eduppu

[arasi]

VK,
A kArvai from you (and your flute too?) after all the brainstorming you engaged in

Sung,
What I say in jest should not mislead you. VK is an asset around here. The janitorial duties as a moderator do not stop him from being helpful in every way. What will we do without him! It's the very season to sing praises of the cuckoo. So, here it is

kUvum, kuzhalUdum
kULamum kUTTum
kuRaigaL sonnAl
niRai seyyum

vasanta kOkilam
rasikar kuzhuvukku
vandamainda varam

[vasanthakokilam]

Nice Arasi.. Not that it describes me necessarily, but definitely a great poem to describe the many helpful hands around here.

Wednesdays are forum kArvai days for me due to non-kArvai sarvalaghu elsewhere

[mahavishnu]

Good one, Arasi. I wonder how VK can be so quantum-ly non-local with all his forum admin work! It is amazing how you guys keep up with multiple conversations in multiple threads.

VK, I have also understood kArvai to also mean pause (in addition to elongated note or silence). Is that compatible with your definition?

[vasanthakokilam]

Mahavishnu: Yes it does.

For completeness, I searched for usages of kArvai. As sung says Google search is a mess, but our forum search is quite fruitful for a change. I am quoting a few here to bring out the various uses of the word. I am not attributing the quotes but you can search the forum to find out who wrote what.. Some of the quotes are from Active posters, you will recognize yours!!

1) kArvai to mean elongation of a swara:

"kArvai refers to an elongated gamaka-embellished note"
"certainly an extended kArvai especially at tara shadjam or gandharam for a long time gets applause"
"While on this rAg(Surya), sa gaa(long karvai) and closing with ma as an anu swara, gives a tremendous effect.
So is the dha ni Sa Gaa.... Sa."

2) In RTP in the context of Arudhi, to mean pause or silence ( or elongation plus pause/silence ):

"4 kalai Pallavi in Tisra triputa, with arudi karvai of 7"
"the eduppu was 1/2 aksharam (2 matras) from samam, and arudhi karvai was 3 aksharams."
"Khanda Jathi Triputa - "Samanama Sabhapathe Sadhashiva, Ulagame Unnaku Sari..." " (2 Kalai, eduppu is 1 aksharam from samam, arudhi karvai is 3.5 aksharams)

3) In Koraippu:

"...try a khanda kuraippu for rupaka talam. 30 counts is a normal start to such a kuraipu if u take
3 rhythmic cycles u can have 6 khandam pattens after a karvai of 6 before u start..."

4) In mridangam sollukattu:

"..reduction to one karvai: tom , where one sort of expects tom , , "

5) In nAtya, where it means no (foot) movement

"kArvai has a different meaning in dance, where it refers to a beat without footwork."

"So, kArvai is holding then? If so, then, it will have the same implication in dance, i.e., 'hold' without
moving - could also be interpreted as 'silent' because there is no movement."

[sung]

Why the two lines have different eduppu is again due to how they are sung, which in turn is because of where the the first "karvai" occurs as per the melody relative to the start of the line. For alai pAyudE, this 'karvai' (or say significant sync-point) is on "dE", and for nilai peyarAdu - it is 'rA'.

Thank you arunk, Arasi and Vasantakokilam for your wonderful responses. The above makes perfect sense to me.

It seems to apply to 'telinda nilavu' line also. The kArvai appears to be at 'dE' at the end of the line, right? If we start this line at samam, 'dE' will not fall on beat. Correct?

Thank you. Sorry for the long delay.

[arunk]

It seems to apply to 'telinda nilavu' line also. The kArvai appears to be at 'dE' at the end of the line, right? If we start this line at samam, 'dE' will not fall on beat.

Yes - but it isn't necessarily based on the first true kArvai. I believe, there are other things that can add to this e.g. where words starts, whether syllables fall "in alignment" often enough etc.

I don't know what version you are referring to, but from what I can now recollect, that line goes as:

Code: Select all

,te   Lindani   lavu   paTTa   | pagalpO  .Le  | Riyu  dE.  

(note: not all syllables are off equal length in terms of time e.g. Lindani is 2 for Linda and 2 for ni. But lavu is 2 counts for la and 2 counts for vu)

The paTTa and pagal are word starts that align with tala and are good in terms of alignment. You also have syllables starting with tala beat most of the time. But the kArvai at dE is probably most important.

If the line starts after samam as above things get shifted just "off beat" - while syllables and word starts may still occur, the kArvai may get shifted and thus it may feel "syncopated" and thus we may feel it is "not as good an alignment" as above.



Arun

[sung]

Arun,

Thank you. I understand.