Important elements of Carnatic music

INTRODUCTION:                         The origin of Carnatic music , or the South Indian classical music can be traced back to the age of  vedas . Bharata's Natya Sastra , from around the 5th century A.D. , and Saranga Deva's Sangita Ratnakara , from the early13th century A.D. , are considered the to be the earliest recorded documents available on the theory and performance of Indian classical music . The history of Carnatic music is incomplete without stating about the contributions made by the saints Sri Purandharadasaru ( 15th century A.D.) , Sri Thyagarajar , Sri Shyama Sastri ( all of 18th century A.D.) , and left an enduring legacy of compositions. This tradition has a rich heritage and is perfectly attuned with Indian culture and religion. Carnatic music is based on a 22 scale note (swaras) on contrary to the earlier 12 note scale that is used in the western classical music. But in all its practical aspects and puposes, not more than 16 notes are generally used. A unique combination of these notes , or swara as they are said to evolves separate  ragas. The features and the constraints of a raga will be clearly defined in the arrangement of the notes in its arohanam ( ascending notes ) and avarohanam ( descending notes ). Thus , in Carnatic music , the raga connotes a mood or a route in which the music is supposed to travel. . Different combinations of the notes gives rise to different raga . Thus , there are thousands of unique raga as per theory though very few of them are being used for performances in the present day. gamaka and brighaa are the two most important features of the ragaa. The former refers to the modulation of the frequency of a particular swara and the latter refers to the speed with which the musician performs a set of swaras or notes. Both the gamaka and the brigha helps to improve the appeal of the composition that is rendered . Western music is often based ona pattern of flat notes, on the contrary, here , the swaras are performed using various modulations . The brigha could be often 8 , 16 or so on . Another very important aspect of the Carnatic music is the thalam or the rhythm. The thalam is the rhythm of the piece that is being performed . Today, there exists more than hundred thalams , but here also, very few of them are in use . The most popular thalam have three , four , five, seven or eight beats in them. The Melakarta Ragams The Melakarta Ragams refers to the basic 72 Janaka (parent) ragams for all of the infinite number of other ragams in Carnatic Music.  All of these ragams have seven notes saptaswaras, that is that they have all seven swaras which are- Sa, Ree, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni, and Sa.  The system is further divided into two sets of 36 ragams each - The first set with the first Ma and the second with a sharper Ma .   This is very similar to the Western concept of scales and the circle of flats. Sapta Talas This system of talams is the rythmic basis for Carnatic music. It is based on 7 core talas whcih use only 3 of the 6 possible components of an Indian talam - Anudrutam, Drutam, Laghu, Guru, Plutam, and Kakapadam. The Seven Talams are Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata, and Eka Talams.  Using these sapta talas all of the 150 Carnatic talams can be derived. 12 Chakras of music the mind, body and soul Indian classical music, philosophy, yogic teachings - many of these are attributed to have its roots in the four vedas. In the human endeavour of our self-realization and awakening towards the oneness with the nature and the creator, classical music, philosophy and yogic teachings are all considered as the experiential tools. For centuries, we have excelled in exploring various aspects and are constantly redefining with every passing phase of time and years. But at the core of it are these ever so relevant well-defined principles and tenets – principles that provide the unity and the synergy of power. Be it in the form of millions of musical notes that cast a magic spell, or the control of our body and mind to lead us to greater heights. These do lead us to the path of happiness... utter bliss. These have no geographic barriers and transcend across all nations and culture. Larsen and Toubro Limited, India’s largest engineering and construction major recognizes and cherishes these Tenets and Principles that live beyond time. Principles and Values that never change but get to redefine its relevance within modern times, thereby making it stay for ever - as a classic beyond time and ages. BRIEF SUMMARY:

