Grammar of Carnatic Music - kG Vijayakrishnan

[vgovindan]

An interesting book on CM - I have read only excerpts.

https://books.google.com/books?id=PeFAK ... ic&f=false

[VK RAMAN]

Grammar for CM is......what?

[keerthi]

K.G. Vijayakrishnan is a professor of Linguistics from the English and Foreign Language

University, Hyderabad. He is a very very talented vainika, who learnt from his mother, a student of Rangaramanuja Iyengar. He has played for more than one of our informal rasika meets. I particularly remember the one that Ramki [Vainika] hosted. The nAdanAmakriya padam [nIkEla bhramasi] and srIvENugOpAla [kurinji] are fresh in my memory. Some of KGV's music is available on youtube. All the delicacy and finesse and pAThAntara-gauravam of the dhanammal style of vINA-vAdana is patently evident in his voco-vINA presentations.

In this book Prof KGV uses a theory from phonology called optimality theory to model the rAga-s of carnatic music, and why certain patterns are appealing, or more prevalent; and why certain passages, even if theoretically possible, are eschewed.

The explanation is based on conflicting criteria that restrict each others possibilities. For instance, consider KGV's discussion of sahAna, while given an putative scale of srgmpmd/ns never begins phrases with a srgm. It either has a n,sr,, takeoff or a r,r,r,,, type phrase; which we associate with a idiomatic presentation of SahAna.

Using many more illustrations from sections of notations of well known songs, and alapa phrases, KGV tries to abstract out the constraint principles for rAga sancaras and their grammar.

[Lakshman]

There is another book by C.Subramania Iyer, who was a violinist (brother of Vidya Shankar, Vina artist, publisher of Shyama Shastri kritis in notation), titled The Grammar of South Indian Music.
Here is the ad on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-South-Ind ... B00M4HBXJE