Indian Classical Carnatic Music. Part 1

Music is an extremely subjective, aural experience. Some sounds are perceived by us as pleasant and some others as unpleasant. What is considered pleasant or unpleasant can be quite personal, based on our specific culture, exposure to particular kinds of music and perhaps even on what our parents told us. A song could be a major hit in one country and could be completely disliked and ignored in some other country. Our musical tastes are indeed developed. As we grow up, and discover music from other cultures or newer musical styles, our tastes too change. Sometimes, we even discover a pleasant piece of music purely by accident - because it simply happened to resonate with our inner sensibilities. Oh, nothing like self discovery!

So how do we make sense of sound and music? Let us try to answer this by examining some simple concepts first. Our high school physics tells us that sound has several features - such as pitch, intensity, quality and duration. The pitch is just the frequency of the sound vibration - given in hertz or cycles. The musical term for frequency is 'tone'. The audible frequency range extends from about 25 Hz to around eight or ten thousand hertz, although it depends entirely on the individual. Children can hear much higher frequencies. At the lower end of the range, even if we may not 'hear' ultralow frequencies, we may 'feel' the vibrations as a tactile sensation

The other attribute of sound - duration - is self-explanatory. It is simply the time during which the specific frequency or 'tone' lasts. The term 'quality' is more difficult to understand. It is simply a signature of the source of the sound. It is a term which explains why a violin sounds like a violin and a drum sounds like a drum. This attribute is precisely the reason you can make out your mother's voice over the phone even if she has a horrible cold. The bottomline is, when you or an instrument produce sound, you not only produce one frequency, but also produce a spectrum consisting of several 'overtones'. This is variously referred to as 'timbre' or 'tone color'. This constitutes the 'Quality' of that sound.

Basics Of Carnatic Music


Unlike western music in carnatic music ther are 22 notes in an octave( as compared to
12 in the west). Using vibratos, you can achive the extra notes on a giutar.
We noted that in carnatic music it is not enough to produce just twelve or even twenty two 'tones' in an octave. One ought to produce even the intermediate frequencies. These intermediate frequencies, which do not have any keys to produce them, are called 'microtones'. The Indian word for the 'microtone' is 'gamakam'. (of course, 'gamak' in hindi) It is often very difficult to explain this concept clearly and precisely. If the C key produces 240 Hz and the C# key produces 254 Hz what intermediate frequencies are we talking about? Does Indian music use sounds produced at 247 Hz? Treatises have been written in India about such microtonal apects of music. Suffice it to say that microtones or gamakams tend to be clustered around the primary key frequency, although this need not always be the case.

In the Indian system, we do not use alphabets to label notes. Instead, we use short, meaningless (please don't beat me to death on this - I know there are etymological reasons for choosing these set of syllables) syllables which go - Sa ri ga ma pa dha ni. These seven syllables are actually mnemonics to represent the 'notes' or 'Swarams' in Indian music. They are referred to as the 'Saptha Swarams' or 'Seven Swarams'. So, confusing as it may sound, in Indian music, we use the 'notes' to represent the 'tones'.

Even in case of Indian music, we can extend our labeling of the keys to other octaves, much like in the Western system. In Indian music, the main octave is called 'Madhya stayi', the octave above it (higher) is called 'tara stayi' and the octave just below the Madhya stayi is called 'Mandra stayi'.(by the way the key of g and g# are the commonly used ones in carnatic music.)

-------------------------------------0---1---2---3--
-----------------0---1---2---3---4------------------
-0---1---2---3--------------------------------------
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Sa Ri1 Ri2 Ri3 Ga3 Ma1 Ma2 Pa Dha1Dha2Dha3Ni3 Sa
(Ga1 Ga2) (Ni1 Ni2)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
S R1 R2 R3 G3 M1 M2 P D1 D2 D3 N3

Scales (ragams)


Now, in carntic music the scales, I.e.ragams are infinite in number(though only some
279 are actually used ). Out of these the most prominant ragams are the Melakarta
ragams, which are exactly 72 in number, and have infiite sub- ragams.(sub
ragams are generally ones in which a few notes are xlded completely, though
normally atlest 5 notes are there, some are played differently while coming up
I.e aroham and coming down ie avroham)

The melakarta ragams are dveloped according to the following method:

Rule 1: always select The 'Sa'.
Rule 2: always select the Pa . This is a convenient midpoint of the octave, sort of.
Rule 3: select one of the two Ma keys (Ma1 or Ma2 )- Once selected, this key is your 'Ma'.
Rule 4: select any two out of the four notes in the lower tetrachord. (From notes 2, 3, 4 and 5) Once selected, the first of these two notes will be your 'Ri' and the second your 'ga'.
Rule 5: select any two notes out of the four notes in the upper tetrachord. (From notes 9, 10,11 and 12) Once selected, the first of the two notes will be your 'dha' and the second will be your 'ni'. This rule is exactly like Rule 4.


