Mridangam Appreciation in Carnatic Music
V. R. Venkataraman
This article is inspired by the question "How does one appreciate a
mridangam thani avartanam"? What is it that one looks for when an artist
like Palghat R. Raghu, Karaikudi R. Mani or Umayalapuram K. Sivaraman is
accompanying or performing a mridangam solo. Before I even start
explaining the finer aspects of South Indian percussion drumming I want
to make a disclaimer. I am not an authority on South Indian music but
have adequate knowledge of the mridangam to explain the above question.
The views expressed in this article are solely mine and do not reflect
the impressions of any one artist. I shall continue posting to this group
if their is positive response and feedback from readers.
The underlying theme for any music be it Indian or Western is melody and
rythm. As the saying goes "Sruthi Mata, Laya Pita" attaining perfection
in both these aspects inspires wonderful music. In Carnatic music their
are five basic talams namely
1. Adi Talam (8 beat cycle)
2. Rupakam Talam (6 beat cycle)
3. Misra Chapu Talam (7 beat cycle)
4. Khanda Chapu Talam (5 beat cycle)
5. Sankeerna Chapu Talam (9 beat cycle)
Most thani avartanam's are in Adi talam. For the music rasika this talam
is easy to grasp, for the artist the boundaries for improvisation are
plenty. This in no way means that an avartanam in other talams are never
performed. For a seasoned artist it is little concern which talam the
thani is in. For the mridangam student it is always an eye opener when
the thani is in a different talam. Adi talam also called Chatusra Jathi
Triputa Talam consists of 8 beats. The counting of the talam is as
follows. A clap followed by the counting of the small, ring and the middle
finger, followed by a clap, a wave, another clap, & another wave. Each
beat is subdivided into four pulses giving us 32 pulses in one cycle. If
we notate, it will look as follows.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
clap small ring middle clap wave clap wave
The first clap is called samam (base beat), the 2nd clap is called Arai
samam indicating that 1/2 the cycle is completed. The 3rd clap is called
Mukhal samam indicating that 3/4 of the cycle is completed and then we are
back to base. Further each beat is subdivided into four pulses. A pulse is
normally notated by a comma. Each four pulses in mridangam solukattu is
said as Tha Ka Dhi Mi (T K D M)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
,,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,,, ,,,,
T K D M T K D M . . . T K D M ....... T K D M
In a thani avartanam the following things have to be observed. Firstly
the avartanam is split up into soukya kalam (slow/normal speed in which
the main artist started the kirtanam), Madhyama Kalam (In between speed)
and mail kalam (fast speed, double the normal speed). Other interesting
things to be noted are Farans (finger movements that are brisk and
short) Mohara (special pattern that preceeds the teermanam and an
indicator that the thani is about to end) and finally the teermanam (a
specific pattern that is played three times signifying the end of the
thani) at which time the main artist picks up where he had left the
kirtanam. The above terms Faran, Mohara, Teermanam are technical terms
used by mridangists alike. All of the above form the basic body of the
thani avartanam (Absolutely essential). Depending on the artist, his
mood, the audience etc there may be one or more kannakku
(mathematical permutation following some very strict guidelines) in the
soukya kalam stage. These traditionally are signatures of specific
artist. For the connoisseur rasika this forms the basis of saying who the
accompanist is. If you are listening to a CD or a recorded tape just by
hearing a few strokes one can recognize the artist. This is definitely
true in the case of Palghat Mani Iyer, Palghat Raghu, Sivaraman,
Karaikudi Mani, Vellore Ramabhadran, TK Murthy etc.
The transition from soukya kalam to mail kalam is madhyama kalam. The
entry into madhyama kalam symbolizes that the first half of the thani is
almost over. In the madhyama kalam the artist demonstrates his dexterity
and control over the instrument by transitioning from Chatusram to
Thisram (4 pulses to a beat to 3 pulses to a beat), from Thisram to
Khandam (3 pulses to a beat to 5 pulses to a beat), from Khandam to
Misram (5 pulses to a beat to 7 pulses to a beat), from Misram to
Sankeernam (7 pulses to a beat to 9 pulses to a beat) and back to
Chatusram. One thing to be noted though is that their is no hard and fast
rule governing this transition. Once back to Chatusram he moves on to
play various Farans and is now building up the speed for the grand
finale. Once in the Faran stage one would not go back to madhyamam or
soukya kalam. The artist is now in the mail kalam and plays anywhere from
6 to 10 different farans depending on his strength stamina etc. From here
he moves on to play the Mohara, which is an indicator to the main artist
to get ready. After the Mohara comes the teermanam played three times
identically at the end of which the main artist picks up the kirtanam in
the speed he had started and wraps up the song.
