Madhyamasruti

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Of late, musicians tune the sruti box to madhyama sruti mode for ragas like Sriranjani, Vasanta, Abhogi, Varamu etc. which are NOT madhyamasruti scales. My first experience with this style was when Veena Chitti babu used M for Hindolam (samajavaragamana) and Sriranjani (sogasuga).

While using the traditional tambura instrument, Vidwans normally instruct the 'strummer' to skip the first string (P) so that only the Shadja will be heard for P varjya ragas. The P string peg (beradai in Tamil) was manually adjusted to 'M' only for madhyamasruthi based scales like Chenchurutti , Nadanamakriya or Punnagavarali during the Tukkada session. (as children, we in fact waited for this educative session and tuning of 'adamant' instruments often elicited interesting reactions from the vidwans!).

For ragas like Sriranjani, Abhogi, Hindolam etc.which are NOT madhyamasruti ragas, the scales appear to be rather 'hijacked' when 'M' is employed. (the ‘M shift’ is so easy nowadays with e-boxes). On being discussed, many artists have told me that keeping M sruti for P varjya ragas gives them a different 'feel'. It could be a personal preference but has become very common.

A senior vidwan once told me that yesteryear vidwans didn’t ‘touch’ the tambura once it was tuned ‘PSSS’ pitch-perfect. Skipping P or tuning to M for madhyamasruti rags could only be a later development as Prakrti swaras shall not be disturbed! Some old recordings bear testimony to this, he said.

In the Hindustani system, I have ‘seen’ tamburas tuned to Kaakali Nishada (in place of P) even for ragas not containing that note! For Hamsaanandi ( I don’t remember the H equivalent raga name) I came across a singer using G. in place of P.

No M for P varjya ragas and M only for madhyamasruti ragas - that's my preference!

[vasanthakokilam]

Hmm.. I did not know that there is a connection between Madyamasruthi and P varjya ragas.

I thought Madyamasruthi is nothing but shifting one's natural Sa by four kattai ( to the M position ). And you can get away with doing it and not suffer any consequences at the higher registers because those ragas like Nadanamakriya etc do not traverse to the upper registers.

The aesthetics behind that practice is, I assume, that at higher kattais they sound a bit brighter?
It definitely provides a different feel.

If they do this with Pa varjya ragas, how will the musician ( especially vocalist ) manage the tara sthayi sancharas?

[arunk]

vk - for these cases, shruthi is not shifted - it still matches sa of the tampura. The turning off-pa, and turning on-ma is mainly to emphasize the ma (and of course take out pa which isnt there in the raga).

Arun

[arunk]

of course that wouldnt make sense, if it is a prati-madhyama raga .

[vasanthakokilam]

Ah..Got it. Thanks Arun.

I guess that is OK ( though they can not avoid the Swayambu Pa )

[Rsachi]

Guys
I have this app with various settings and combinations..
It sounds really good.
The full app has a Swara Mandal with several HM ragas, and also two Tanpuras in tandem, and some more neat touches.
If you like I can record the Tanpura sound with different settings and share it here:

[VK RAMAN]

rsachi: please share with different settings.

[arunk]

long time user of iTanpura - indeed an awesome app.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Hmm.. I did not know that there is a connection between Madyamasruthi and P varjya ragas.

I thought Madyamasruthi is nothing but shifting one's natural Sa by four kattai ( to the M position ). And you can get away with doing it and not suffer any consequences at the higher registers because those ragas like Nadanamakriya etc do not traverse to the upper registers.

The aesthetics behind that practice is, I assume, that at higher kattais they sound a bit brighter?
It definitely provides a different feel.

If they do this with Pa varjya ragas, how will the musician ( especially vocalist ) manage the tara sthayi sancharas?

You are absolutely right, kokilam. My objection is against using madhyama sruthi for panchama varjya ragas like vasanta, hindolam etc which are to be sung in the normal pitch (without shifting the base to M). As you have observed, If the singer shifts the base to M for kritis based on such ragas, he may not be able to manage the taara staayi sancharas.

[Rsachi]

Shifting the tambura string to Ma from Pa (1) and shifting your SA to Ma and effectively shifting the scale for the song entirely (2) are TWO separate actions, although seen together. For melodic effect, especially rakti ragas like Behag and Jinjhuti, this scale shift (2)may be done for musical effect. To support it, the tambura Pa is changed to Ma (1).

[Rsachi]

Click the pic to access samples of C3 and F3 ITanpura sound clips with Pa, Ma and Ni tuning of the first string. Hope this is useful.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thaks for the demo, sachi!
When you sing the Vasantha raga kriti Seethamma maayamma, C3 PA may not suit because there is no Panchama swara in the raga scale.

Hence for ragas like Vasantha, Hindolam, Aabhogi etc. which are PA varjya ragas, I suggest to use only C3 (call it C3_?) though it may be argued that these ragas have MA (suddhamadhyama swara) in the scale.

C3 MA shall be used only for madhyamasruti ragas like Nadanamakriya or kurinji or punnagavaraali.

arunk, a 'sabhash' for your reference to pratimadhyama raga! Would someone dare to tune the first note of sruti to M2 when singing Ranjani or Hamsanadam?!

[Rsachi]

Yes, simply leaving out Pa and not replacing it with Ma is an option for those ragas.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Yes, simply leaving out Pa and not replacing it with Ma is an option for those ragas.

That's it, sachi!

I usually request music teachers to teach the basics of sruti to students first by 'showing' the relative position of the notes in an octave using a veena or a harmonium/key board and then explaining the choice of notes in Tambura and how tambura is strummed.

Switching on the electronic sruti box and starting with 'Sa Pa Sa' at the beginning of a class is just mechanical, not to say of the 'once upon a time' sruti adjustment exercises with the traditional tambura vadyam!

[vasanthakokilam]

Good work Sachi. Quite illustrative.

A side bar question.

The 5th sample, F3 Ma sounds like what I hear when musicians do 'something' to the tampura or sruthi box for ragas like Nadanamakriya. Is this the case, or they set it at C3 Ma like the second sample? ( or what they do with tampura is different from what they do with sruthi box given the latter's flexibility? )

[arunk]

Sivaramakrishnan,

IMO, there is nothing wrong in using madhyama sruthi (i.e. pa off, ma on) for ragas like hindolama, vasantha and lalitha (i.e. with M1) and still sing in a shruthi that matches the Sa of the tampura (i.e. don't shift shruthi to ma of tampura like one does for say nAdanamakriya). Thus this becomes a somewhat similar setting to using ni in the HM world.

Setting the tampura/shruthi-box to madhyama sruthi does not mandate that you shift your sa to the ma of the tampura - No hard and fast rule I think.

Arun

[Rsachi]

VKM,
The first three samples have C3 as Sa. The second three have F3 as Sa. Otherwise all effects are same.
As I said, and ArunK said differently, the tuning of the tambura and shifting the tonic are two separate actions.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Sivaramakrishnan,

IMO, there is nothing wrong in using madhyama sruthi (i.e. pa off, ma on) for ragas like hindolama, vasantha and lalitha (i.e. with M1) and still sing in a shruthi that matches the Sa of the tampura (i.e. don't shift shruthi to ma of tampura like one does for say nAdanamakriya). Thus this becomes a somewhat similar setting to using ni in the HM world.

Setting the tampura/shruthi-box to madhyama sruthi does not mandate that you shift your sa to the ma of the tampura - No hard and fast rule I think.

Arun

Of course there is 'nothing wrong' in doing so (P off, M1 on for ragas like hindolama, vasantha and lalitha), but needn't be encouraged (see my first post).
Just mute the P for such ragas.

[uday_shankar]

I am in agreement with Sivaramakrishnan. Said as much in the following review :

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 753522.ece

IMO, the aadhara shruti in CM need not be treated like a guitar or piano chord accompaniment. Even panchama shruti (even in ragas that have panchama) may be of questionable value in some cases. Shadja alone reigns supreme in CM.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks Uday for the input.

[vainika]

I tune to S-S-S' while playing a panchama varjya rAga. But it's all in the mind. One can, if susceptible to distraction, internalise S-M-S' as a frameshift, and find one's thoughts straying to valaji when one is contemplating AbhOgi, or have s'uddha dhanyasi momentarily tempt us away from hindOlam...

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I tune to S-S-S' while playing a panchama varjya rAga. But it's all in the mind. One can, if susceptible to distraction, internalise S-M-S' as a frameshift, and find one's thoughts straying to valaji when one is contemplating AbhOgi, or have s'uddha dhanyasi momentarily tempt us away from hindOlam...

That's nice.
Thanks for pointing out the inherent risks in having 'M' while handling certain ragas.