About a year ago I took up studying Carnatic vocal. That's not a trivial matter here in Belarus where I live. Of course there's no teachers of the kind at all. I could find some stuff on the web still that's not enough. Even music is hard to find. Actually I've only one album by MS Subbuklakshmi and that is all. And of cource there' s no one to correct me and teach.
So is there any chance to advance by my own as I can't go to India for study? Are any distant learning courses delievered by Carnatic vocal teachers from India or may be Indian communitites from other countries?
Studying Carnatic vocal on one's own
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vasanthakokilam
- Posts: 10958
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01
lekano: Welcome to the forum...It will be interesting for us to know your background and how you got interested in carnatic music.
You can listen to online lessons of the introductory lessons here provided by Prof. Sivakumar Kalyanaraman.
http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivk ... index.html
You can buy his 6 CD set as well for a very reasonable price. He ships internationally.
You can also listen to the 6 part series by Smt. R. Vedavalli at musicindiaonline.com. I have extracted the links for you.
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/dqK ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/N4K ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/NUK ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/dUK ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/d4K ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/NJK ... As1NMvHdW/
The link Meena provided is the one you want if you want to formally learn Carnatic Music with ongoing expert guidance.
There are quite a few online resources to listen to Carnatic Music. You can go to www.musicindiaonline.com and listen to a wide variety of carnatic music.
Our fellow forum member Mohan maintains a page of such online resources here: http://www.carnaticcorner.com/other.html#audio
You can listen to online lessons of the introductory lessons here provided by Prof. Sivakumar Kalyanaraman.
http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivk ... index.html
You can buy his 6 CD set as well for a very reasonable price. He ships internationally.
You can also listen to the 6 part series by Smt. R. Vedavalli at musicindiaonline.com. I have extracted the links for you.
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/dqK ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/N4K ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/NUK ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/dUK ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/d4K ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/NJK ... As1NMvHdW/
The link Meena provided is the one you want if you want to formally learn Carnatic Music with ongoing expert guidance.
There are quite a few online resources to listen to Carnatic Music. You can go to www.musicindiaonline.com and listen to a wide variety of carnatic music.
Our fellow forum member Mohan maintains a page of such online resources here: http://www.carnaticcorner.com/other.html#audio
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Suji Ram
- Posts: 1529
- Joined: 09 Feb 2006, 00:04
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ninjathegreat
- Posts: 301
- Joined: 25 Oct 2005, 22:07
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Mr.Lekano dear, I have gone through your letter and noted the contents. By the training of 1 year, as you told, you must have finished upto Gitas at the least. Is it not so? Please clarify. Even though many of the music Teachers do not reveal, it is very important to have the barest minimum Laya to learn Classical Karnataka Music. If you have that, the MP3 CD containing Laya exercises from the beginning upto Varnas of 9 hrs. material (price only 1$) will help you a lot. I reside in Hyderabad You can send somebody by contacting my Telephone No. 040-27054232 and Cell No.94407 62711 to get it and, in turn. to send it to you by Air Mail or by some other means. Wishing you all the best.amsharma.
Last edited by msakella on 05 Oct 2006, 12:56, edited 1 time in total.
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chalanata
- Posts: 603
- Joined: 06 Feb 2010, 15:55
any indian art is closely related to regular practice and retention in memory. please buy and try cds available in the market. that should suffice. but you should have the patience and hard work.
the cyber cafes are like italian cofee shops. you will end up coughing the dough and taste unpalatable non aromatic coffee!
the cyber cafes are like italian cofee shops. you will end up coughing the dough and taste unpalatable non aromatic coffee!
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Dear aspirants of music,
Some people cry aloud that it is not desirable at all to learn our Karnataka music through cassettes, CDs and Internet. But, I don’t find anything wrong in doing this and, more over, they help a lot not only to the teacher but also to the student. To be facile is in the attitude of a person but not in the facility. One can facilitate himself/herself to learn our music by any means of his choice but the process of efficient learning depends upon some very important factors. They are as follows.
1) What is your age?
2) Are there any family members having learnt music?
3) What is the level of your laya-instinct?
4) Are you a vocal student or instrumental?
5) How much time can you devote daily for practice?
6) Can you do it regularly?
7) How much time can you spare daily to listening music?
8) Can you give the first preference to music or the second preference or even the later?
9) Are you physically and mentally fit to attend to your regular practice?
10) Does your teacher teach you individually or together along with other students?
11) Does your teacher teach you any special rhythmical exercises?
12) How much duration does your teach you in each class?
13) How many classes does your teacher teach you in a week?
14) What is the level of your grasping ability?
15) What is the level of you retaining ability?
