Dear Members
i havejust joined this form
I have been learning to play the veena from a very young age and have had the good fortune of learning from some very good teachers while in India. However i guess I as with most of us I was not into it at that time.. Now after marriage, family etc I find it has become a passion . However as I live abroad now i find it diificult to find someone to guide me. I am somehow not able to crack the way one can get a grasp of playing kalpana swaras.
Is there any kind of basic excerices that can be followed so as to help us to get the kalapramanam etc. correctly, and also to get a good flow. I have a talameter that helps me greatly in my practice.. which I find helps us better than a metronome.
I would be grateful if someone can give me some inputs on this.
Regards
Meena
Learning Manodharma Sangita
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mohan
- Posts: 2807
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 16:52
Best way is to get a local teacher or find an internet one. There are some discussions at http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=777
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manvantara
- Posts: 64
- Joined: 04 Apr 2008, 01:10
Kalpana swarams are very interesting.....and need a lot of practice!
My teacher, Smt.Savithri Satyamurti, had a few guidelines and here are a few....
First, when you start off, don't worry about finishing correctly - this can be a barrier - so focus on finding patterns.
Second, if you are very concerned about finishing properly, then have a few phrases of swaras ready-made, so to say, so that when you have one or half or quarter tala, you can simply pick up one of those ready-made pieces and finish the swara phrase!
Third, sing a lot of varisais in the ragam you are choosing, so that your swara-sthana is right.
Fourth, initially choose sampoorna ragams, ie, ragams that have all the swaras. Also, ragams that are comfortable for you. For instance, Shankarabharanam might be a good choice.
Fifth, stick with a talam that you are comfortable with - adi talam is a good start.
Sixth, listen, listen, listen to a lot of swara singing by great artistes.
Seventh, practice, practice, practice.
I found that for every hour of class I attended, I had to keep on trying the swarams for several hours at home - in fact, it became an obsession one summer (when I was a student - those glorious summer holidays!). There were about 6 of us in the group, two being Indians from the US, who were spending time exclusively on music and dance. I remember one particular week when we sang aarabi kritis for 4 days in a row and each time tried swarams. I was fascinated and kept on trying and my teacher actually said "Good" for one swaram that I sang! I consider that compliment a big thing, since teachers of that generation rarely compliment their students (or at least students like me!).
I have lost touch now - it is like running I suppose - you need some time to train and need to be patient.
My teacher, Smt.Savithri Satyamurti, had a few guidelines and here are a few....
First, when you start off, don't worry about finishing correctly - this can be a barrier - so focus on finding patterns.
Second, if you are very concerned about finishing properly, then have a few phrases of swaras ready-made, so to say, so that when you have one or half or quarter tala, you can simply pick up one of those ready-made pieces and finish the swara phrase!
Third, sing a lot of varisais in the ragam you are choosing, so that your swara-sthana is right.
Fourth, initially choose sampoorna ragams, ie, ragams that have all the swaras. Also, ragams that are comfortable for you. For instance, Shankarabharanam might be a good choice.
Fifth, stick with a talam that you are comfortable with - adi talam is a good start.
Sixth, listen, listen, listen to a lot of swara singing by great artistes.
Seventh, practice, practice, practice.
I found that for every hour of class I attended, I had to keep on trying the swarams for several hours at home - in fact, it became an obsession one summer (when I was a student - those glorious summer holidays!). There were about 6 of us in the group, two being Indians from the US, who were spending time exclusively on music and dance. I remember one particular week when we sang aarabi kritis for 4 days in a row and each time tried swarams. I was fascinated and kept on trying and my teacher actually said "Good" for one swaram that I sang! I consider that compliment a big thing, since teachers of that generation rarely compliment their students (or at least students like me!).
I have lost touch now - it is like running I suppose - you need some time to train and need to be patient.
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Dear sister-member, meenasugi, Even though the aspirants are not at all ready to agree with me I firmly tell that age acts an indispensable role in learning music being the art of invisible sound which has to be learnt and practiced like Vedas from very early ages. The duration and regularity of practice also plays a very important role in getting acquaintance with this art. If you do not think that I am discouraging you by bringing out these bitter truths you must make a note of these points. However, you can down-load the contents of my CD from http://www.sangeethamshare.org/chandra/ and try your level best which paves way either for Svarakalpana or Ragalapana of Manodharma-sangita. amsharma.
