Ragas without shadjam?

[vasanthakokilam]

I more or less can learn the swara pattern from 'good' kalpana swaras. But I am totally lost in aalaapana since the notes therein are not explicit. Just as the notes are not explicit in akaaras.

A few things I realized about my own deficiencies in this swara identification business.

First and foremost, the solfa syllables Sa, Ri, Ga etc. are the biggest hurdles. For me, it is hard to perceive the sound behind the swara name.
I am used to those syllables so much, they are standing in the way.

Second one is a very significant thing. This is a recent self-revelation.
Though I can synchronize my voice to the Sa of the sruthi box, I just do not register the sa of the surthi box in my mind. Don't laugh, this came as a surprise to me as well!!
But realization is half the battle and it is a mini break through for me.

Here is how I found the "bug" in my system.

If I sing 'R' and then sing 'S' you get the feeling of resolution, right? I get that too. But if I sing 'R' and then stop and let the sruthi box Sa provide the resolution,
I was not getting that feeling of resolution. That is when I realized I am not "really listening and registering" the Sa in the sruthi sound. ( It is a bit better if I sing G or P with out singing Sa on the ascent, there is that good feeling and I can tell if I am singing them correctly or not. M is a bit difficult to tell and R is even harder. Compared to that if I sing S M or S R I can tell if it is correct or not.... this is all for me personally. Again this all points to that fundamental issue of not registering the S of the sruthi box clearly and in a non-fuzzy manner )

My own theory is, it is about timbre. When I sing R S, they are on the same timbre and that seems to be fine in terms of getting that feeling of resolution. But if I sing R in my voice which is in one timbre and the S of the sruthi box in another timbre, my brain was not registering the resolution at the same fidelity. And it is even lower fidelity registration if the 'R' is not produced by me but by some other source. That made me realize that this is one of the root causes of my swara identification problem.

Now I am on a relentless pursuit to get myself trained so the Sa of the sruthi box gives me that feeling of resolution.

The reason this is important for me is, without this, any swara identification skills do not scale properly to all kattais.

You all probably think it is such a kindergarten level thing. It is, but I am glad I am trying to graduate to first grade.

[srikant1987]

VK,

Indeed, the shadja is harder to sing, as the shruti is playing ... we have much, much higher standards of accuracy needed for the shadja, since it is directly sounded from the shruti box ... but actually ma (shuddha ma) is too allied closely to the shadja, just like ga and pa. Also our voice shakes because of the nervousness which comes when we're faced with such needs for accuracy.