Carnatic Basics 101: All About Swaras

Hello hellooo everyone!

Hope you are all doing well.

I thought I would start a Carnatic series here as many people seemed interested in learning the basics and I'm more than happy in teaching what I know!

This first installment is based all around swaras. So what are swaras? They are essentially the most fundamental component in Carnatic music, and are the 'notes' one sings. There are seven;

S for Shadjam- sang as Sa

R for Rishabam- sang as Ri G for Gandharam- sang as Ga

M for Madhyamam- sang as Ma

P for Panchamam- sang as Pa

D for Dhaivadham- sang as Da & N for Nishadham- sang as Ni

Therefore if you sing Sa, all the way up this scale, singing Sa again at the end, you have sung a whole octave. If you want to compare it to Western music, it's like starting on a C note, then progressing up; C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and then landing on a C note again.

If you're reading this and interested in trying, go ahead and click this link below for a 'tambura' or sruthi sound- this helps you stay in pitch.

https://www.karnatik.com/shrutibox.shtml

Now, you have to work out what pitch is right for you. It's trial and error.... but this is how it should sound.

I sing in pitch 5 1/2 or G# ( this is what I'm singing in in the recording) - if you're female, you'll most likely be around here! If you're male, start with C and play around. Make sure you feel comfortable in your range; that the low notes aren't too low and you're not squeaking or singing out of your nose in the high notes. Make sure your low Sa, your Pa, and high Sa blend in with the sruthi. Do this as many times as you can, these are the hallmarks you need to get down first.

Hope this is all clear so far. Ok, so we have seven notes right now. But each note has different variations (stay with me here!) Whilst in more advanced levels there are more variations, we'll stick to the simple variations for now. So going back to the original 7 notes...

Sa and Pa have no variations- this means that these notes always sound exactly the same. So as you heard in the first recording, this will never change.

Ri has 2 variations- Suddha Ri (R1) or Chathusruthi Ri (R2) - listen below for how they sound!

Ga has 2 variations- Sadharana Ga (G1) or Anthara Ga (G2)

Ma has 2 variations- Suddha Ma (M1) or Prathi Ma (M2)

Da has 2 variations- Suddha Da (D1) and Chathusruthi Da (D2)

Ni has 2 variations- Kaishiki Ni (N1) and Kakali Ni (N2)

So as you can hear, there are slight differences in the variations. It is these sets of notes that make up a ragam (we will delve into ragams in another installment) where in essence, you have an ascending scale- known as the arohanam, and a descending scale, known as the avarohanam. The arohanam and avarohanam don't have to use all seven notes each time; some use just five, some use six, some don't go chronologically up and down but instead in a zigzag 'vakra' motion ( hey, no one said Carnatic music was simple), and they all use different combinations of the variations. You can see how there are so many ragams, as the combinations of variations are endless.

Ok, so you've learnt the basics! Let's have a go at our first scale. The first ragam that students learn is Mayamalavagowla-(if you can say this 10 times without stopping or tripping up then you need an award in itself)- and this is its arohanam and avarohanam, S R1 G2 M1 P D1 N2 S

S N2 D1 P M1 G2 R1 S

If you want to have a go on a keyboard to see how it sounds, this is where the notes would place if you were singing in a C pitch.

If you are singing in a G# or 5 1/2 pitch like me, this is where the notes would place.

And now try sing it with me! Start slowly first, making sure you're getting each variation of the note right.

Once you've done that, we'll try a different ragam. Shankarabharanam is the western version of major scale (all the white notes on a keyboard) so for everyone that knows western theory, this should be a pretty simple one for you! The arohanam avarohanam are: S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

On a C scale:

On a G scale:

The Ri and Da are different in these two ragas so make sure you pay attention to this. If you think you've got the hang of these scales, try singing them slightly quicker and alternating between the two! But remember don't rush- make sure you're hitting the right variation of every note and taking your time with it,

Mayamalavagowla: Shankarabharanam:

If you've gotten this far, go you... you've just had your first Carnatic lesson & you've mastered your first two scales! If you found it difficult, don't get disheartened; the saying 'practice makes perfect' couldn't be any more fitting here. Carnatic music is very difficult, full of nuances, variations and complexities so once you have the basics down, who knows how good you'll be ;)

Feel free to DM me on insta @syndujayamusic with any questions, difficulties, or recordings of you singing the scales- I'd love to hear! And do share this around if you found it helpful, I'd love to bring the beauty of Carnatic music back into this generation.

Stay tuned for the next 101 basics installment, where will we delve into rhythm; or as we call it, thalam.

Syndu x