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meenasugi
- Posts: 9
- Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 14:01
Dear Mr. Sharmaji,
Pranams. I did go through the cd contents and have infact downloaded quite a few of the jati alankara pieces. I did try some of the excercises. I just want to let you know that at my level I am not intending to learn at a professional level.. Only my aim is to attain the ability to play a fair bit of alapana and swarams! Whenever i listen to mucisians on stage as others before me had said I find it extremely amazing how they sing kalpana swaras.. this has always inspired me to learn little bit of this art at least.
I also went through the thread that you had posted regarding muktayis.. However except the initial part the rest of it i could not grasp very well.. I would have thought if you had written the swarams out intesd of punctuation parks maybe people like me can follow better.
I shall reply with more clarity once i go through it a few more time.
Thank you very much for sharing this wealth of knowledge with all of us.
Respects
Meena
Pranams. I did go through the cd contents and have infact downloaded quite a few of the jati alankara pieces. I did try some of the excercises. I just want to let you know that at my level I am not intending to learn at a professional level.. Only my aim is to attain the ability to play a fair bit of alapana and swarams! Whenever i listen to mucisians on stage as others before me had said I find it extremely amazing how they sing kalpana swaras.. this has always inspired me to learn little bit of this art at least.
I also went through the thread that you had posted regarding muktayis.. However except the initial part the rest of it i could not grasp very well.. I would have thought if you had written the swarams out intesd of punctuation parks maybe people like me can follow better.
I shall reply with more clarity once i go through it a few more time.
Thank you very much for sharing this wealth of knowledge with all of us.
Respects
Meena
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wordpecker007
- Posts: 46
- Joined: 16 Mar 2008, 18:33
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msakella
- Posts: 2127
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16
Dear sister-member, meenasugi, You may not want to learn the driving of a car at a professional level, but to arrive at your destination in one piece you must learn and practice it up to some extent, at the least. There is no scale at all to pin point that ‘extent’ which differs from person to person basing upon each individual’s physical and mental abilities varying by the different age groups. I have referred hundreds of professional musicians to find easy ways to these aspects of Svarakalpana and Ragalapana but in vain. Later, I have made experiments on these aspects upon hundreds of our students and, lastly, arrived at a conclusion. By that, unlike any other musician, I was able to make this teaching/learning of music time-bound and result oriented.
Attaining the ability to play a fair bit of Svarakalpana or Ragalapana is not at all a ‘little bit of art’ though amazing to others. None of the musicians knows that practicing these easy muktayis paves way to make Svarakalpana and later to Ragalapana easier. Umpteen of my students proved this beyond doubt. Still, the traditional musicians, being adamant to believe this, hesitate to think beyond their traditional ways but teach the aspirant what they know but not the aspirant needs. Unless the aspirant gets the minimum acquaintance with both the Chaturashra and Trisra-gatis cannot go through these muktayis and become able to sing Svarakalpana. If you want to have Svaras to these muktayis you can refer my book ‘Sangita Svararaga Sudha (English/Telugu)’ supplied along with 4 mp3 CDs which could be obtained from my disciple, M.V.N.Prasad in US by contacting to his e-mail mvnprasad@yahoo.com. amsharma.
Attaining the ability to play a fair bit of Svarakalpana or Ragalapana is not at all a ‘little bit of art’ though amazing to others. None of the musicians knows that practicing these easy muktayis paves way to make Svarakalpana and later to Ragalapana easier. Umpteen of my students proved this beyond doubt. Still, the traditional musicians, being adamant to believe this, hesitate to think beyond their traditional ways but teach the aspirant what they know but not the aspirant needs. Unless the aspirant gets the minimum acquaintance with both the Chaturashra and Trisra-gatis cannot go through these muktayis and become able to sing Svarakalpana. If you want to have Svaras to these muktayis you can refer my book ‘Sangita Svararaga Sudha (English/Telugu)’ supplied along with 4 mp3 CDs which could be obtained from my disciple, M.V.N.Prasad in US by contacting to his e-mail mvnprasad@yahoo.com. amsharma.