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swarakalpana & alapaana

any body has any idea , how to built up an swarakalpana and alapaan of new raagas by themself.

Re: swarakalpana & alapaana


Hi Lavanya..

i am saritha here.

By this time u must have got many mails to clear ur Q. But as I saw just today I wanted to tell u what I know and trying to put in clear words..

Ur Q was how to build Swarakalpana and alaapana......

To attain fluency , a Beginner must put vigorous exercises ( i mean practice) in saraleesswaras and also Janta Swaras in varying speeds and then gradually move on to make as many combinations in different rythmic combinations .In this context it can be said as Chitta Swaras in Various Varnams.

Like combinations means....suppose for example u take a word "Combination" so from this u can make combination of of words of the same word as " Comb",'nation','nib', etc as many as possible..



Then One more is Alankaras..

The following is a main set of exercise in Alakaras of 7 talams....

Alankaras: Dhruva Talam,Matya talam,Jhampa talam, Triputa talam,Ata talam, Eka talam and Rupaka Talam..

So select anyone raga which well known to u.

And then first important point to be noted is that raga's Arohana and Avarohana must be well practiced with the sthanas of each swaras that forms that raga..

Raga which in simple words combination of swaras with particular order ascending(which is called Arohana ) and descending(Which is called Avarohana) that has some melody in it.

Like for example..

Take simple and which has all sapta swaras .,.the raaga Mayamaalavagowla ( Maayatheetha swaroopini..........)

Arohana : S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N3

Avarohana :S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R1



A beginner or any student has to vigourously practice this and then exercise the Alankarams in this Raga..

Lke take the simplest talam Eka..

S R1 G3 M1

R1 G3 M1 P

G3 M1 P D1

M1 P D1 N3

and so on....Like that all the Talams in Alankara set....

This can be done in varying 3 speeds initially. slow ,medium and fast.

The Comon Swara Notation :

R1 shudhDha rishabham

D1

shudhDha dhaivatham

R2 chathushruthi rishabham D2 chathushruthi dhaivatham

R3 sathshruthi rishabham D3 sathshruthi dhaivatham

G1 shudhDha gAndhAram N1 shudhDha nishAdham

G2 sAdhArana gAndhAram N2 kaishiki nishAdham

G3 anthara gAndhAram N3 kAkaLi nishAdham

M1 shudhDha madhyamam M2 prathi madhyamam



A-means aa pronounciation..

In that way taking a Krithi, u can build up swarakalpana making use of those alankaras in the Raga that Krithi has been composed.





It is said that this Swarakalpana for kritis is an essential feature in concert music.



How and where does this swarakalpana or exercise start ? Here the Selection of a suitable phrase in the lyric (kithi)becomes essential or important because this phrase udergoes recurssion that is goes on repeating over and over again and such repetition must be sensible (I mean in carrying a meaning),must have some meaning .



The next important is the commencing point for swarakalpana called "The Beginning" that is The commencing note or swara of the Keerthana where the saahithya(Lyric) and the beat(a beatmeans tala first and then krithi starts) start and it's overall relationship with the main tala,and the composition it is set to.



Thirdly it is the corresponding Swaram at this place in the lyric.



For example, the lyric in the kriti VathApi (ragam Hamsadhwani)commences or i can say starts with the beat of the tala and the commencing note or swara is gAndhAram(G3).



Swarakalpana at this reference point should generally end with the preceding swara- in the present case, it is Rishabham(R2) , all the time keeping up the time measure and then coming the back to the recursion phrase...



But the recitation of these Swaras in even numbers (talam of even beats) and finally ending up with a pleasing combination of measured counts, would be a thrill. Most Musicians do often work out and intensely rehearse such groups of end-swaras (swaras indocating the end of Swarakalpana) to be repeated thrice, adding to the charm of the krithi and the concert.



Usually we see such in Our Movies where 2 musicians compete and then at last they start singing same swaras .



But these swaras that end the swarakalpana(end combination of swaras) are quite often mindboggling(emotionally overwhelming) and also prove inspiration or novelty..



But anyway each can have very different swarakalpana coz it depends on the sole practice and combination of swaras in the raga u make to add the charm ..





Alaapana....



In simple words i can say that RagaAlaapana is "spreading out of raaga".This makes use of some sangathis,anuswaras(gamakas)





This raga is created or developed to form short Sangathis (phrases) and combination of these Sangathis to form longer Sangathis and finally to present a pharagraph. When we form Sangathis of a particular raga, say Hindolam which has



Arohana: S G2 M1 D1 N2



Avarohana:S N2 D1 M1 G2







, we do not mix it up with another raga say Chandra



Arohanam: S G2 M1 D1 N3



Avarohana: S N3 D1 M1 G2



however close it is. Let's take a concrete example.



For instance in say Sa Ma Ma Ga Sa Sa Ni Da , and another, ga Ma Da Ni Sa Ni da and yet another, Ni Ga Sa Ni Da Ni Da Ma these Sangathis or phrases in different octaves, starting from the lowest to the highest in a cogent way form a paragraph or an essay of alaapana.



In continuing these swaras there is yet another crucial concept, as it were, which contributes the essence of melody in the phrase of the alaapana; this is called anusawara or the hybrid note. The main function of this anuswara is to bridge one note with the other, either in the ascending or the descending order; one takes over from the other as in a relay race, as for exampleD^P or G^R in the Mohana raga. It is a smooth swing from one to the other without any break. This is called a gamaka



Thus these Sangathis and gamakas together can be said to form Alaapana of that Particular raaga and also practice of the Akara.



Akara is the sound made with open mouth without any lyrics or syllables like SA or so.....



just aaaaaaa will be going on..



Thus is the one that can be noticed during the declination of a raaga that is nothing but Alaapana..



So I think Lavanya I have taken Lot of ur time by now and I donno whether I have been clear in expaining what u wanted actually ......



But still if any comments plz mail me back to meetsaritha@yahoo.com





Saritha








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Replying to:

any body has any idea , how to built up an swarakalpana and alapaan of new raagas by themself.

Re: swarakalpana & alapaana


If u have phone, let me know ur phone number.

I can ask u doubts.


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Replying to:

any body has any idea , how to built up an swarakalpana and alapaan of new raagas by themself.