parent (melakarta) ragas. Overall there is a greater identification of raga with scale in the south than in the north, where such an identification is impossible.

Note that the term "parent scale" is a metaphor, and is potentially misleading. It might seem to imply that scales came before ragas, or that ragas are made from scales. In fact, it's the other way round--parent scales (both melas and thats) were induced from raga practice. Again we stress that ragas are not scales.

As ragas were transmitted orally from teacher to student, some ragas can vary greatly across regions, traditions and styles. There have been efforts to codify and standardize raga performance in theory from their first mention in Matanga's Brhaddesi (~10th c.) Some people approach raga performance from the Vedic philosophy of sound; others from a Sufi perspective; still others approach raga primarily as an aesthetic entity; others approach it as a kind of combinatorics.

Indian classical music is always set in raga, but all raga music is not necessarily classical. Songs range from being clearly in one raga or another to being in a sort of generalized scale. Many popular Indian film songs resemble ragas closely. Again, it is important to stress that just even if song shares a scale with a raga, it isn't necessarily "in" the raga.

Tala

In Indian classical music, Tala (tāl (Hindi), tāla (anglicised from talam; in Sanskrit), literally a "clap", is a rhythmical pattern that determines the rhythmical structure of a composition. Each composition is set to a tala, and as a composition is rendered by the main artist(s), the percussion artist(s) play the pattern repeatedly, marking time as well as enhancing the appeal of the performance.

The most common instrument for keeping rhythm in Hindustani music is the tabla. In Carnatic music, the Mridangam is a stock feature in vocal, violin, Veena and flute concerts, with the Ghatam, the Khanjira and the Morsing also featuring at times. In Nadhaswaram concerts, the Thavil takes the place of the Mridangam.

While Indian classical music has a complete and complex system for the execution and transcription of rhythms and beats, a few talas are very common while most others are rare. The most common Tala in Hindustani classical music is Tintal. This tala has a cycle of 16 beats divided in 4 bars. Bars 1,2 and 4 are accented while bar 3 is light. Most talas can be played at different speeds, but no tala is generally slowed down as much as Ektal, with its 12 beats sometimes taking more than a minute.

Talam in Carnatic music

Traditionally, Carnatic music vocalists mark the talam by tapping their laps with their palm. Instrumentalists such as violinists and flutists that use both hands mark the talam by tapping their feet on the ground inconspicuously.

Talam varieties

In Carnatic music, each repeated cycle is called an Aavartanam, while each "tap" is called an aksharam or a kriyā. A talam thus describes the number and arrangement of aksharam-s inside an Aavartanam. Note that the intervals between the aksharam-s are all equally long. The aksharam-s are subdivided into maatraa-s or svaras.

There are three patterns of beats that recur in all talam-s - these are the laghu, the dhrutam and the anudhrutam.

• A dhrutam is a pattern of 2 aksharam-s, with the first aksharam marked with the palm face down, and the second with the face up. This is notated 'O'.(ie., Tapping once with your palm facing down and once with it facing up.) 
• An anudhrutam is a single aksharam, marked with the palm face down and notated 'U'.(ie., Tapping once with your palm facing down) 
• A laghu is a pattern with the first aksharam marked with the palm face down, followed by a variable number of aksharam-s marked with successive fingers starting with the little finger. This is notated '1'  The number of aksharam-s in the laghu is one of 3, 4, 5, 7 or 9, and this characterises the variety (jaathi) of the talam. 

The five varieties are:

Talam families Modern day Carnatic music uses a comprehensive system for the specification of talam-s, called the sulaadi sapta taala system. According to this system, there are seven families of talam-s differing on the way an Aavartanam is constructed from the laghu, dhrutam and anudhrutam.

These are respectively:

For instance, one Aavartanam of Khanda-jaati Rupaka talam comprises a 2-long dhrutam followed by a 5-long laghu. An Aavartanam is thus 7 aksharam-s long.

Thus, there are 5 x 7 = 35 talam-s, with lengths ranging from 3 (Tisra-jaati Eka) to 29 (Sankeerna-jaati Dhruva) aksharam-s.

Nadai or gati

The duration of an aksharam, usually fixed (though there are exections)within a rendition of a composition in its talam, varies across talam-s. The fundamental unit of time used is called a maatraa or a svaram, and each talam is also characterised by the number of maatraa-s in an aksharam. This count, which corresponds to the length of an aksharam is called the nadai or gati of the talam. The default nadai is Chatusram. But the nadai can be one of 3, 4, 5, 7 or 9, and these are respectively called Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra and Sankeerna, as above. This provides further variation from the 35 talam-s specified above.

