From the Editor’s Desk
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For this month’s editorial, I thought I would list some technical terms and their definitions- that we, as students of Karnataka Sangeetham use on a regular basis;-some - used by musicians when they put forth an idea amongst peers, some used in sangeeta granthas and those that are essential to reading any of the Sangeeta granthas like Sangitaratnaakara, Brihaddeshi, Sangita Makaranda etc.
Aadiyappayya Pacchimiriyam- He is the celebrated composer of the famous Bhairavi varnam Viriboni, which stands as an acid test for any student/musician. He is said to have systematized the rendition of alaapana, madhyamakaala and Pallavi. He was a court musician of Tanjore. Prominent among his disciples were Syama Sastri, Pallavi Gopalayyar and Ghanam Krishna Iyer. Vina Seshanna belonged to Adiyappayya’s family.
Aadi- the first tala a student learns and the most common one, known as Chatusra Jati Triputa tala in the Sulaadi Sapta talas. It’s one of the classical 108 talas taking laghu alone. Interestingly it’s also the name of the first Mela in the scheme of 4624 Sampurna Melas explained in the work Melaadhikaaralakshana.
Abhyaasa Gaana - Music intended for practice as opposed to Sabha gaana which is music intended for performance. This includes all swara exercises, tala exercises that build shruti and laya jnana, vocal and instrumental techniques and musical forms like Gitas, Jatiswaras, Varnas. The early training in these helps a student to sing concert pieces in an accurate and embellished manner.
Aadhaara Shadja - The tonic key note or Shruti.
Aahata- music made by the conscious efforts of Man as opposed to anaahata music audible only to the Yogis. Aahata music is classified into Gita, Vaadya and Nritta. Aahata is also the name of one of the panchadasha gamakas (15 gamakas)
Akshara- literally a letter, used in the sense of unit time in music. One syllable. Also name of a rare tala used by Ramaswamy Dikshitar in his 108 ragatala malika
Aksharakaala - Time taken to say an akshara, for instance a beat in adi tala is one aksharakala.
Aalapa/Aalapana- a creative exposition of a raga. It is unmeasured music. This is the most distinguished feature of Indian Music. It has 3 sections- Aakshiptika, Raga vardhani, sthaayi and Makarini
Alpatva- one of the trayodasha (13) lakshanas (characteristics) of a raga- the term denotes a swara that is sparingly used in a raga. For eg. D2 in Sri raga.
Amsha swara- the note that brings out the melodic identity of the raga, also called Jiva swara. This is one of the Trayodasha lakshanas of a raga.
I just realized that there are so many of such terms!!
I intend to continue this in the next few series of the newsletter🙂
Sandhya Anand
Director of Samskrtasangitam School of Music