Imbued with the emotion and
spirit of improvisation, Karnāṭaka
Saṅgītam embraces a scientific
approach wherein the scholars over a period of years codified this school of
music and gave a clear format as a medium of teaching, performing, prayer and
therapy. Although there are
stylistic differences, with the basic elements of Śruti, Swara, Rāga, and Tala the foundation
of improvisation and compositions are well set.
Śruti or the
pitch - Every individual has a
natural pitch which is his/her very own level or range at which one can produce
notes of best quality with optimum level of tonal ease. While
there are an infinite number of sounds falling within a scale (or raga),
the number that can be distinguished by auditory perception is 22 micro tones.
Swara or
the sound of a single note - refer to the solfege of
Carnatic music, which consist of the seven notes - Sapta Swaras "Sa-Ri-Ga-Ma-Pa-Da-Ni" the
abbreviations of the longer names Shadja, Rishabha, Gandhara, Madhyama,
Panchama, Dhaivata and Nishada. 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. In one raga, there
is usually only one variant of each note present. The exceptions exist in
"light" rāgas, in which, for
artistic effect, there may be two, one ascending (in the Arohanam) and
another descending (in the Avarohanam).
Rāga the
specific rules (the DNA) for building a
melody - movement of notes ascending (Aarohanam) and descending
(Avarohanam) pattern, which notes may be sung with Gamaka (ornamentation),
which phrases should be used or avoided, and so on. The Sampoorna
Rāgas (those
with all 7 notes in their scales) are classified into an elaborate scheme or
system called the 72 Melakarta Rāgas (melodic scales). 36
Madhyama’s (subdominant) is Sadharana (perfect fourth from
the tonic), the remaining 36 Madhyama’s (subdominant) is Prati (an augmented
fourth from
the tonic). The Rāgas are
grouped into sets of 6, called Chakras
(wheels) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale
degrees. All such Rāgas may
broadly be divided into two classes: Janaka Rāgas (i.e.
melakarta or parent rāgas) and janya rāgas
(descendant / derived / child Rāgas of a particular Janaka Rāga).
Tala refers
to a beat set, fixed time measure cycle or a metre - rhythm set for a
particular composition having cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely
changes within a song. Tala is
formed with 3 basic parts (called Angas)
which are Laghu, Dhrtam, and Anudhrtam. A Laghu has 5 variants
(called Jaathis)
based on the counting pattern. 5 Jaathis, 7 Tala
groups give 35 basic Talas,
although use of other Angas
results in a total of 108 Talas.
While a structure is set by the composers
and musicians who passed them through generations, the improvised variations
differ to musicians. Whilst adding to the
practical and aesthetic appeal, these basic elements in
the emotion and spirit of improvisation in Karnāṭaka Saṅgītam is the proud
heritage not simply of academic interest, but also of immense practical value
to all musicians, musicologists and students. And these elements form the sense
& essence of Karnāṭaka Saṅgītam.
Life Member, Sadguru
Sangeetha Sabha, Calicut
Written by the author for the souvenir
published on 50th year of Sabha celebrations in 2015
© RISHIKESH KB
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