As in the example above, Chatusra-gati Khanda-jaati Rupaka talam has 7 aksharam, each of which is 4 maatraa-s long; each Aavartanam of the talam is 4 x 7 = 28 maatraa-s long. For Misra-gati Khanda-jaati Rupaka talam, it would be 7 x 7 = 49 maatraa-s

Eduppu or Start point Compositions do not always start at the start of the tala. It is offset by a certain number of maatraas or aksharas or combination of both. This is to better suit the words of the composition in the construct of the talam. 

The following are some of the common Eduppu handled in talas:

1 - Thalli - where 1 maatraas are ignored from the start of the talam before the composition starts.  
2 - Thalli - where 2 maatraas are ignored from the start of the talam before the composition starts.  
3 - Thalli - where 3 maatraas are ignored from the start of the talam before the composition starts.  
4 - Thalli (one akshara offset) - where 4 maatraas are ignored from the start of the talam before the composition starts.  
6 - Thalli (one akshara and 2 maatras)- where 6 maatraas are ignored from the start of the talam before the composition starts.  

There is another variation where the composition starts in the last few maatraas of the previous Aavartanam. This is called Atheetha Eduppu. 

The following are the common Atheetha eduppu-s

2 - Thalli - where 2 maatraas are carried over from the end of the previous Aavardhanam.  
3 - Thalli - where 2 maatraas are carried over from the end of the previous Aavardhanam. 

Practice

In practice, only a few talam-s have compositions set to them. As in the table above, each variety of talam has a default family associated with it; the variety mentioned without qualification refers to the default. For instance, Jhampa talam is Misra-jaati Jhampa talam In addition, the default nadai is Chatusra.

The most common talam is Chatusra-nadai Chatusra-jaati Triputa talam, also called Adi talam (Adi meaning primordial in Sanskrit). From the above tables, this talam has 8 aksharam-s, each being 4 svaram-s long. Most krtis and around half of the varnams are set to this talam.

Other common talam-s include the following:

Chatusra-nadai Chatusra-jaati Rupaka talam, or simply Rupaka talam). A large body of krtis is set to this talam.  Khanda Chapu (a 10-count) and Misra Chapu (a 14-count), both of which do not fit very well into the sulaadi sapta taala scheme. Many padams are set to Misra Chapu, while there are also krtis set to both the above talam-s.  Chatusra-nadai Khanda-jaati Ata talam, or simply Ata talam). Around half of the varnams are set to this talam.  Tisra-nadai Chatusra-jaati Triputa talam - A few fast-paced krtis are set to this talam.  Sometimes, pallavis are sung as part of an RTP in some of the rarer, more complicated talam-s; such pallavis, if sung in a non-Chatusra-nadai talam, are called nadai pallavis.

A close equivalent to tala in the theory of Ottoman/Turkish music is the notion of usul.

Rajiv Vijayakar's The History of Indian Film Music: A Showcase of the Very Best in Hindi Cinema, traces the trends, which have shaped Hindi film music, from the early 1930s to 2009. With the amount of information and the detailing that the book entails, it's obvious that a lot of research went into it. As Vijaykar explains, "My 16 years of experience as a film journalist was one of the main reasons I was approached to write this book. Because of my knowledge on the subject and a little bit of research, I was able to finish it within three weeks."

The decade-wise approaches, Quick Reference, Did You Know and other such music trivia boxes attempt to give a reader-friendly feel to the book. "A special chapter at the end gives an overview of the trends, both good and bad, that influenced Hindi film music. There was a time when a lot of doublemeaning lyrics were being used and when composers were habitually giving breaks to new talents. The book discusses all this at length", explains Vijaykar.

A fan of Hindi film music since the age of five, Rajiv has closely followed the changes that have taken place over the years. He says, "Earlier, composers made incidentbased music for movies, with lyrics pertaining to them. But in this age of mobile ringtones, club parties and Indo-western fusions, the dholaks and tablas of the '60s and '80s have been replaced by guitars and drums. Music is being made only for `hits'."

However, Vijaykar clarifies that the book is solely based on facts and doesn't contain any personal opinion. "You won't find any sayings like `RD Burman is God' in the book either. Period."