Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Subject: Re: Kalpana Svaras
From: sriram@wsuhub.uc.twsu.edu
Date: 13 Dec 92 17:06:55 CST
Organization: Wichita State University, Wichita, Ks

In an article, tmohan@iastate.edu (Thyagarajan Mohan) wrote:
(in reply to kumar@ee.rochester.edu (K.N. Kumar))
(generally good explanation deleted)

>>different Kaala's. As the Kaala is increased in singing is the length of
>>each "sequence" (Aavarta?) kept the same with respect to time(Taala?).
>>What is the funda of Eduppu and Kalpana Svaras.

Well, here is one that mohan did not expand too much on. The taalam is
"supposed" to be kept at the same pace (generally; there are exceptions 
in advanced pallavi singing; will expand on this if needed)
but in practice, it is very difficult. This is one of the issues
that I have ranted and raved about in the past. Our current traditions of
music teaching imbibe a good sense of pitch (sruthi) but the treatment 
of timing (layam) is not quite on par. If students are encouraged to use
a device like a metronome, they can build a steady timing and not speed
up the taaLam when it comes to singing swaras at a fast pace (one of my
heros, the great semmangudi, is a major culprit when it comes to this; he
has a common tendency to accelerate the taaLam towards the end)

> in a note which should give the`swaraa' of the song.For e.g.in the song
> `saamaja vara ghamana',if an artist sings k.s at `samaja vara ghmana' which
> starts at the note `sa',the sequence should end in a note to start `sa'.So

(nit-picking on)
the usual starting sangathi of "samaja" begins at `ma' but swaras are
more conveniently sung with the sangathi that begins in the upper sa
and proceeds downward. thus, a common sequence is sa-ga-ma-dha-ni-(sa)samaja
(nit-picking off)
there is an important issue which has not been brought up - momentum. the
choice of where to sing swaras is dictated to a good extent by momentum. in
the above example of samaja vara gamana, the sangathi beginning in ma does
not offer much room to build up momentum before hitting the ma. by using the
sangathi that proceeds downward from the upper sa, all of the middle octave
is opended up for improvisation and you have the classic long phrase
sa-ga..-ni-samaja. this comes up again in the eduppu. it is more common to
use eduppus where the song starts after the taalam since this allows the
musician to build up a nice chain of swaras and good momentum before 
returning to the first word of the song (not my original description;
loosely adapted from b. wade's book).

i will also expand minorly on the use of arohanam and avarohanam in
picking swaras for kalpana. the arohanam and avarohanam represent
only a formula or skeletal form of the ragam. just as the series 
exp(x)=1+x+x^2/2!+... is a formula that represents the exponential
function, so must we think of the arohanam and avarohanam as simple rules
that allow us to compute the "function" in an easy manner. the function
itself has its own behavior, some of which is not brought out in the
series expansion. likewise, each ragam has its own "functional
description" and the arohanam and avarohanam form a simple scalar
representation of it. of more importance in kalpanaswaram singing (or 
swaraprastharam as it is sometimes called) are the sancharis of the
raga. my best attempt at translating sanchari is usage or characteristic
phrase. these are the swara phrases wherein the ragam comes out in its
full form.

i will close with an anecdote i read about; the musician (famous one,
but i forget who) had just rendered patnam subra. iyer's composition
in begada. the pallavi of this song starts "abhimaana.." while the charanam
begins "annavastra...". the organizer was somewhat disappointed that
the musician did not sing kalpana swaras, so he requested him to do
so. replied our bhagavathar, "should i sing for abhimanam (love) or
for annavastram (loosely, wealth)!" i will admit, something is lost in
the translation from tamil (abhimaanathukku paadava, annavastrathukku
paadava).

thanks for your attention.

sriram

ps: for old timers; yes, this is the same p.sriram who used to post from
georgia tech. my moving to wichita cut me off from net access and i have
managed to get back on only now - so, watch out. my motto remains,

carnatic music; what else is there in life?

Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical