Prof. T.N. Krishnan [LecDem] - MA - 17th Dec 2011

[bilahari]

TNK led a thoroughly enjoyable session at the MA. I didn't take notes during the session and am reproducing the following from my own porous memory, so I apologise in advance for errors and welcome corrections.

He spent the first thirty minutes recounting his childhood as a budding musician. He spoke about how he was presented the violin at the age of three and asked to repeat phrases his father played. The first phrase he had to replicate was G R S of hamsadhwani, which he managed easily. TNK emphasised that his household had always been filled with music students, musicians, and music, and from observing and absorbing, he needed minimum instruction even initially on the fundamentals of posture and grip. TNK spoke about how his father made him repeat the same GRS at least a hundred times every day in the initial period until he could play the phrase just perfectly. Sri Narayana Iyer then taught TNK some Adi tALa varNams beginning with hamsadwani (the "GRS varNam" as he knew it initially), mOhanam, sAvEri, tODi, kalyANi, and bEgaDa. By the age of five, he had begun learning aTa tALa varNams in bhairavi, kalyANi, rItigowLa, nArAyaNagowLa, SankarAbharaNam, and kAnaDa. TNK remarked that viribhOni is a varNam that still gives him trouble to this day! His father also taught him some small kritis like vAtApi, sObillu, and brOva bArama, such that by the age of about seven, TNK had the necessary training to perform short recitals, which he did.

TNK spoke about his early training regimen, which included practice for 2-3 hours every morning before school, an hour during lunch, 2-3 hours after school. His father used to wait for him at the gate after school to ensure TNK was promptly returning home and not dallying elsewhere - that is the kind of discipline he was subjected to as a child. Such was the emphasis on music that TNK said he could play aTa tALa varNams at an age where he couldn't even tell time! He also joked that he slackened the moment he left home and started travelling with vidwans for concerts.

TNK emphasised the importance of the guru-sishya relationship. He highlighted how important it is to learn live from a guru who can immediately correct one's errors. He also joked about how promptly his gurus would materialise whenever he made a mistake in practice.

He spoke about how he matured over the years. As a child, his gift for being able to reproduce phrases meant that he would merely play phrases during a concert without actually absorbing the musical significance of these phrases. He said that if he were asked to reproduce these sangatis the next day, he wouldn't have been able to. It is only as he learnt from his gurus like Narayana Iyer and SSI that he started slowly understanding music. So, the ability to exactly reproduce phrases on the spot garnered him a lot of appreciation, but it was a bane as well as a boon.

On a tangent, TNK said many musicians have their own coterie of fans and get repeatedly applauded in concerts, but that one should not be blinded by such admiration and must always turn to one's gurus to ensure that one is playing/singing correctly.

TNK recounted his association with the Academy since 1942 when he started accompanying in the 3.30PM concerts. He accompanied KR Kumaraswamy Iyer in 1942, Tanjore Lakshminarayana Iyer in 1943, and was soon after promoted to the evening slots.

TNK spent the remaining half an hour demonstrating sangatis that he had learnt accompanying the stalwarts. He mentioned an inexhaustible supply of piDis he had acquired by accompanying the greats. As Sriram tuned the tambura, he mentioned that nobody should sing or play without a shruti reference - it is of utmost importance to be aligned with pitch.

TNK played sAvEri and demonstrated Musiri's manner of gliding ever so gently from the madhyamam to the panchamam, and then demonstrated GNB's pa-centric brigha sangatis. It was amazing to watch TNK play breathtakingly quick brighas, and you could hear a collective gasp in the auditorium!

He also mentioned the need to unequivocally establish the raga in the first few notes of an essay, and demonstrated that with a simple but effective SRMPDP in sAvEri.

He then played SankarAbharaNam and demonstrated ARI phrases and contrasted those with phrases patented by SSI, and emphasised the SSI-driven focus on continuity when developing a raga.

TNK stopped to sing a SankarAbharaNa passage, and he then went on to sing tAnam in the same rAgam. He said he only really learnt the art of tAnam from SSI and also from vidwans like MA Kalyanakrisha Bhagavatar, and sang some vIna-inspired tAnam phrases.

Time ran out at this stage and Pappu Venugopala Rao surprisingly concluded the session with a Q and A, saying there is nothing more to be said after such a presentation, which I found a bit odd.

TNK repeatedly emphasised that he was speaking to the youngsters in the audience, and there were several younger musicians and students and children in the overflowing hall. Certainly, to us youngsters (if I may call myself a youngster at 24!), TNK's reminiscences were gripping, and his humility and warmth shone through throughout his talk. Importantly, TNK imparted lessons along the way for those of us who are finding our way about in the expansive world of CM: he emphasised the need to internalise music, the need to seek criticism and advice from gurus throughout one's life even after one starts performing, the essentials of good music (unambiguous raga elaboration, shruti shuddam).

TNK was disappointed he didn't get around to speaking about violin technique, and when PVR said he could do so next year, TNK quipped that they could veritably arrange a session for any given sangati for him to discuss! Indeed, I hope many more focused lecdems by this legend are organised in the future, to allow us rare glimpses into the history and soul of our art.

I, for one, was thoroughly moved and enchanted by the lecdem, but hope simultaneously that future lecdems will have topics that are more specific in scope and thus amenable to the one hour frame.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

A nice, intimate report. Some solid information for those who missed the lecdem. Thanks

[annamalai]

bilahari,

I attended the same lecdem, I am not enthusiastic as you are. I thought the lecdem was boring, no new info for me. OK, He has learning from his father since 3 years old, and performing at Music Academy since 1942. He then played some phrases of Musiri, Semmangudi, Ariyakudi, ...

In contrast, Lalgudi jayaraman gave a lecdem on GNB and his info on his personal interactions was superb - for e.g. his first meeting with GNB after KVN concert in 1940s, learning poruttham in swaras for Palinchu Kamakshi and many more.

I thought TNK would have some memories with Ariyakudi, GNB, .... only some snippets of Sankarabaranam, Saveri, ...

[bilahari]

Understood, annamalai. Hence my call at the end for more focused topics in future lecdems.

[MV]

@Bilahari Thanks for the review. I haven't been able to get around much for lec-dems this year. So, its great to read about it

[carnatricks]

yes. what a lovely report of the lec-dem. very sad that i could not make it. i heard from another rasika that the saveri he played was out of the world.

[srikant1987]

Thank you for the detailed report, Bilahari. It is like sitting through the programme again.

[anandalakshmi]

Thanks for the detailed report!

[srikant1987]

He said he only really learnt the art of tAnam from SSI and also from vidwans like MA Kalyanakrisha Bhagavatar, and sang some vIna-inspired tAnam phrases.

He sang some tAnam in mAyAmALavagauLa after he mentioned MAKB -- whose name I immediately remembered because of the lone recording of his I heard thanks to this thread: http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16016