neraval singing

[SURYAPRABHA]

I understand that manodharma can't be taught. But, how are students guided in general for neraval singing?. Is there any particular grammar that we adhere to while singing neraval?. How is the tala structure? For example in the bhairavi krithi srimathi lalithe , when you do neraval in kanna talli shubha vadane, should the finger in which you used for kanna or talli or shubha or vadane be the same in all the neraval sangatis and the original sangatis? If so, how do we then stretch a word?

[narayan]

A little bit of aesthetic variation is allowed, but with conscious return to the original line. Perhaps the specific spacing of the original line should be sung often enough to convince you and the listener that you can do it when you need to! Listening to different neravals by people would certainly help in forming an opinion as to what works and what doesn't.

[mankuthimma]

http://www.mediafire.com/?o5iie47u4s7bcb1

Does this answer some of your questions ? If Yes I can come back with more of this gentle Giant.

[vidya raja]

Surya Prabha,
Thanks to mankuthimma for the link. I am yet to listen to it. meanwhile I am just sharing some information below, which I learnt from my Gurus.

There is a bit of leniency when it comes to niraval singing in Kritis as compared to niraval singing in pallavis where the grammar is more rigid and one has to adhere to the place of the pallavis original setting .
The eduppu and the place of the syllables in the original setting of the kriti can be changed a bit , to accomodate the bhava and creativity of the singer. However the niraval has to end with an appropriate makutam to land on the eduppu to indicate your niraval for the avarta(s) is over.

The hrsva and Deerga notes in the words are taken as guidelines for the niraval. The patterning for the rendering of niraval, will depend on the space in the talam and number of syllables in the words. The syllables are usually given a pattern of 3 , 4, 5 , 6, 7. The splitting of a syllable can be as in the following example.

If the word " Sodari" takes a space of 10 in a kriti, the word Sodari can have the following patterns to make a total of 10

So(3) + da(3) + ri(4)
So(2) + da(4) + ri(4)
So(6) + da(2) + ri(2)
So(5) + dari(5)
so(7) + da(2) + ri(1)
This can further be split to faster brigas such as ( 3= 1.5+1.5) or 3 can be made to 6 depending on the capactity of the vocalist's voice or skill of the instrumentalist.
This also depends on the artist how this patterning can be put on a platter along with the other words in the niraval piece, thus not compromising raga bhava and also landing on the tala .

Niraval is usually taken singing around particular notes in sequence usually done in vilamba kala and this part is used tobring out the raga bhava . Madhyamakala niraval is then followed by Dhruta kala niraval where the laya nuances are shown. Each of these are ended well on the original eduppu of the kriti's niraval part chosen.

It is important that a niraval piece chosen should be such that it gives complete meaning. One should take particular interest to understand from a person who knows the language for this. Most often a niraval piece is sung , because it has been sung for many years by leading artists, yet without complete meaning.

[SURYAPRABHA]

A big thanks to Mankuthimma and Vidya Raja for their replies. I was travelling and was just checking the posts. I will listen to the link sent by mankuthimma soon and I understand vidya raja's explanation very well.Will try to do for couple of krithis and see how successful I was! Is dhruta kala nerval essential for a presentation or can I sing few madhyama kala neraval passages and proceed to swarams?

[vgovindan]

It is important that a niraval piece chosen should be such that it gives complete meaning. One should take particular interest to understand from a person who knows the language for this. Most often a niraval piece is sung , because it has been sung for many years by leading artists, yet without complete meaning.

I have given many such examples of rendering tyAgarAja kRtis. One more example is dIshitar's kRti 'AnandAmRtAkarshiNi'. Famous artists split this as 'AnandAmRta' and 'karshiNi' - it should be 'AnandAmRta AkarshiNi'. There are more such instances of dIkshitar's kRtis where 'avidyA' is broken as 'vidyA' and 'ajnAna' is broken as 'jnAna' and vice-versa.

Hmmmm

[vidya raja]

SuryaPrabha,
The trend is to start with vilamba kala to elaborate and bring out raga bhava, madhyamakala followed by dhruta kala. It may be alright to do only madhyamakala and proceed to swara for practise sessions or just to start , but it is better if a couple of avartas of each are shown .

[nirvanaa.]

Interesting replies everyone.

To be honest, neraval singing and viruttam singing comes through practice, listening and experience. Neraval singing requires intense imbibition of the raga bhavam , i simple words it is the raga alapana embedded in a pallavi. However, I do not find anything technical in this aspect.