This traditionally would be how a thani avartanam is played. With this
knowledge I request all you rasikas to go back and listen to
various thani avartanams and see how much more you enjoy this part of
drumming.
Hope this helps. Any feed back would be appreciated. If any of you
netters out there have specific questions or would like me to discuss
specific topics pertaining to Carnatic music that you would like answered
please feel free to send me email.
Hari Om.......
V. Chandramouli
[........ Rest deleted]
The underlying theme for any music be it Indian or Western is melody and
rythm. As the saying goes "Sruthi Mata, Laya Pita" attaining perfection
in both these aspects inspires wonderful music. In Carnatic music their
are five basic talams namely
1. Adi Talam (8 beat cycle)
2. Rupakam Talam (6 beat cycle)
3. Misra Chapu Talam (7 beat cycle)
4. Khanda Chapu Talam (5 beat cycle)
5. Sankeerna Chapu Talam (9 beat cycle)
[... Rest deleted]
--------------------------------
Thanks for a very interesting post. But I am a little confused now. Hope somebody
clarifies it. My understanding is as follows:
I though there were the 7 basic talams: Eka, Rupaka, Triputa, Ata, Jhampa, Dhruva
and Matya. Each can have 5 types depending on the laghu (3,4,5,7,9).
Adi talam is nothing but a chtusra jati Triputa taalam..
In addition, we have the Chapu talas.
So how does Mr. Venkataraman's scheme fit into this ?
Thanks much,
--Chandramouli
Santhanam
V. Chandramouli <vcha...@dip.eecs.umich.edu> wrote:
>---------------------------
>I though there were the 7 basic talams: Eka, Rupaka, Triputa, Ata,
>Jhampa, Dhruva
>and Matya. Each can have 5 types depending on the laghu (3,4,5,7,9).
>Adi talam is nothing but a chtusra jati Triputa taalam..
>
>In addition, we have the Chapu talas.
Yeah, this is correct. also you can have 5 talas for each different
laghu type, based on gathi (counts per laghu -- 3, 4, 5, 7, 9). Thus
you get 7*5*5=175 talas plus the chapus.
Gopal
Hima Sagar- The Humming Bird
> Mridangam Appreciation in a Carnatic Music Concert
>
>rythm. As the saying goes "Sruthi Mata, Laya Pita" attaining perfection
>in both these aspects inspires wonderful music. In Carnatic music their
>are five basic talams namely
>
>1. Adi Talam (8 beat cycle)
>2. Rupakam Talam (6 beat cycle)
>3. Misra Chapu Talam (7 beat cycle)
>4. Khanda Chapu Talam (5 beat cycle)
>5. Sankeerna Chapu Talam (9 beat cycle)
>
Am afraid not. There are 5 basic Jaati's and 7 basic talams. All the
talams in use can be derived from these.
The basic Jati's are :
1) Chaturasra (4 beats)
2) Tisra (3 beats)
3) Misra (7 beats)
4) Khanda (5 beats)
5) Sankeerna (9 beats)
Note that the Jaati's are characterized by the number of beats
attributed to each. The original poster's interpretation is related,
but is not an entirely accurate definition.
Using the notation L for Laghu, D for Drutam and A for Anudrutam, (Angas)
The basic talams are:
1) Dhruva L D L L
2) Mathya L D L
3) Rupaka D L
4) Triputa L D D
5) Jhampa L A D
6) Ata L L D D
7) Eka L
Note that the basic talams are characterized by their Anga structure
such as L D D.
Chaapu talams are 'derived' talams, with no explicit show of Angas.
They consist totally of "Ghata" (Clap) marked time measures. This way,
a khanda chapu is a measure of 5 beats, usually shown with two claps
organized as
| |
1 2 3 4 5
where | is a clap (ghata). The same way, misra chapu is
| |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ofcourse, this is the puritan outlook. I have seen Misra chapu counted as
| | |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
By definition, a chapu talam must contain only two ghata (claps).
>and control over the instrument by transitioning from Chatusram to
>Thisram (4 pulses to a beat to 3 pulses to a beat), from Thisram to
>Khandam (3 pulses to a beat to 5 pulses to a beat), from Khandam to
>Misram (5 pulses to a beat to 7 pulses to a beat), from Misram to
>Sankeernam (7 pulses to a beat to 9 pulses to a beat) and back to
>Chatusram. One thing to be noted though is that their is no hard and fast
Hmm. here we get into the 'Gati' funda. Lemme see if I can give a
different interpretation.
