In carnatic music, the fundamental notes (swarasthanas) have an intricate relationship. Many students are not proprely taught about this. Some teachers go on to call some of these swarasthanas as "small" and some as "big". This complicates things rather than simplifying. For example, there are three swarasthanas for Ri. Which one is "small" Ri, which is "big" Ri, and how do we refer to the third variety?

This post clarifies how carnatic swarasthanas are related to each other and provides correct short forms:

https://beautifulnote.com/blog/2017/12/03/carnatic-swarasthanas.html

Here is Vidwan T. M. Krishna's Lecture Demonstration. At 13:35, the topic of Gamakam comes. He starts by pointing out the disparity between theory and practice. He then presents gamakams mentioned in Sangeetha Sampradhaya Pradaharshini (SSP) both visually and aurally. It is interesting to know that some gamakams mentioned in SSP are not used even in song notations in SSP. He follows it up with a masterly exploration of Kampita Gamakam.

This is a rare and very valuable record on contemporary practice of gamakams in carnatic music by a prominent musician.

https://youtu.be/ue7TypsHCV4?t=815

Today (July 31, 2019) marks the 117th death anniversary of Patnam Subramanya Ayyar (1845-1902), a great carnatic composer, performer and teacher.

Thyagaraja Sishya Parampara
Patnam Subramanya Ayyar was a second generation disciple of Saint Thyagaraja (Thyagaraja --> Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbayyar --> Patnam Subramanya Ayyar).

Composer
He was the one who composed the immortal varnams Era Napai (Thodi), Evvari Bodhana (Abhogi) and more. He not only contributed kritis, thillanas and javalis but also created the catchy and cheerful ragam Kadanakuthoohalam along with the popular kriti Raghuvamsa Sudha in the same ragam.

Performer
As a singer, he was unparalleled in rendering Begada ragam to such an extent he was fondly referred to as Begada Subramanya Ayyar. Though he was a prolific composer, he usually sang Thagaraja Swamy's compositions and rarely sang his own compositions.

Teacher
He was a master teacher too. His disciples were Ramanadapuram (Poochi) Srinivasa Ayyangar, Tiger Varathachariyar and Mysore Vasudevacharya who went on to become luminaries of carnatic music.

Here is Patnam Subramanya Ayyar's "Raghuvamsa Sudha" in ragam KadanaKuthoohalam rendered memorably on violin by Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu.

This is one of the very few recordings of Dwaram that is available to us. It also captures Dwaram's unique style of playing violin which is vastly different from contemporary styles. Let us cherish this in memories of these two legends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAjuUp8jccQ

Yet another master piece in Kadana Kuthoohalam, a Thillana composed and sung by Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna.

https://youtu.be/KlZAMRb45NE

Notation of Patnam Subramanya Ayyar's kriti Paridhanamicchithe in Bilahari.

https://beautifulnote.com/blog/2019/07/30/notation-paridhanamicchithe-bilahari.html

How would one learn to identify swarasthanas when listening to carnatic music? Are varisai exercises enough to gain this critical skill?

https://beautifulnote.com/blog/2019/08/07/learning-to-identify-swarasthanas.html

Challenge 1: Sing a sarali. Stop when you reach Dha and sing Ri.

Challenge 2: Sing a sarali in Mayamalavagowla. Immediately, sing the same line in Kalyani.

Did you face even a momentary difficulty? Then you must read this article: https://beautifulnote.com/blog/2019/08/07/learning-to-identify-swarasthanas.html

#notation #varnam

Alilaimel kan valarndha (ஆலிலைமேல் கண்வளர்ந்த)

Ragam: Mohanam
Composer: Tiger Varadhachari
Sahityam: M. Arunachalam Pillai

Tamizh GeethaVarnangal by Annamalai University, 1953

#carnatic #theory #books

Here are introductory texts on carnatic music theory in English. These will be useful if you are a student preparing for carnatic music theory exam.

They also serve as an easy-to-follow introduction to carnatic music theory for those who are generally interested in the system.

Download PDFs from: https://beautifulnote.com/theory