Sruti

Shrutis				12-TET Notes
Name	Ratio	Cents	Frequency (Hz)	Name	Frequency (Hz)
Kṣobhinī	1	0	261.6256	C	261.6256
Tīvrā	256/243	90	275.6220	C♯	277.1826
Kumudvatī	16/15	112	279.0673
Mandā	10/9	182	290.6951	D	293.6648
Chandovatī	9/8	203	294.3288
Dayāvatī	32/27	294	310.0747	D♯	311.1270
Ranjanī	6/5	316	313.9507
Raktikā	5/4	386	327.0319	E	329.6275
Raudrī	81/64	407	331.1198
Krodhā	4/3	498	348.8341	F	349.2282
Vajrikā	27/20	519	353.1945
Prasāriṇī	45/32	590	367.9109	F♯	369.9944
Prīti	729/512	612	372.5098
Mārjanī	3/2	702	392.4383	G	391.9954
Kṣiti	128/81	792	413.4330	G♯	415.3047
Raktā	8/5	814	418.6009
Sandīpanī	5/3	884	436.0426	A	440.0000
Ālāpinī	27/16	906	441.4931
Madantī	16/9	996	465.1121	A♯	466.1638
Rohiṇī	9/5	1017	470.9260
Ramyā	15/8	1088	490.5479	B	493.8833
Ugrā	243/128	1110	496.6798
Kṣobhinī	2	1200	523.2511	C	523.2511

  

                                   Śruti commonly refers to musical pitch. It is the approximate equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely a key) in Western music; it is the note from which all the others are derived. It is also used in the sense of graded pitches in an octave. While there are an infinite number of sounds falling within a scale (or raga) in Carnatic music, the number that can be distinguished by auditory perception is twenty-two (although over the years, several of them have converged). In this sense, while sruti is determined by auditory perception, it is also an expression in the listener's mind.

Swara

 The swaras in Carnatic music are slightly different in the twelve-note system. There are three types each of Rishabha, Gandhara, Dhaivatha and Nishadha. There are two types of Madhyama, while Panchama and Shadja are invariant.

Position	Swara	Short name	Notation	Mnemonic
1	Shadja	Sa	S	sa
2	Shuddha Rishabha	Ri	R1	ra
3	Chathusruthi Rishabha	Ri	R2	ri
3	Shuddha Gandhara	Ga	G1	ga
4	Shatsruthi Rishabha	Ri	R3	ru
4	Sadharana Gandhara	Ga	G2	gi
5	Anthara Gandhara	Ga	G3	gu
6	Shuddha Madhyama	Ma	M1	ma
7	Prati Madhyama	Ma	M2	mi
8	Panchama	Pa	P	pa
9	Shuddha Dhaivatha	Dha	D1	dha
10	Chathusruthi Dhaivatha	Dha	D2	dhi
10	Shuddha Nishadha	Ni	N1	na
11	Shatsruthi Dhaivatha	Dha	D3	dhu
11	Kaisiki Nishadha	Ni	N2	ni
12	Kakali Nishadha	Ni	N3	nu

            As you can see above, Chathusruthi Rishabha and Shuddha Gandhara share the same pitch (3rd key/ position). Hence if C is chosen as Shadja, D would be both Chathusruthi Rishabha and Shuddha Gandhara. Hence they will not occur in same raga together. Similarly for two swaras each at notes 4, 10 and 11.

Swara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency.[22] Swaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consist of seven notes, "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" (compare with the Hindustani sargam: sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni or Western do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, gandhara, madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada. Unlike other music systems, every member of the solfege (called a swara) has three variants. The exceptions are the drone notes, shadja and panchama (also known as the tonic and the dominant), which have only one form; and madhyama (the subdominant), which has two forms. A 7th century stone inscription in Kudumiyan Malai[24] in Tamil Nadu shows vowel changes to solfege symbols with ra, ri, ru etc. to denote the higher quarter-tones. In one scale, or raga, there is usually only one variant of each note present. The exceptions exist in "light" ragas, in which, for artistic effect, there may be two, one ascending (in the arohanam) and another descending (in the avarohanam).