Here is an elaborate neraval sung by MSS sung in Harikambhoji for "Saketa Nagara Natha" at Rajithamara pala Ramachandra bhoopala . I could say that it is best neraval which has ever been sung.

http://www.youtube.com/user/paramparaa1 ... azC37HQzvM

Note that the line picked for neraval singing greatly matters. The objective is not just to satisfy its laya requirements but to exhibit the beauty of the ragam.

Thanks.

[msakella]

Manodharma-sangita:
In our music every other musician tells that Manodharma-sangita could not be taught or learnt. Just like a tailor who teaches his student only how to stitch a pant or shirt but does not teach him how to take the measurements of a person to stitch his pant or shirt, all our stalwarts in music have always been used to spill out a number of compositions to make their students learn them in the process of getting Manodharma-sangita but do not teach them at all how to learn a composition basing upon the notation and respective audio file. Had all these stalwarts sincerely and honestly tried to find ways in training their students in learning the compositions in this manner much of their energies and money would have been saved reasonably since many years.

Splitting the syllable into minor units while singing niraval as furnished by our sister-member, Vidyaraja:
You have furnished only five varieties of 10, 1. 3+3+4, 2. 2+4+4, 3. 6+2+2, 4. 5+5 & 5. 7+2+1.
It would have been more helpful had you furnished some more varieties of it.

You have also mentioned that syllables of 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 are used in the patterns of niraval. Yes, that is true. But, unless a person is well acquainted with all these different and intricate rhythmical units of gaps along with well knitted sangatis of the Raga he/she may not be able to get through the niraval efficiently. amsharma

[vidya raja]

Namaskarams and thank you Akella Sir,

In your book sangitha swara raga sudha you have give the notation for raga alapana practise , have you also got some lessons for this niraval patterns? It will be of help to many beginners Sir. One sample in each talam will be of great help to get an idea.

[msakella]

Dear sister-member, vidya raja, To tell the fact, having spent four decades of my life digging out the unsolved topic Talaprastara of our music I am mostly inclined towards Talaprastara. In the process of Talaprastara (permutation) of ’10-units’, in total, we get 512 varieties as per Samyuktanga-akhanda-prastara. But, when you have brought out only 5 of them in your post, I thought that you may be aware of others also and asked you to furnish some more of them to be helpful to the aspirants. But, in turn, you have asked me to furnish. As this thread is meant for furnishing the details of neraval, it is not apt to bring out all the details of 512 varieties of the ’10-units’ here. However I shall furnish here the serial numbers of the varieties you have furnished in brackets – 1. 3 3 4 (37), 2. 2 4 4 (35), 3. 6 2 2 (161), 4. 5 5 (17) & 5. 7 2 1 (321).

As per your post I understand that you have a copy of book ‘Sangita Svararaga Sudha’. Even though I have furnished many details of Svarakalpana and Ragalapana any person who properly, ably and efficiently utilizes the material of this book can, very easily, quickly and certainly become the master in Manodharma Sangita. In fact, that is the criteria in writing this book.

In the branches of Manodharma Sangita, while the Ragalapana consists of many kinds of rhythms in its Sangatis Tanam has fixed rhythm each time and the rhythm has even been metered in the remaining Pallavi, Niraval and Svarakalpana. All this indicates, except for Ragalapana, no person can manage with any one of the others efficiently unless he/she gets proper control over rhythm. In my view, Svarakalpana must be taught with every care to the kids which paves a concrete-way to the Manodharma. Unfortunately, many of our music teachers mostly bother about Ragalapana and Sarva-laghu-svarakapana but not in initiating their aspirants render different rhythmical intricacies from the basic lessons (for this purpose only I have furnished a list of 28-special-laya-exercises in my thread, AMS Easy Methods-2007-CD-Teaching/Learning Karnataka Music). That is why I have furnished umpteen varieties of rhythmical forms (muktayis) in all the popular six talas, Rupaka, Trisra-rupaka, Chapu, Adi (medium), Adi (chaukam) and Adi (Trisra-gati). In fact, there is an interleaved plan in furnishing all these details which ultimately makes the aspirant a master of Manodharma. It has even been proved beyond any doubt that any person who ever works hard with all the details of this book with utmost perseverance can certainly become the master of Manodharma.

However, in particular, in this art, as no two persons could be taught in the same manner and the methods of teaching differ from person to person to make them efficient in the topic an efficient teacher (not singer at all) is needed to ably guide the aspirant. So, if you need any guidance in this respect, you are welcome to contact my ID, msakella2002, on Skype and speak to me as I have to find a way to guide you depending upon your abilities. amsharma