16) Does your teacher teach what he wants following the traditional methods or does he teach what you need following any easy method?
17) Does your teacher teach you every bit of music or does he initiate you to sing or play on your own?
18) What are the instruments you rely upon at the time of your learning and practicing music?
19) Does your teacher teach you more compositions like Varnas & Kritis or anything of Svarakalpana or Ragalapana of Manodharma Sangita?
20) What are the gadgets you use to be helpful to your music?
And, now, I shall elaborate them.
1) What is your age? - Generally, any music teacher does not reveal the truth that according to the age the person gradually becomes weak in learning things like the very sensitive Fine Art, Music and retaining it further, lest he/she should loose the financial income. It is always better to start learning music from the age of 8 years or even before that basing upon the individuals level of Laya-instinct and Shruti-instinct (as all know, the percentage of marks to get a pass in any examination is between 35% and 100%, but, the level of efficiency of a candidate is decided by how much nearer the candidate is to 100% and this applies to everything in our life)
2) Are there any family members having learnt music? If any member of the family is acquainted with music, there is every possibility of having their genes and he/she will also be able to keep a watch upon the developments of their kid.
3) What is the level of your laya-instinct? At the first instance, even before starting the 1st Saralee-svara, the teacher should conduct a test to assess the level of the laya-instinct of the aspirant. Basing upon that level, the teacher should prescribe suitable laya-exercises first to strengthen the rhythmical ability of the aspirant.
4) Are you a vocal student or instrumental? A student learning Karnataka music on an instrument has to learn the lessons first on vocal and later practice much more than a vocal student. A violin student must practice 2 to 3 times more, at the least, than a vocal student.
5) How much time can you devote daily for practice? An instrumentalist must practice daily 2 hrs. minimum up to the level of Gitas, 4 hrs. up to the level of Varnas and 6 hrs. up to Svarakalpana and Ragalapana.
6) Can you do it regularly? Irrespective of anything, regularity is a must for practicing music.
7) How much time can you spare daily to listening to music? Listening to music is also a part of its regular practice. There are two kinds of listening to music and they are 1) listening to the music of a particular artist-s to analyse in detail and follow it and 2) listening to music of many artists for enjoyment.
8) Can you give the first preference to music or the second preference or even the later? Only the candidates who give the first preference to music can shine well.
9) Are you physically and mentally fit to attend to your regular practice? Unlike in any other subject, physical exertion at a very high level is a must in these Fine arts, music and dance. Besides, while all other subjects and arts have more visual aids to learn, the music is mostly audible but not visual at all making the matters more complicated to the aspirant.
10) Does your teacher teach you individually or together along with other students? In learning this Fine Art, the aspirant will not get anything at all unless he is taught individually.
11) Does your teacher teach you any special rhythmical exercises? The teacher should prescribe suitable laya-exercises to strengthen the aspirant’s level of rhythmical ability. While the Laya instills confidence in the aspirant the Shruti gives pleasure to the mind. While, mostly, the Laya is instinctive the Shruti is instructive.
12) How much duration does your teacher teach you in each class? While teaching Varnas to the student each Varna should at first be demonstrated leisurely in every minute detail and taught by the teacher. After the completion of Varnas the student should become able to learn on their own following the Krits/Kirtanas given in notation and sung in a cassette or CD, under the guidance and initiation of their teacher. The student’s inability to do so obviously reveals the inefficient teaching of the teacher. An efficient teacher’s duty is to make the student independent in all aspects. Even though the teacher must teach much in person, vigilantly, to his/her student up to Varnas, later he/she should only initiate and guide the student in making things on his/her own. Many of the music teachers always prefer to teach their students daily in the process of making them dependents upon them and not to hesitate paying them regularly. An efficient and affectionate mother always makes her daughter cook on her own under the initiation and guidance of her mother.
13) How many classes does your teacher teach you in a week? Music must be taught daily or weekly thrice, at the least, for advanced students. Teaching weekly (weakly) once is nothing but suicidal and this helps only the teacher financially but not the student at all.
14) What is the level of your grasping ability? The teacher should prescribe different suitable exercises to increase the grasping ability of the student.
15) What is the level of you retaining ability? The teacher should prescribe different suitable exercises to increase the retaining ability of the student.
16) Does your teacher teach what he wants following the traditional methods or does he teach what you need following any easy method? Basing upon the grasping ability, retaining ability, physical ability and mental ability of the student the teacher should teach the student, individually, what he/she needs to quicken the process of teaching but not what the teacher already learnt from his/her teacher. Mother always feeds each of her kids basing upon the aptitude of each kid.
