Need for a Grahical Notation scheme for CM

[cmlover]

The above picture is the "pitch map" of the Arohanam/Avarohanam of Kalyani as sung by a

professor of Music. There were about 1400 samples for the total period of 20 secs or about
70 samples per second (each sample spans 14.3 msecs). "0" on the Y axis refes to 440Hz.
"-2" is the taara shadjam (S') whence "-14" is the shadjam (S). Note that this Professor is singing
at 5 kaTTai.
The top calibration numbers are the sample numbers which can be converted to time in secs by

dividing them by 70.

You may notice how inappropriate it is to notate Kalyani as;
S R2 G2 M2 P D2 N3 S' / S' N3 D2 P M2 G2 R2 S
Gamakams are vital for all CM ragas. A simple digital notation not only masks the raga pattern
but is also inacccurate about the range of fluctuations of the frequency!

Perhaps using the 22 shrutis will marginally improve the accuracy provided we develop the

necessary notations. But trying to fit an analog curve in a digital strait jacket is folly indeed!
Shruti anantam indeed!

We should consider developing a graphical notation scheme for CM ragas as well as kritis (since

the gamaka patterns are subtle and vary widely). Even the sqiggles and curls in SSP are totally

inadequate to describe our ragas truly.

Again I question the statement "shadjam and pancamam are acala swaras". There are as much

fluctuations in these notes as in other swaras. There are no fixed point(s) in CM!

[RaviSri]

No note can be pure achala as far as CM is concerned. Even S and P will have to oscillate with the nearby swaras to produce the appropriate gamakas in many ragas. Take the S and P in nIlAmbari for e.g. The chittaswaram for amba nIlAmbari (Ponniah) begins as Sa Pa M N P Pa M G P M G Sa in the Dhanammal version. All the S and P occuring in this chittaswaram will have to be oscillated, mostly jAru oscillations. Ragas such as nIlAmabri, aTANA, Ahiri and many others will have to oscillate their S and P to reveal their true chAyas.

[cmlover]

Welcome back RaviSri, would love to hear more from you...

[alpajnani]

cmlover - nice work.
Quick question: How is the Y scaling calculated? Linear? or dB w.r.t. 440 Hz?

[cmlover]

It is a logarithmic scale (equal temperament).
Thus the shadjam is approximately 196 Hz.
To convert any value (say y) on the Y axis multiply the number by 440*(1.05946)^y.

[cmlover]

Here is the graph for Sankarabharanam by the same prof for comparison.
Apart from the pratimadhyamam the gamaka patterns are distinctly different.
So how accurate it is to describe the Aro/Avaro of Sankarabharanam as
S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N3 S'/ S' N3 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S
The notation scheme totally masks the difference between the two ragas which besides the
madhyamam are in the gamaka patterns as our ears confirm. In fact we can easily distinguish
Kalyani from sankarabharanam even without the use of madhyamam. The prayogams are also
distinctly diffferent....