Musical Patterns - International Seminar

[mohan]

The proceedings from the 'International Seminar on Creating & Teaching Music Patterns' which was held in Kolkata in December 2013 are available at:
http://sitardivin.globat.com/seminar/proceedings/index/
(click the links to the plenary and technical sessions for the actual papers).

My paper 'Dancing in the Mind: Creating Musical Patterns for Bharatanātyam' at http://sitardivin.globat.com/seminar201 ... nAyyar.pdf may be of interest to Carnatic music rasikas. The actual presentation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxyfPSPOcJY

[vasanthakokilam]

Congrats Mohan. And thanks for the info.

[rshankar]

Mohan...it's awesome...well written!

[mahavishnu]

Great stuff, Mohan!Thanks for sharing.

[vasanthakokilam]

I just watched the video in parts. A must watch. A lot of stuff there which we will all relate to very much and enjoy. Good job Mohan and Sangeetha!

[mohan]

Thanks all. Glad you found it useful!

[msakella]

Dear brother-member, mohan,

Today accidentally I found this thread and gone through it. Very knowledgeable thread, indeed! I appreciate you for having furnished those details in this thread to make them available for all. In this respect I would like to give some more important details.

I have gone through your pdf too. In it, in page 248 of it you have very nicely furnished the details of ‘yatiprasam’, the 9th element of Taladashapranas. In page 249 of it, as an example, you have also furnished a rhythmical form || (1+2+2) + (1+2+2) + (1+2+2) + (5+1) + (5+1) + 5 || pertaining to the groups of 32-units. While the previous ‘yatiprasam’ pertains to the 9th element this belongs to the 10th element Prastara.

At the end of the page 249 you have also expressed that different rhythmic subdivisions (gati-s) may not be suitable for Bharatanatyam. Is it true? I thought that Trisra-gati and upto some extent Khanda-gati also can be used in Bharatanatyam? As an expert in Bharatanatyam you have to clarify, not me. Kindly clarify.

This Prastara was my topic for research which took 40 years of my life to dig it out fully and to write 3 books, Indian Genius in Talaprastara, Talaprastara of Nisshanka Sharngadeva’s Sangita Ratnakara-with a critical interpretation and Systematisation of Prastara details of Deshi Talas.

To tell the fact, this Prastara is the origin for all the rhythmical forms of the universe each one carrying an authentic-serial-number of its own just like the Mela-number of a Raga. Even though this topic has been furnished nearly in 15 treatises including Sangita Ratnakara all these treatises carry one kind of contradiction or the other and the full details of this topic have never been brought within the reach of the aspirant. That is why nobody has even the basic idea of this topic. At this juncture, when I was studying in the Maharajah’s Music College, Vizianagaram, I happened to go through it and, later, in quest of learning it, when I approached hundreds of musicians for the clarification of it nobody replied positively. At last only one person taught me the ‘ab’ of it and told me that he doesn’t know more than that. That is why it took 40 years of my like to get it out fully.

In the process of Prastara, while permuting ‘32-units’, in total, we get 2147483648 permutations or prastaras pertaining to Samyuktanga-prastara and we can choose some among them and use. Now, hereunder, along with the authentic-serial-number of the form you have furnished, I have also furnished few other similar forms along with their respective authentic-serial-numbers which can be used in our Svarakalpana. amsharma

[msakella]

Dear brother-member, mohan, Here I have consulted with some of the local Dance exponents in respect of the usage of other odd Gatis. They told me that they are regularly using all the odd Gatis also in their concerts. amsharma

[mohan]

Dear Akellagaru - Gatis are certainly used in bharatanatyam but using them too much in musical patterns will not enhance the overall aesthetic effect. The various gatis are usually introduced in the jati sections of the dance where the dancer dances to rhythmic syllables.

Thanks for the information on prastaras.

[msakella]

Dear brother-member, mohan, As already mentioned by me in my previous post at the end of the page 249 of your article you have expressed that different rhythmic subdivisions (gati-s) may not be suitable for Bharatanatyam. Had you wrote the presently modified version in your article I would not have raised this point at all. amsharma

[mohan]

Yes please refer to the whole paragraph. I specifically refer to svara patterns using different gatis.

[msakella]

Dear brother-member, mohan, The following is the contents of your article:

“The composer needs to use aesthetic sense to decide where to use a rhythmic musical pattern and where not. For example, highly complicated rhythmicsvara patterns created by introducing different rhythmic subdivisions (gati-s)may be used in compositions but these may not be suitable for bharatanātyam.”

Here, our Dancers are able to use different rhythmical subdivisions (gati-s) also in their dancing.

However, as a professional-violin-accompanist and a professional-music-teacher, I can very well understand that that may defer depending upon the rhythmical ability of the candidate. amsharma