(My Carnatic Music Primer)

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IntroductionMusic is a subjective phenomenon and the experience differs from one person

to another. Sounds that are pleasing to the ear are nada as opposed to noise.

In Carnatic music nadahas a special significance. Vedas say that it helps

elevate oneself and attain salvation. In fact, many believe that music itself is

divine and the perfect synchronization beteen the performer and nada

!nadopasana" is real bliss.

#ne of the fundamental aspects of sound is fre$uency. Frequency is the

number of aves that pass a fixed point per unit time% also, the number ofcycles or vibrations undergone in unit time by a body in periodic motion. It is

usually expressed in units called hertz !&z", one hertz being e$ual to one cycle

per second. 'he fre$uency of a sound ave, perceived as pitch, is the number

of compressions !or rarefactions" that pass a fixed point per unit time. 'he

fre$uencies audible to the human ear range from approximately () hertz to ()

*ilohertz. +or some physiological reason, the human ear is logarithmic and is

sensitive to fre$uency octaves. n octaveis a range from a fre$uency f- to f(

such that f( is tice that of f- in terms of cycles or hertz. In an octave the last

fre$uency sounds similar to the first, except that is seems to be higher. In

Carnatic music, a range of three octaves !Stayi" is generally used. 'hey are

Mandra, Madhya, andTara referring to the loer, middle and higher octaves.

!'o more, numandra and titara are also *non. #nly some instruments

can produce sounds in all five stayi".

hen it comes to music the concept of pitch is more important. Pitch is

perceived as highness or loness. higher pitch has a higher number of

vibrations. /very individual has a natural pitch. Males generally have loer

pitches than females. Instruments also have a natural pitch depending on

various factors.

In estern music, standard pitches have long been used to facilitate tuning.

'he base pitch or a 0C1 as standardized as (2)&z. 'he fre$uencies of the rest

of the notes in the octave are also fixed. 'hus the note next to C !i.e. 3" is (2)


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swaras".

'he seven basic saras occupy various sara sthanas and produce a total of

sixteen saras. It should be emphasized that the sara sthanas are nominal

and in actual usage, depending on the raga, the sara is not fixed at any one

sthana but appears at various locations around a nominal sara sthana in

different sara phrases. 'he Shadja and Aanchama, the Ara*riti saras are

li*e the foundations upon hich the rest of the melody is constructed. 'his

scheme of sixteen notes is the basis for deriving the seventy9to Mea&artha

ragas as proposed by en&ata"a&in !-DD)".

Swarasthana Tae

SthanaE 8ame 8otation

- Shadja Sa( Shudha


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#vavi"sati Sruti Tae8umber ofBruti abovethe tonic

- ) p:ran? a Shadaja Shadaja ll

- (4D>(2F 5).( pram;n? a

@uali 4 F-4.D ny:na

Shatsruti2 FHD.F pram;n? antara@andhara

Suddha@andhara

Shan*arabaranam

H H->D2 2)G.H p:ran? aChyuta Madhyan@a, 'ivra ntara@a

'ivra@andhara

3evagandhari,Saurashtra

5 2>F 25H.- pram;n? aSuddhaMadhyama

SuddhaMadhyama

untavarali

-) (G>() 4-5.D ny:na=egadaMadhyama,'ivra Suddha Ma

/*asrutiMadhyama

=egada,@aulipantu

-- 24>F( 45).( pram;n? a Arati Madhyana'ivraMadhyama

alyani

-( G(5>4-( D--.G p:ran? aChyuttaAanchama

'ivrataraMadhyama

Varali

-F F>( G)-.5 p:ran? a Aanchama Aanchamall ragas herepresent

-2 -(H>H- G5(.( pram;n? a/*asruti3haivata

ti9*omal3haivata

Saveri

-4 H>4 H-F.G ny:na

Suddha3haivata,

3visruti3haivata

omal

3haivata

Mayamalavagoula

-D 4>F HH2.2 pram;n? a 'risruti 3haivataSuddha3haivata

hamboji

-G (G>-D 5)4.5 p:ran? aChatussruti3haivata

'ivra3haivata

alyani

-H -D>5 55D.- pram;n? aSuddha8ishada, omalaisi*i 8i

ti9*omal8ishad

=airavi

-5 5>4 -)-G.Dny:naShatsruti3haivata, aisi*i8ishada

omal8ishad

haraharapriya

() -4>H -)HH.Fpram;n? a a*ali 8ishadaSuddha8ishad

Shan*arabaranam

(- (2F>-(H --)5.H p:ran? a Chyuta Shadia8ishada

'ivra 8ishad uranji,3evagandhari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_secondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_secondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fifthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_sixthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_sixthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_secondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_secondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_thirdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fifthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_sixthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_sixthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_seventhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_seventh


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Saurashtra,8ilambari

(( (>- -()) p:ran? a 'ara Shadaja Shadajall ragas henpresent

Kust a note and its overtones canLt be used to create music. e need a series

of notes. 'he series of notes have to be such that hen used ith each other, a

pleasant experience results. 'his series of notes is called a scae, or more

correctly, a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme is

called a scale. 'he sara sthanas of Carnatic music define only nominal

locations, these can manifest a deviation from the nominal sthana depending

on the scale. 'his deviation depends on the sara phrase in hich it occurs

along ith the other saras. In a general sense, this deviation is gama*a.

!a"a&acan refer to a constant deviation from the nominal sthana, or a time

dependent deviation or a path ta*en in reaching the nominal sara etc.

Raga Systemrrangement of notes in order is a musical scale. musical scale is the

s*eleton upon hich the melody entity, raga is built. scale is created by

permutation and combination of notes rendered in a particular se$uence in

ascent !%rohana" and descent !%varohana". &oever, mere scales do not

ma*e a raga. It is much more than that. /ach raga has an image called raga

a&shana that includes the saras used in the ascent and descent, the

se$uence of saras, the gama*as or embellishments used etc.


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or* Svaramela*alanidhi c. -44). ater Ven*atama*hi expounded in the -Gth

century in his or* Caturdandi Ara*aasi*aa a ne mela system *non today

as mela*arta. &e had made some bold and controversial claims and defined

somehat artificially D saras from the *non -( semitones at that time to

arrive G( mela*arta ragas. Ven*atama*hi did not believe that mela*artas must

be of simple sampoorna arohanam 9 avarohanam but favored the idea of

calling a raga as a mela*arta if all the seven saras occurred in either the

arohanam or the avarohanam. 'hus a raga hich ent Sa9


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(My Carnatic Music Primer)