Thus they are:

# Name Ri ga Dha ni # Name Ri ga Dha ni

Suddha Madhyamam (M1) Prati Madhyamam (M2)

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1 Kanakanki R1 G1 D1 N1 37 Salagam R1 G1 D1 N1

2 Ratnangi R1 G1 D1 N2 38 Jalarnavam R1 G1 D1 N2

3 Ganamurti R1 G1 D1 N3 39 Jhalavarali R1 G1 D1 N3

4 Vanaspati R1 G1 D2 N2 40 Navaneetam R1 G1 D2 N2

5 Manavati R1 G1 D2 N3 41 Pavani R1 G1 D2 N3

6 Tanarupi R1 G1 D3 N3 42 Raghupriya R1 G1 D3 N3

7 Senavati R1 G2 D1 N1 43 Gavambodhi R1 G2 D1 N1

8 Hanumatodi R1 G2 D1 N2 44 Bhavapriya R1 G2 D1 N2

9 Dhenuka R1 G2 D1 N3 45 Subhapantuvarali R1 G2 D1 N3

10 Natakapriya R1 G2 D2 N2 46 Shadvigamargini R1 G2 D2 N2

11 Kokilapriya R1 G2 D2 N3 47 Suvarnangi R1 G2 D2 N3

12 Rupavati R1 G2 D3 N3 48 Divyamani R1 G2 D3 N3

13 Gayakapriya R1 G3 D1 N1 49 Dhavalambari R1 G3 D1 N1

14 Vakulabharanam R1 G3 D1 N2 50 Namanarayani R1 G3 D1 N2

15 Mayamalavagoulai R1 G3 D1 N3 51 Kamavardhini R1 G3 D1 N3

16 Chakravaham R1 G3 D2 N2 52 Ramapriya R1 G3 D2 N2

17 Suryakantam R1 G3 D2 N3 53 Gamanasrama R1 G3 D2 N3

18 Hatakambhari R1 G3 D3 N3 54 Viswambhari R1 G3 D3 N3

19 Jhankaradhwani R2 G2 D1 N1 55 Syamalangi R2 G2 D1 N1

20 Natabhairavi R2 G2 D1 N2 56 Shanmukhapriya R2 G2 D1 N2

21 Keeravani R2 G2 D1 N3 57 Simhendramadhyamam R2 G2 D1 N3

22 Kharaharapriya R2 G2 D2 N2 58 Hemavati R2 G2 D2 N2

23 Gourimanohari R2 G2 D2 N3 59 Dharamavai R2 G2 D2 N3

24 Varunapriya R2 G2 D3 N3 60 Nitimati R2 G2 D3 N3

25 Mararanjani R2 G3 D1 N1 61 Kantamani R2 G3 D1 N1

26 Charukesi R2 G3 D1 N2 62 Rishabhapriya R2 G3 D1 N2

27 Sarasangi R2 G3 D1 N3 63 Latangi R2 G3 D1 N3

28 Harikambhoji R2 G3 D2 N2 64 Vachaspati R2 G3 D2 N2

29 Dheerasankarabharanam R2 G3 D2 N3 65 Mechakalyani R2 G3 D2 N3

30 Naganandini R2 G3 D3 N3 66 Chitrambhari R2 G3 D3 N3

31 Yagapriya R3 G3 D1 N1 67 Sucharitra R3 G3 D1 N1

32 Ragavardhini R3 G3 D1 N2 68 Jyotiswarupini R3 G3 D1 N2

33 Gangeyabhusani R3 G3 D1 N3 69 Dhatuvardhini R3 G3 D1 N3

34 Vagadheeswari R3 G3 D2 N2 70 Nasikabhusani R3 G3 D2 N2

35 Sulini R3 G3 D2 N3 71 Kosalam R3 G3 D2 N3

36 Chalanattai R3 G3 D3 N3 72 Rasikapriya R3 G3 D3 N3



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And finally here is a confusing possibility. There can be two Ragams(sub ragams) which have identical Arohanams and Avarohanams, but different microtonal associations or Gamakams! The only way to tell these two Ragams apart is to sensitize your ears to the differences to the Gamakams. So now choose a ragam you like and improvise on it. More later. Till then here is a song.

Sree Gananatha (lambodara)



Ragam: Malahari
AROHAM: S R1 M1 P D1 S ||
AVAROHAM: S D1 P M1 G3 R1 S ||

Composer: Purandaradasa
Arohanam : S R1 M1 PD1 S Avarohanam: S D1 PM1 G2 R1 S

In this ragam Ma ,Dha and the higher Sa are played with a vibrato.(very aggressive).
Also the tempo will be about 90bpm. (f- full beat, h-half beat ,d- double beat)
Also in most carnatic music the root note of the ragam( i.e. sa) is echoed by another
instrument called tanpura. so wherever sa is played, let it ring.

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-1-3-4-8--8-9-9-8--4-3-1-3----1-3-4--1-3-4-3--1-0-----
-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0--1-0-0-0--0-0-0-0--0-0-1-0-
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f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f

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-----1-0--------0-------------------------------------
-0-1-0-0-1--0-1---1-0---------------------------------
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d f f f f f f f f f


from :Ultimate Guitar