Carnatic Music

Learning Carnatic Music ||

The Advance Student...

After several Varnams and Kritis are learnt, it is time for the student to learn to improvise - remember the technical term for improvisation in Carnatic music is Manodharma. At this point, it is also apt to call the student a 'musician' !

In Carnatic music, improvisation is an 'add-on' to pre-existing music. In other words, you cannot distort a song like 'Roop Tera Mastana..', but you can ADD to it. There are several ways to improvise. Let us examine some of them such as (1) Alapanai (2) Neraval and (3) Kalpana Swaram.

Alapanai is essentially a free format humming. The purpose of the Alapanai is to bring out the total character of a ragam. Alapanai is sometimes simply called 'ragam' singing or 'raga Alapanai'. (It is unfortunate that we tend to use the same word to mean different things in music. If someone says ragam, it could mean a scale like Shankarabharanam or it could refer to Alapanai. You have to know the context)

The Alapanai is a preamble to a kriti. For example, if the musician is going to perform a song in the ragam Shankarabharanam, he or she would do an Alapanai just before the song. The musician would try to sing out as many characteristic phrases as possible to enunciate the features of Shankarabharanam. This is a place for him to show his creativity. He would use no texts or words; instead Carnatic musicians use nonsense phrases like 'Thadhari na' and so forth to hum out the tune. (Hindustani musicians use simple 'Aaaaaa') The Alapanai is not set to any talam either. So there are no constraints on how long the musical phrases are. The Alapanai can be micro-mini, lasting just a couple of minutes and equally well, it can last nearly a half hour.

Just how exactly does one go about doing the humming and bring out the essentials of a ragam ? There is no clear answer to this question. However there is a method to Alapanai singing, even though there is no prescribed algorithm to perform it. The artiste usually starts out in the lower part of the scale of the ragam, constructing short melodies in that subset of the octave. Then as the Alapanai proceeds, he would meander into the higher notes (this meandering is technically called 'Sanchaaram') - even here he might use just a subset of the scale - and eventually reach even the higher octave. Then he would make up tough melodies, essentially in the very high end of the scale and then would come down in scale slowly and make more complex melodies in the lower part of the scale and would grind slowly to a halt. By the way, this need not be the case in every Alapanai.

Listen to an Alapanai and see if you can identify when the musician is making melodies in the lower part of the scale, when he moves to the higher notes, when he makes complex melodies and finally when he asymptotically comes to a stop. My view is that an Alapanai should be sung before EACH song. It is always nice to elaborate the ragam to be performed. Also, in a concert situation, an Alapanai lets a musician transition from one song to the next smoothly. Imagine an intense musician performing Shankarabharanam. He cannot abruptly move on to the next song set in perhaps Desh. Here a little Alapanai in Desh could smooth him into the new ragam.

Even though the Alapanai is an improvisation, very few musicians would walk to the stage cold and start thinking about the Alapanai. The odds are they would have practiced at least some part of the Alapanai leisurely at home or would have rendered them in some other previous occassion. In fact, if you followed a musician from concert to concert, and if he performed an Alapanai in Shankarabharanam in both the concerts, you will see that he actually repeats a lot of phrases. A musician is not graded on how impromptu and extempore his rendition is, but more on what beautiful melodic phrases he comes up with in the Alapanai segment and if some of them are truly 'out of the world' phrases.

Neraval is just a technical term given for improvised variation of a line in a song. Typically any one line of the song is chosen and its melody is varied intentionally over and over. Remember, this is exactly the definition for the term Sangati, except that the Sangatis are parts of the original song, introduced by the composer - and they also tend to occur only in the first couple of lines of the song, namely in the Pallavi and Anu Pallavi sections. In 'neraval' you typically choose a line from somewhere in the middle and park out there. For example, you can do a Neraval in the song 'Roop Tera Mastana..' by choosing a line somewhere in the middle - such as 'Ankhon se ankhen' - and endlessly vary the melody to bring out the features of the ragam. Remember also that since neravals are variations of a line in the song, one must strictly adhere to the talam structure and the improvised melodies should last appropriate time intervals.

The third avenue for creativity is what is called Kalpana Swaram - or 'creative Solfege note sequence formation'. Here the musician makes up Swaram sequences (fitted to the talam, of course) in the ragam. Sometimes the sequences can be simply mathematical (like Sa ri ga, ri ga ma, ga ma pa...) and some other times very interesting complex patterns.

These 'Swaram passages' are made up typically near the end of a kriti. The musician usually launches into "Swaram singing" from a particular point in the song, usually at the Pallavi, after the entire song is sung. At the end of each Swaram passage, he would come back to the Pallavi. The 'landing' back to Pallavi should be smooth. For example, if the Swaram sequence ended in the note Ni and the Pallavi started in Ga, there is a perceptible discontinuity and such things are not allowed. The Swaram sequence should more appropriately end in a Ri or a Ma to be able to smoothly go into the Ga of the Pallavi. Also, at the end of each Swaram passage, it is not necessary to repeat the entire Pallavi line. Sometimes just a word or two of the Pallavi is sung.

