Reading and writing carnatic notation

mnsriram · Post by **mnsriram** » 17 May 2006, 20:39

Does one need to learn CM in order to read notation? This question might sound stupid but I would appreciate an answer. I listen to music and can reproduce (sing) what I listen to without understanding the underlying swaras. While this is satisfying personally, I do not know if I am grasping correctly at all times. Also, learning this would allow me to learn more krithis and I don't have to keep revising them with the fear of forgetting the various sangatis

What sort of practice or training is required to get on grips with reading and writing notation? If formal learning of CM is the only answer, so be it but I just thought I might as well ask this question.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 18 May 2006, 05:34

Sriram, I think if you have a basic knowledge of music you should be able to read Carnatic music notation. Let me take you through an example.

Consider a song in the common Adi talam (1-kalai). Adi talam has 8 beats and when it is in 1-kalai each beat is divided into 4 units. Hence one cycle or avartanam of the talam will have 32 units. Like this:

Raga: mayamalavagowla
SRGM RGMP GMPD MDPN | SNDP NDPM | PMGR MGRS ||

The talam goes,
Beat, 1st finger, 2nd finger, 3rd finger | beat, wave | beat, wave ||

The | indicates the start of a dhrutam (beat-wave) and || indicates the end of the cycle. You need to know which swaras to use based on knowledge of the ragam (in this case mayamalavagowla).

If a note is elongated it is written like this:

S,,R GMPD

Which indicates the note is held for 3 units while the other notes are only 1 unit.

To indicate notes which are sung in higher or lower octaves, we place a dot under the swara. This is difficult to show with limited formatting options.

It is important to note that there are two main ways that notation is written. Th above is one method another method is to use upper and lower case letters. The lower case letters will have value of one unit while the upper case letters have a value of two units. To have longer note durations we add swaras for example the above line we would write:
S,rgmpd

There have been attempts at noting the gamakas in Carnatic music but these are not universally used or understood.

Look at the Hamsanadham thread at

http://freepgs.com/carnatic/viewtopic.php?t=225

where I have posted some notation in a PDF file that you can try to follow.

mnsriram · Post by **mnsriram** » 18 May 2006, 13:12

Thanks mohan

param · Post by **param** » 18 May 2006, 13:59

Sriram, I think if you have a basic knowledge of music you should be able to read Carnatic music notation. Let me take you through an example.

Consider a song in the common Adi talam (1-kalai). Adi talam has 8 beats and when it is in 1-kalai each beat is divided into 4 units. Hence one cycle or avartanam of the talam will have 32 beats. Like this:

Mohan,

Sorry to make a small correction - this would be 32 units and not 32 beats

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 18 May 2006, 20:02

mohan

Congratulations! You are doing great. If you continue along these lines you will simplify the understanding of CM by newcomers. While Param is undertaking to explain the complexities of Laya in simple terms you should explain other aspects using simple examples. Incidentally we await your promised shrutibhEdam example.

here is one area that will be enlightening. If you can choose one raga at a time and play the essential sancaaram on the keyboard and post the notes as well, on hearing we can develop a 'sensitivity' for the notes and phrases along with a basic understanding of the raga itself. The keyboard will be ideal for this exercise in comparison with violin or flute since the notes can be crisp and clear. You can also demonstrate the essence of gamaka using 'pitchbend' that is possible on the keyboard.

Thank you in advance on behalf of the rasikas!

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 18 May 2006, 20:18

mohan
incidentally that hamsanadam, apparently you designed for a dance interlude is so delightful. Please share more of such compositions with the melody of sangeetha for our listening plesure! Thanks!

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 19 May 2006, 05:02

Param - yes it is units not beats (typo) - I will edit the post.

Sriram- hope you could follow the explanation and can understand it now.

CML - thanks for the encourging words. Banturiti in Hamsanadham was the very first composition I learnt (even before I learnt sarali varasai etc) - so I have a special liking for the raga.

The demonstration on greha-bedam by Sri Kalyanaraman is very clear and much better than I could do but I will attempt to do a simple one on keyboard using Mohanam as the base. May take a few weeks to set the time aside to do this.

