Musings on Music
a handy music diary for writing notation by S.Rajam
Text by S.Rajam, Text assisted by "Garland" Rajagopalan, Illustration by S.Rajam
Some
Prominent Terms in Musical Parlance
RAGAM
:Free improvisation of pure melody(alapana) based on swaras
without rhythm in successive melodic phases, quite within the stipulated
framework of the raga with its arohana & avarohana, i.e., ascending
& descending scales. Each raga has all the seven or six or five notes
in varying combinations - called sampoorna, audava-shadava, etc & enjoys
a distinct 'raga swarupa'. Carnatic music enjoys the most systematised
raga-melodic structures. Hence called "Ranjayatee iti ragah".
TANA
:Without percussive help, rhythic pulses brought out delineating
the various phases & tempos, the fineness and beauty of a raga to display
& portray its panoramic potential. Veena is the ideal instrument for
tana since all its seven strings blend to give a harmonius nada(sound)
in the crescendo.
SWARA
KALPANA :Improvised swara permutations as are appropriate
to each raga. Solfa syllables alone are used to elaborate & pleasing
combinations depend on the expertise of the artiste. Raga alapana has no
rhythm but swara kalpana is subjected to the strict discipline of rhythm(tala)
TALA
:Rhythm. Time-cycle containign one or more sub-time measures.
There are 128 talas. Each is a rhythmic arrangement of beats, etc., in
cycles.
PALLAVI
:The first section of a kriti or kirtan, which has normally
a pallavi, anupallavi & charanam. A few have 'samashti charanams' where
there is no distict anupallavi.
Pallavi also represents
the distinct manodharmic sangita using a short phrase or idiom & giving
full scope to exposition of raga-tala intricacies, swara kalpana, etc.
This type of special rendition demands a high level of expertise
RAGAMALIKA
:A garland of ragas with or without lyrics.
PADA,
JAVALI :Modern padams depict musical forms best suited
to bring out the infinite captivating graces. Javalis slightly differ from
padas in its erotic content.
TILLANA
:A composition with jatis, brisk in tempo interspersed with
swaras, katos and lyrics. Often in middle & fast tempos. Best suited
to dances to whip up tempo after the sublime, padas.
ALAPANA
:Extempore, innovative, creative improvisation of raga.
ABHYASAGHANAM
:Practising music
AROHANA
:Ascending order of notes - sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, da, ni either
in full, or with omissions or in jumbled series according to the prescribed
notes of each raga.
AVAROHANAM
:Same as in arohana but in descending order. If arohana
takes the rendition uphill, avarohana brings it back downhill. Taken together,
raga swaroopa or shape is evolved.
BANI
:Style of rendition.
BHAVA
:Emotion, feeling, the soul of lyric or raga.
CHITTASWARA
:Solfa syllables (swaras) pre-set by composer as distinct
from swara prastara, which is improvised. Chittaswara is ornamentation
to bring out the innate beauty of raga in the context of the flow of the
song.
MANGALAM
:Traditional end of concert or chorus - a propitious finale.
NIRAVAL
:Niraval is phrasing, developing and expounding the lyric
bringing out the subtelities & beauties, and variations of the raga.
VADI
:Most important note of a raga.
VAKRA
:Jumbled notes in arohana or avarohana.
VARJA
:Notes omitted in arohana or avarohana which conduces individual
raga swarupah.
LAKSHANA
GITAM :Song which illustrates or portrays the basic
features of a raga.
VARNAM
:Composition with limited words & maximum of notes to
bring out raga lakshana & raga bhava.
SAPTA
TALAS :Druva, Matya, Rupaka, Jampai, Triputa, Ata &
Eka talas(7).
SHADANGAS
:Laghu, Druta, Anudrata, Guru, Pluta & Kakapada(6) -
which distinguish individual talas.
LAGHU
:One beat & counting or time-measures with fingers -
as many as is fixed for each tala.
DRUTA
:Beat of the hand & visarjita or turning it - 2 aksharakalas.
ANUDRUTA
:Beat of the hand alone - 1 aksharakala.
AKSHARAKALA
:Unit measure of talas. Thus,
Druva tala has 14 aksharas.
Matya tala has 10 aksharas.
Rupaka tala has 6 aksharas.
Jampai tala has 10 aksharas.
Triputa tala has 7 aksharas.
Ata tala has 14 aksharas.
Eka tala has 14 aksharas.
AVARTA
:One full cycle of any tala comprising one or more of the
shadangas having the respective aksharakala.
VAGGEYAKARA
:One who composes & sings his own creations.
From Musings on Music - a handy
music diary for writing notation by S.Rajam
Text by S.Rajam, Text assisted
by "Garland" Rajagopalan, Illustration by S.Rajam
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