Of course, it is not necessary choose the Pallavi as the place to 'home in'. Other lines, especially in the middle of the stanza are often chosen as the launching points for Kalpana Swaram blitz. Even though the Kalpana Swaram sounds very constraining (in terms of sticking to the talam or finishing the Swaram sequence at the appropriate 'note') several performers earn a name for themselves in building up incredibly creative Swaram sequences. There are enough freedoms - for example, the Swarams can be in single speed or in double speed or higher, adding an element of tempo-building to the performance. Sometimes, the musician might make up a 'structure' for the Kalpana Swaram. He might start off with a long Swaram passage and as he progresses in the Kalpana Swaram, he might shorten his sequences to smaller and smaller phrases - and might eventually end up in just single notes - at which point, he would conclude his Swaram singing by launching into a long, final, climactic Swaram passage lasting several talam cycles. Somewhat like a cadence. Usually, after the Kalpana Swaram, the song is concluded.

So, to summarize, let us see the structure of a Carnatic song ('kriti'), in light of all the Manodharma or improvisation components.

Alapanai (optional and creative component)

The Concert Musician...

If you have ever been to a Carnatic concert, you would have noticed that the ensemble sitting on the stage is usually only a few people strong. If the main performer is a vocalist (let us assume this, for the time being !) he is usually accompanied by a violinist and a Mridangam player. If he is lucky, there is also a Ghatam player tapping on a clay pot for accompaniment. There is, of course, a person strumming the Tanpura or the Sruti box and if the musician is a senior artiste, some of his disciples too sit on the stage and sing along - sometimes camouflaging the flaws of the Guru and reaching higher notes their Gurus cannot reach.

It is always a dream of every student to become a performing musician and to be top notch. But before being let loose on concert stages, they still have one final plateau of excellence to reach - the ability to perform what is called a 'ragam, Tanam, Pallavi' or RTP or simply 'Pallavi'. (Note again, how we use the same word Pallavi to mean two different things) ragam, Tanam, Pallavi is a total elaboration of a specific ragam and is one hundred percent improvisation and creativity. It is the perfect place for a musician to show off his skill and mastery in enunciating a ragam. The ragam, Tanam, Pallavi is in fact the centerpiece of a Carnatic music concert.

First of, the musician chooses a 'strong' ragam to perform his RTP. Oftentimes he picks a Melakarta ragam, where the scope to make creative melodies is enormous (because they have all the allowed seven notes in the scale - remember they are all Sampoorna or 'complete' ragams) He would also often choose a complex talam to set his musical phrases in. Let us say he chooses Shankarabharanam and set to a talam with a eleven beat cycle (!). In real concerts, usually the artiste does not reveal the ragam of his RTP before hand. The audience and often, the accompanying musicians find out the ragam just when the musician begins to play the RTP.

The first part of the RTP is simply the Alapanai of the ragam (the word 'ragam', is also a synonym for Alapanai, remember ?) After the Alapanai, the singer usually takes a break (and sips 'hot water' or milk kept on the sidelines) when the violinist takes over and tries to play the same musical phrases the singer just sang. This calls for a tremendous memory and ear for musical phrases. Of course, no one keeps tabs on how accurately the violinist follows the musician. The closer the violinists and the musicians are, the better. (This probably explains why specific violinist play for specific musicians because they 'know' each other well)

The second part of the RTP is called Tanam - don't confuse it with talam. Here the ragam is elaborated even more. But now, the improvisation is in a faster tempo and set to a rhythm. Syllables such as 'Tum', 'Tanam' etc are used in this section (as opposed to syllables typically used in Alapanai). The violinist usually follows the musician after every passage. (unlike in the Alapanai part where he waited till the musician got done with the whole Alapanai) If instrumentalists are performing the RTP, in Tanam segment, they would play the sympathetic strings for added effect.

After the Tanam, the singer then starts on Pallavi, which in the context of RTP is just one line of text - often made up by the musician himself. He could very well have chosen 'Baa baa black sheep' as the Pallavi if he can massage the line to fit the talam. Here, the Mridangam and Ghatam join in. The musician would embark on a series of 'Neravals' stretching the one line of Pallavi into several melodic phrases. The violinist of course follows the musician one step behind. Interestingly, at this point, the Mridangam would play when the musician sings and the Ghatam player would play for the violinist. The musician would cap it all off finally with a spate of Kalpana Swarams, by which time all the dimensions of the ragam would have been (hopefully !) brought out.

Then the singer would break into an impromptu raga Malika - singing Kalpana Swaram sequences in a bunch of ragams, one after another. He chooses the ragams in the raga Malika to be widely apart, instead of being only subtely different. (Often 'light' ragams or Hindustani type ragams are chosen). If Shankarabharanam is the ragam for the RTP, then derivatives of Shankarabharanam are usually not chosen in the raga Malika section). At the end of the Kalpana Swaram passage of each ragam, he would sing the old Pallavi in that particular ragam. The grand finale is when he breaks into a long series of Swarams (typically in the reverse order of the raga Malika ragams) and finally landing on the initial ragam he had set out to play - (Shankarabharanam).

At this point, the singer typically lets the percussionists (Ghatam and Mridangam player) perform solo. This is called Tani Avartam or Tani Avartanam or Tani. This is also the time when the audience too takes a break and typically indulges in disruptive behaviour like chatting, rushing home or even dozing off. The percussionists grab this opportunity to perform the intricate aspects of the talam.

A good ragam, Tanam, Pallavi can last upwards of an hour and it is a vehicle for showcasing a singer.

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