17) Does your teacher teach you every bit of music or does he initiate you to sing or play on your own? An efficient teacher, while teaching Varnas to the student, should demonstrate all the minute details of Kampitas or Gamakas of each and every bit of Varna and after the completion of Varnas should only guide and initiate the student to learn on his own the Kritis/ Kirtans given in notation and sung in a cassette. The teacher must give his/her each student each lesson in the form of written notation along with a pre-recorded cassette or CD containing the song of the same notation.
18) What are the instruments you rely upon at the time of your learning and practicing music? Students should be very careful in selecting reliable musical instruments like automatic-electronic-tambura and metronome (which I have described in one of these threads), which inspire them to practice more and more daily.
19) Does your teacher teach you more compositions like Varnas & Kritis or anything of Svarakalpana or Ragalapana of Manodharma Sangita? An efficient teacher gives a very good base to the student right from the first day of teaching music upon which the student becomes able to build a beautiful building of Svarakalpana and Ragalapana of Manodharma-sangita on his own.
20)What are the gadgets you use to be helpful to your music? Along with a suitable
automatic-electronic-tambura and metronome a cassette recorder/player and a CD player helps a lot for the student’s development.
This is for the information and guidance of the aspirants. amsharma.
Some people cry aloud that it is not desirable at all to learn our Karnataka music through cassettes, CDs and Internet. But, I don’t find anything wrong in doing this and, more over, they help a lot not only to the teacher but also to the student. To be facile is in the attitude of a person but not in the facility. One can facilitate himself/herself to learn our music by any means of his choice but the process of efficient learning depends upon some very important factors. They are as follows.
1) What is your age?
2) Are there any family members having learnt music?
3) What is the level of your laya-instinct?
4) Are you a vocal student or instrumental?
5) How much time can you devote daily for practice?
6) Can you do it regularly?
7) How much time can you spare daily to listening music?
8) Can you give the first preference to music or the second preference or even the later?
9) Are you physically and mentally fit to attend to your regular practice?
10) Does your teacher teach you individually or together along with other students?
11) Does your teacher teach you any special rhythmical exercises?
12) How much duration does your teach you in each class?
13) How many classes does your teacher teach you in a week?
14) What is the level of your grasping ability?
15) What is the level of you retaining ability?
16) Does your teacher teach what he wants following the traditional methods or does he teach what you need following any easy method?
17) Does your teacher teach you every bit of music or does he initiate you to sing or play on your own?
18) What are the instruments you rely upon at the time of your learning and practicing music?
19) Does your teacher teach you more compositions like Varnas & Kritis or anything of Svarakalpana or Ragalapana of Manodharma Sangita?
20) What are the gadgets you use to be helpful to your music?
And, now, I shall elaborate them.
1) What is your age? - Generally, any music teacher does not reveal the truth that according to the age the person gradually becomes weak in learning things like the very sensitive Fine Art, Music and retaining it further, lest he/she should loose the financial income. It is always better to start learning music from the age of 8 years or even before that basing upon the individuals level of Laya-instinct and Shruti-instinct (as all know, the percentage of marks to get a pass in any examination is between 35% and 100%, but, the level of efficiency of a candidate is decided by how much nearer the candidate is to 100% and this applies to everything in our life)
2) Are there any family members having learnt music? If any member of the family is acquainted with music, there is every possibility of having their genes and he/she will also be able to keep a watch upon the developments of their kid.
3) What is the level of your laya-instinct? At the first instance, even before starting the 1st Saralee-svara, the teacher should conduct a test to assess the level of the laya-instinct of the aspirant. Basing upon that level, the teacher should prescribe suitable laya-exercises first to strengthen the rhythmical ability of the aspirant.
4) Are you a vocal student or instrumental? A student learning Karnataka music on an instrument has to learn the lessons first on vocal and later practice much more than a vocal student. A violin student must practice 2 to 3 times more, at the least, than a vocal student.
5) How much time can you devote daily for practice? An instrumentalist must practice daily 2 hrs. minimum up to the level of Gitas, 4 hrs. up to the level of Varnas and 6 hrs. up to Svarakalpana and Ragalapana.
6) Can you do it regularly? Irrespective of anything, regularity is a must for practicing music.
7) How much time can you spare daily to listening to music? Listening to music is also a part of its regular practice. There are two kinds of listening to music and they are 1) listening to the music of a particular artist-s to analyse in detail and follow it and 2) listening to music of many artists for enjoyment.
8) Can you give the first preference to music or the second preference or even the later? Only the candidates who give the first preference to music can shine well.
9) Are you physically and mentally fit to attend to your regular practice? Unlike in any other subject, physical exertion at a very high level is a must in these Fine arts, music and dance. Besides, while all other subjects and arts have more visual aids to learn, the music is mostly audible but not visual at all making the matters more complicated to the aspirant.