Basically, it is a scale up or scale down of the speed of counting by
the drum while the talam is continued at the same(original speed).
Mathematically, consider the initial (chaturasra) gati :
1 2 3 4 , 1 2 3 4, ....
--T---
T is the time period for counting 1 2 3 4. and t is the time for each
beat. Therefore t = T/4.
Now the mridangam artiste, scles up the time division as
t' = T/3. That is, now T is divided as:
1 2 3
--T--
This is called Trisra gati.
Similar scaling is performed for other Gatis. The gati's have the same
names as the jaati's talked about earlier. Beginners often get
confused with the terms gati and jaati. But it is important to realize
the difference for proper appreciation of a Tani, and Laya in general.
>This traditionally would be how a thani avartanam is played. With this
>knowledge I request all you rasikas to go back and listen to
>various thani avartanams and see how much more you enjoy this part of
>drumming.
Yup, and well said. I also recommend Shri C.S. Muruga Bhoopati's
tani's if one can acquire them.
>Hari Om.......
Musically
Vidyasagar.
--
Vidya 'Hima' Sagar -- The Humming Bird
vsva...@acs.ucalgary.ca (or) van...@enel.ucalgary.ca
WWW URL: http://www-ems.enel.ucalgary.ca/vidya.html
Shivakumar Padmanaban
Hi
I normally have fun just reading the articles in this newsgroup. However,
with the discussion on Mridangam - an area in which I have had some
experience - I thought I will attempt to clarify some of the matters that have
come up recently. There may be some errors, in which case I hope some
knowledgeable person would correct them.
In the carnatic style of percussion, there are 7 basic thalas and 5 basic
jathis. Each thalam is made up of laghus - denoted by the symbol 1 and
dhruthams - denoted by the symbol 0. Also, a rare case that occurs only in
Jampa thalam is called anu dhrutham - denoted by the bottom-half of 0.
A dhrutham always has 2 beats, a anu dhrutham has 1 beat. The laghu is the variable - it has different beats depending on the jathi.
Shifting to the jathis now, the 5 jathis are :
(1) Chatusram - the laghu in this case has 4 beats
(2) Thisram - the laghu has 3 beats
(3) Misram - the laghu has 7 beats
(4) Kandam - the laghu has 5 beats
(5) Sankeernam - the laghu has 9 beats
Keeping the laghu, dhrutham convention in mind, the thalas are classified
as follows :
THALAM SYMBOL (laghu = 1, dhrutham = 0)
(1) Dhruva 1 0 1 1
(2) Matya 1 0 1
(3) Rupaka 0 1
(4) Jampa 1 [half 0] 0
(5) Triputa 1 0 0
(6) Ata 1 1 0 0
(7) Eka 1
Depending on the number of beats each laghu has, each of these thalas can
be in one of the 5 jathis.
Example :
For dhruva thalam, the following combinations are possible :
(1) Chatusra Jathi Dhruva Thalam (1 0 1 1) = (4 + 2 + 4 + 4) = 14 beats
(2) Thisra Jathi Dhruva Thalam (1 0 1 1) = (3 + 2 + 3 + 3) = 11 beats
(3) Misra Jathi Dhruva Thalam (1 0 1 1) = (7 + 2 + 7 + 7) = 23 beats
(4) Kanda Jathi Dhruva Thalam (1 0 1 1) = (5 + 2 + 5 + 5) = 17 beats
(5) Sankeerna Jathi Dhruva Thalam (1 0 1 1) = (9 + 2 + 9 + 9) = 29 beats
Similarly for the other thalas. So 35 combinations are possible as a whole.
This scheme is called the 7-tala chakra.
I will get into chapu thalas, nadai, kala, etc. in another article.
P. Shivakumar
gdec...@spes.org
I am a non-Indian, new student of Carnatic (Karnatic?) music. I am an adult music teacher in Oakland, CA. and have been using a digital app as well as a electronic talam box to help me keep time. My question: Does the mridanga(m) play for the talam Triputa Tisra Jati? On both my phone app and my electronic mridanga machine only the manjira plays for that specific talam. Could be a flaw or limitation of both devices/apps but I was wondering if this was a rule in Karnatic music. "Triputa Tisra Jati has no mridangam..." Is that a rule? Please help.
Namastar,
Guy