Raga system Raga Shree recital to Krishna and Radha, Ragamala paintings, 19th century

Carnatic Swara Carnatic Notation Hindustani Swara Hindustani Notation Western E.T. Sa S Sa S C Shuddha Ri R1 Komal Re r D♭ Chatusruti Ri R2 Shuddha Re R D Shatsruti Ri R3 D♯ Shuddha Ga G1 D Sadharana Ga G2 Komal G g E♭ Antara Ga G3 Shuddha Ga G E Shuddha Ma M1 Shuddha Ma M F Prati Ma M2 Teevra Ma M+ F♯ Pa P Pa P G Shuddha Dha D1 Komal Dha d A♭ Chatusruti Dha D2 Shuddha Dha D A Shatsruti Dha D3 A♯ Shuddha Ni N1 A Kaisika Ni N2 Komal Ni n B♭ Kakali Ni N3 Shuddha Ni N B                             A raga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody - very similar to the Western concept of mode. It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka (ornamentation), which phrases should be used or avoided, and so on. In effect, it is a series of obligatory musical events which must be observed, either absolutely or with a particular frequency. In Carnatic music, the sampoorna ragas (those with all seven notes in their scales) are classified into a system called the melakarta, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is sadharana (perfect fourth from the tonic), the remaining thirty-six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is prati (an augmented fourth from the tonic). The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ("wheels", though actually segments in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. There is a system known as the katapayadi sankhya to determine the names of melakarta ragas. Ragas may be divided into two classes: janaka ragas (i.e. melakarta or parent ragas) and janya ragas (descendant ragas of a particular janaka raga). Janya ragas are themselves subclassified into various categories. Tala system Tala refers to the beat set for a particular composition (a measure of time). Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song. They have specific components, which in combinations can give rise to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to have different rhythms. Carnatic music singers usually keep the beat by moving their hands up and down in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously to keep time. Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas) which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru, and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam: Dhruva tala Matya tala Rupaka tala Jhampa tala Triputa tala Ata tala Eka tala A laghu has five variants (called jaathis) based on the counting pattern. Five jaathis times seven tala groups gives thirty-five basic talas, although use of other angas results in a total of 108 talas. Nadai The number of maatras in an akshara is called the nadai. This number can be 3, 4, 5, 7 or 9, and take the same name as the jatis. The default nadai is Chatusram: Nadai Maatras Phonetic representation of beats Tisra 3 Tha Ki Ta Chatusra 4 Tha Ka Dhi Mi Khanda 5 Tha Ka Tha Ki Ta Misra 7 Tha Ki Ta Tha Ka Dhi Mi Sankeerna 9 Tha Ka Dhi Mi Tha Ka Tha Ki Ta Eduppu Ela or Start point Compositions do not always begin on the first beat of the tala: it may be offset by a certain number of matras or aksharas or combination of both to suit the words of the composition. The word Talli, used to describe this offset, is from Tamil and literally means "shift". A composition may also start on one of the last few matras of the previous avartanam. This is called Ateeta Eduppu. Taal in Hindustani Music Taals have a vocalised and therefore recordable form wherein individual beats are expressed as phonetic representations of various strokes played upon the tabla. The first beat of any taal, called sam (pronounced as the English word 'sum' and meaning even or equal, archaically meaning nil) is denoted with an 'X'. The first beat is always the most important and heavily emphasised. It is also the point of resolution in the rhythm. A soloist has to sound an important note of the raag there, and the percussionist's and soloist's phrases culminate at that point. A North Indian classical dance composition must end on the sam. The beats of a taal are divided into groups known as vibhaags, the first beat of each vibhaag usually being accented. It is this that gives the taal its unique texture. For