Regarding providing sketches of ragas - I feel I am not sufficiently qualified to do so. A vocal lec dem by someone like DRS might be better.

mnsriram · Post by **mnsriram** » 19 May 2006, 18:59

Thanks Mohan. I understand the basics of reading notation (i.e., the concept) and tAlam. I completely follow your explanation. Given this, I think I need to understand the swarasthanAs in order to understand the arOhanam and avarOhanam. Is that correct? If yes, is there a method to identify the 12 swarasthanAs disctinctly?

Sadjamam
Suddha Rishabam
Chathusruthi Rishabam
Shatsruthi Rishabam
Suddha Gandharam
Sadharana Gandharam
Anthara Gandharam
Suddha Madhyamam
Prati Madhyamam
Panchamam
Suddha Dhaivatham
Chathusruthi Dhaivatham
Shatsruthi Dhaivatham
Suddha Nishadam
Kaisiki Nishadam
Kakali Nishadam

I don't think I am able to explain this properly but I would like to be able to sign arOhanam and avarOhanam and thereby interpret a krithi. Currently, I cannot try the hamsanAdam notation you suggested until I listen to the rendition first. That is my problem.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 20 May 2006, 05:10

Yes you have listed the swarasthana-s correctly. These can be referred to as

S
R1
R2, G1
R3, G2
G3
M1
M2
P
D1
D2, N1
D3, N2
N3

(sometimes they are referred to as Ra, Ri, Ru and Ga, Gi, Gu for R1,2,3 and G1,2, 3)

The pairs which are listed together because they are actaully the same note. Refer to the Carnatic Music Primer by Dr Parthasarathy Sriram at http://www.cmana.org/cmana/articles/karpri2.pdf. On page 5 of the document (not of the PDF file), there is a diagram of a keyboard. There are only 12 notes in a keyboard octave but we have 16 swarasthana-s. Hence there are pairs of swarasthanas that are the same.

Now, we have 72 melakartas (primary raga-s) in Carnatic music. Each of these ragas have all seven swara-s in ascent and descent. There are 72 combinations of the 16 swarasthanas listed above. They are represented in a table as shown at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melakarta

For example, mela no. 60 Neetimati is S R2 G2 M2 P D3 N3 S'
Hamsanadham is derived from Neetimati so it's arohanam is S R2 M2 P N3 S'.

Another example would be the raga Mohanam which is SRGPDS. It is a janya raga of (derived from) Melakartha 28, Harikambhoji. From the chart, Harikambhoji has the notes: S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N2 S' so Mohanam goes S R2 G3 P D2 S'.

An instrument like a keyboard is very useful for giving you the basic scale of the raga. Once you know the raga, its arohana and avarohana, and the Melakartha it is derived from, you can get the scale of the raga.

Another useful melakarta chart is at http://www.carnaticcorner.com/articles/mukund_chart.htm

msakella · Post by **msakella** » 01 Oct 2006, 19:27

Chi. Sriram dear, In respect of writing notation you have properly been advised by some of our friends through these columns. For getting good knoledge of music or reasonable control over it writing notation of a musical composition is a must. To master it, take a properly notated composition written by your teacher and go through it understanding the mathematical intricacies of it and, keeping it aside and without looking into it, try to write as many times as you can until you become able to write it even without a single mistake. Every time tally it with the notation given by your Teacher, observe the mistakes you have committed and try to avoid them next time. Thus, at last, you will become able to re-write it even without a single mistake. Wishing you all the best. amsharma.

mnsriram · Post by **mnsriram** » 02 Oct 2006, 14:46

Sri msakella, thanks for your advice. I will try this.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 13 Dec 2007, 16:16

I came across this article that may be of interest to rasikas:
http://www.iias.nl/oideion/journal/issu ... dex-a.html

seldnplan · Post by **seldnplan** » 04 Jan 2008, 06:02

mohan--thanks for the article. the last section, in particular, is very interesting for its detailed analysis of gamakas, with some very illuminating examples. it's also strange to realize that i've been conditioned to hear a niSAdam where there is only the ghost of one, or a gA where there is none at all.

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 06 Jan 2008, 15:28

Hallo Mohanji
your efforts are commendable keep it up
Ramaraj