akaaram ikaaram or Ukaaram. ?

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 20 Feb 2009, 10:28

I feel that a student should practice all geethams and varnams in akaaram to get a good hold of his voice. but I wonder is it possible to sing everything in total akaaram. When I sing the akaaram automatically becomes ikaaram and ukaaram at some points. Is it possible to keep the whole singing business or session completely akaaram and akkaaram only.
Besides my personal experience is OO OO OO kaaram ( like the way they sing in OOO in opera) is better and sounds are heard sharper when you go highrer notes. wheras AA AA AA kaaram has some difficulties. Inputs and suggestions welcome.

gravikiran · Post by **gravikiran** » 20 Feb 2009, 15:18

IMO, there is only one answer to your question

:
'MS Subbulakshmi'

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Feb 2009, 15:30

Aa Aa Aa a! Ravikiran! Good to hear from you

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 20 Feb 2009, 17:22

T.Brinda always sang her crisp, bell-peal like AlApana phrases only in akAram; and somewhere near the top of the long list of things/people she held in contempt was those who sang tanana ,tadarinana, banana etc...

The majority of other senior singers, however have used these phrases. it is a tremendous imposition on the throat to have to sing only akAram. These others give some respite.
Some very aesthetic rAgAlApanas employing other vowels like ikAram and ukaram can be seen. But it is not everyone who can pull of i- and U- AlApas. neela rAmgopal uses these a lot in her singing.
While singing in the upper sthAyi, it is better to try and get a clear AAAAAA, because that helps in ascertaining if the note is true or not. Dovetailing the aaaa into uuu or OOOoo will make it difficult to identify the sruthi of the note.

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 20 Feb 2009, 20:00

that way I like hindustani singing much . clear aaaaaaa mostly

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 20 Feb 2009, 20:14

I like AAAAAAAAA way better than EEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEE would be a bit funny!!

sureshjm · Post by **sureshjm** » 20 Feb 2009, 20:30

more funny is when you switch fastly from aaa ooo eee ooo aaa . than a naa eee oo aaoooeen

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 20 Feb 2009, 23:13

Some people say it's a rule that only akaram should be used or that only certain kind of syllables should be used, but I think it should be guided by aesthetics alone. What's the problem, as long as shruti shuddham is maintained, and the correct notes sound at the appropriate volumes and with correct clarity?

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 21 Feb 2009, 01:51

Maharajapuram Santhanam would almost always land on ikaaram, regardless of what syllable he started from. I used to find it funny (and a bit annoying).

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 21 Feb 2009, 05:01

I feel one should practise all the three amd 'm'karam also; because when rendering a composition if one has to have a lengthy 'kArvai' at the end of a particular word, it has to jel with the ending of that word.
For example while singing 'bhajarE rE chitta bAlAmbikAm' if there is a lengthy 'kArvai' at the end of 'bAlAmbikAm'- how does one do it? In 'akAram' or 'm' kAram?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 21 Feb 2009, 05:17

Punarvasu, you mentioning m'karam gave me the opening to write something I myself realized recenty( I am sure this is well known ).
12 of the 18 consonants in their short form share this 'voiced' aspect which enables them to be 'kAram'd in kArvai.

In Tamil ( and other languages ), there are three categories of consonants

ka, cha, ta, tha, pa, Ra - Hard ( vallinam )
ya, ra, la, va, zha(ÃƒÂ Ã‚Â®Ã‚Â´), La - Medium ( idayinam )
nga(ÃƒÂ Ã‚Â®Ã¢â€žÂ¢), gya (ÃƒÂ Ã‚Â®Ã…Â¾), Na, na, ma, na - Soft ( mellinam )

If one considers the short form ( non-compound form, just the consonant sound and not 'consonant + vowel' ) of these 18 consonants, the six from the Medium group and the six from the Soft group are 'kArvaiyyable' ( theoretically ) whereas the 6 from the hard group are not. This is because of the way the vallinam sounds are produced from the throat which are not voiced. One should try to say ( ik, ich, .. compared to ir, il iv, in,im etc. ) to convince onesef.So, all of the consonants from the Medium and Soft group are candidates for 'kAram, though some may be quite rare as an ending word or ending word stem where kArvai can be applied.

More than the vocalist, I think the vaggeyakaras also need to be conscious of this in allocating the non-compound short form of the consonant from the Hard category to proper positions with respect to the thala stresses so the melody is easily carried with proper 'vowel movement'. People normally think that for music to flow you need the compound form ( consonant + vowel ) as the ending sound of a line but I am claiming it does not have to be so, it can end in the non-compound short form as long as it is one of the 12 medium and soft consonants. E.g. marakatha vallim . 'm' works because it is one of the 12 consonants. So do the ending of 'vandAn', 'vandAr', 'vandAL'. The music for the word 'oonjal' can definitely have a stretched kArvai like portion on the ending 'l' or on the intermediate 'n'. But 'achcham', the first 'ch' does not flow because it is the shoft form of a hard consonant. If we want to break it there, there has to be a silence after that sound.

I have not read any theory on this, especially about the use of the short form Vallinam sounds with respect to the beat boundaries.