example, Rupak taal consists of 7 beats while the related Dhamar taal consists of 14 beats. The spacing of the vibhaag accents makes them distinct, otherwise one avartan of Dhamar would be indistinguishable from two of Rupak or vice versa. The first beat of any vibhaag is accompanied by a clap of the hands when reciting the taal and therefore is known as tali (or hand clap). Furthermore, taals have a low point, known as khali (empty), which is always the first beat of a particular vibhaag, denoted in written form with '0' (zero). The khaal vibhaag has no beats on the bayan, i.e. no bass beats this can be seen as a way to enforce the balance between the usage of heavy (bass dominated) and fine (treble) beats or more simply it can be thought of another mnemonic to keep track of the rhythmic cycle (in addition to Sam). In recitation the Khaali vibhaag is indicated with a sideways wave of the dominant clapping hand (usually the right) or the placing of the back of the hand upon the base hand's palm in lieu of a clap making an "empty/nil" sound. The khali is played with a stressed syllable that can easily be picked out from the surrounding beats. Hindustani Taals are typically played on tabla or pakhavaj. The specific strokes and the sound they produce are known as bols. Each bol has its own name that can be vocalized as well as written. Examples of bols may be heard in External Links below. The beats following the first beat of each vibhaag are indicated with digits that are greater than 0, 'X' representing the first beat - Sam, the '0' Khali (empty clap) and each number an individual consecutive beat). Rupak, almost uniquely, begins with the khali on Sam. Some rare taals even contain a "half-beat". For example, Dharami is an 11 1/2 beat cycle where the final "Ka" only occupies half the time of the other beats. Also note, this taal's 6th beat does not have a played syllable - in western terms it is a "rest". Common Hindustani taals Some taals, for example Dhamaar, Ek, Jhoomra and Chau talas, lend themselves better to slow and medium tempos. Others flourish at faster speeds, like Jhap or Rupak talas. Trital or Teental is one of the most popular, since it is as aesthetic at slower tempos as it is at faster speeds. Various Gharanas (literally "Houses" which can be inferred to be "styles" - basically styles of the same art with cultivated traditional variances) also have their own preferences. For example, the Kirana Gharana uses Ektaal more frequently for Vilambit Khayal while the Jaipur Gharana uses Trital. Jaipur Gharana is also known to use Ada Trital, a variation of Trital for transitioning from Vilambit to Drut laey. There are many taals in Hindustani music, some of the more popular ones are: Name Beats Division Vibhaga Tintal (or Trital or Teental) 16 4+4+4+4 X 2 0 3 Jhoomra 14 3+4+3+4 X 2 0 3 Tilwada 16 4+4+4+4 X 2 0 3 Dhamar 14 5+2+3+4 X 2 0 3 Ektal and Chautal 12 2+2+2+2+2+2 X 0 2 0 3 4 Jhaptal and Jhampa 10 2+3+2+3 X 2 0 3 Keherwa 8 4+4 Roopak 7 3+2+2 X 2 3 Dadra (or Dhadra) 6 3+3 X 2 Additional Talas Rarer Hindustani talas Name Beats Division Vibhaga Adachoutal 14 2+2+2+2+2+2+2 X 2 0 3 0 4 0 Brahmtal 28 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2 X 0 2 3 0 4 5 6 0 7 8 9 10 0 Dipchandi 14 3+4+3+4 X 2 0 3 Shikar 17 6+6+2+3 X 0 3 4 Sultal 10 2+2+2+2+2 x 0 2 3 0 refers to the beat set for a particular composition (a measure of time). Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song. They have specific components, which in combinations can give rise to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to have different rhythms. Carnatic music singers usually keep the beat by moving their hands up and down in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously to keep time. Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas) which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru, and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam: Dhruva tala Matya tala Rupaka tala Jhampa tala Triputa tala Ata tala Eka tala A laghu has five variants (called jaathis) based on the counting pattern. Five jaathis times seven tala groups gives thirty-five basic talas, although use of other angas results in a total of 108 talas.

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