10) Does your teacher teach you individually or together along with other students? In learning this Fine Art, the aspirant will not get anything at all unless he is taught individually.
11) Does your teacher teach you any special rhythmical exercises? The teacher should prescribe suitable laya-exercises to strengthen the aspirant’s level of rhythmical ability. While the Laya instills confidence in the aspirant the Shruti gives pleasure to the mind. While, mostly, the Laya is instinctive the Shruti is instructive.
12) How much duration does your teacher teach you in each class? While teaching Varnas to the student each Varna should at first be demonstrated leisurely in every minute detail and taught by the teacher. After the completion of Varnas the student should become able to learn on their own following the Krits/Kirtanas given in notation and sung in a cassette or CD, under the guidance and initiation of their teacher. The student’s inability to do so obviously reveals the inefficient teaching of the teacher. An efficient teacher’s duty is to make the student independent in all aspects. Even though the teacher must teach much in person, vigilantly, to his/her student up to Varnas, later he/she should only initiate and guide the student in making things on his/her own. Many of the music teachers always prefer to teach their students daily in the process of making them dependents upon them and not to hesitate paying them regularly. An efficient and affectionate mother always makes her daughter cook on her own under the initiation and guidance of her mother.
13) How many classes does your teacher teach you in a week? Music must be taught daily or weekly thrice, at the least, for advanced students. Teaching weekly (weakly) once is nothing but suicidal and this helps only the teacher financially but not the student at all.
14) What is the level of your grasping ability? The teacher should prescribe different suitable exercises to increase the grasping ability of the student.
15) What is the level of you retaining ability? The teacher should prescribe different suitable exercises to increase the retaining ability of the student.
16) Does your teacher teach what he wants following the traditional methods or does he teach what you need following any easy method? Basing upon the grasping ability, retaining ability, physical ability and mental ability of the student the teacher should teach the student, individually, what he/she needs to quicken the process of teaching but not what the teacher already learnt from his/her teacher. Mother always feeds each of her kids basing upon the aptitude of each kid.
17) Does your teacher teach you every bit of music or does he initiate you to sing or play on your own? An efficient teacher, while teaching Varnas to the student, should demonstrate all the minute details of Kampitas or Gamakas of each and every bit of Varna and after the completion of Varnas should only guide and initiate the student to learn on his own the Kritis/ Kirtans given in notation and sung in a cassette. The teacher must give his/her each student each lesson in the form of written notation along with a pre-recorded cassette or CD containing the song of the same notation.
18) What are the instruments you rely upon at the time of your learning and practicing music? Students should be very careful in selecting reliable musical instruments like automatic-electronic-tambura and metronome (which I have described in one of these threads), which inspire them to practice more and more daily.
19) Does your teacher teach you more compositions like Varnas & Kritis or anything of Svarakalpana or Ragalapana of Manodharma Sangita? An efficient teacher gives a very good base to the student right from the first day of teaching music upon which the student becomes able to build a beautiful building of Svarakalpana and Ragalapana of Manodharma-sangita on his own.
20)What are the gadgets you use to be helpful to your music? Along with a suitable
automatic-electronic-tambura and metronome a cassette recorder/player and a CD player helps a lot for the student’s development.
This is for the information and guidance of the aspirants. amsharma.
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sp2003
- Posts: 30
- Joined: 16 Jan 2006, 17:16
Hello there...I know this a late reply but internet classes do work! I learn and teach over the internet myself and I am perfectly pleased with the results. The only problem I think of is with kids on the other end as it is hard to make them concentrate and follow the teacher for a whole hour.rasam wrote:Speaking of carnatica's "cyber vidyalaya", has someone tried their online classes? Even with a webcam, its must be quite difficult to learn CM through the internet. Has someone successfully managed to learn for a while with this?
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Dear brother-member, sp2003, In the process of learning music from the teacher, the student has to practice much and reproduce the same before the teacher. And, while teaching, many of the teachers sing or play along with their students and the students also, in turn, feel very happy upon this that their teacher himself/herself is also singing all along with them. But, unfortunately, they do not know how much knowledge their teacher is imparting in this process except elongating the period of training for their own monetary benefit. Generally, either the aspirants or many of the teachers are not at all aware that the process of teaching should be made in terms of direct teaching, indirect teaching, initiation and guidance to make the student independent in all aspects. If the teaching process is made on these terms and according to a modern, systematic and rational plan and if the aspirant below the age of 15 years work hard with a regular practice of 6 hrs. a day a period of 4 years is more than enough to enable his student sing a 2 hr. concert. Even kids of 8 yrs. age also can be taught well in this system. This is a well-planned teaching system of music giving remarkable results. Amsharma.