Carnatic Music Continued - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Carnatic Music

Continued

Slide2

3 Functioning Layers

Melodic Layer

Drone

Rhythm

Associated with particular instruments

Slide3

Melodic Layer

Two Parts:Principal melodic soloist that dominates the ensemble

Usually voice. Can be violin, bamboo flute,

veena

..

Melodic Accompanist

who aids the soloist

Plays with vocalist

Echoes and supports improvisations

Plays solo improvisations

Slide4

Veena

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLA58vT-FI0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL91F824B8ECE3D33C

Slide5

Drone

Holds one or two notes throughout a pieceSpecialized drone instrumentsTambura

: four-stringed plucked instrument tuned to tonal center and fifth

Purposeful Buzzing timbre

Sruti

(

shruti

) Box

: Played with bellows

Today

electronic synthesizer

Slide6

Tambura (

Tambur)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxPwJ93aWcI

Slide7

Sruti Box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBwAV8urkvw

Shruti

Box

Slide8

Rhythm/Percussion

Bedrock of the ensembleMridangam: principal percussion instrument

Ghatam

: large clay pot

Kanjira

: tambourine

Morsang

: jaw’s harp

Slide9

Mridangam

Slide10

Drummer’s Art

Improvisatory styleBased on hundreds of memorized rhythm patterns and drum strokes

Art centers on

drum strokes

Sollukattu

– spoken syllables

Drummer

is crucial!

Slide11

Concert Song Forms

Start: Varnam

Continues: String of

Kritis

Main Item: Often a

Kriti

End: More relaxed

atmosphere

Devotional music

bhajan

Slokam

:

chanted religious verses

Songs from

bharatanatyam

Slide12

Kriti

Made up of numerous sectionsi.e.Alapana

Tanam

Kriti

“

Sarasiruha

”

Kalpana

svaras

1 & 2

Tani

avartanam

Kriti

(return and close)

Slide13

Alapana

First section of a performanceFree-flowing exposition and exploration of the raga of the kriti

Voice/instrument and drone background

Nonmetrical

(no regular beat/

tala

)

Has general plan

Slow, low

 high, fast  slow, low

Slide14

More on Alapana

Raga is derived from the

kriti

Natai

Raga

– associated with Siva in the form of

Nataraja

“The Lord of Dance”

Oscillation on second note of scale in descent

Musical personality:

The Dance of Shiva shakes the universe with its power and fury

Slide15

Tanam

Highly-rhythmic exposition of the ragaImprovised patterns and drone on veena

No

tala

cycles but strong sense of beat

Like

Alapana

trace from low to high in graduated steps and back down again.

Slide16

Kriti

The major song form of the concertMay be short or very longVery flexible structure but compositions remain recognizable

Sung or not, the words influence the performance

Slide17

Kalpana Svaras

Improvised section

At the end of or after a

kriti

Singer sings names of notes!

Returns to phrase from

kriti

as home base (

idam

)

First short simple improvisations

Then longer and more complex

Slide18

Tani Avartanam

Improvised and

precomposed

rhythmic solo

By

mridangam

Conclusion of the main item in a concert

Can be 10/15 minutes or more

Displays his skills and imagination

Ends on

korvai

– big pattern repeated three times

Leads back into

kriti

phrase

Slide19

Bharatanatyam

South Indian Classical DanceAccompanied by Carnatic MusicDates back to 1000 B.C.

“Fire Dance”

Celebrating spiritual universe

Slide20

Dance

Very similar to classical music is music for South India’s dance traditionsParticularly

bharata

natyam

Nattavangam

– chanted rhythmic syllables

(with dance)

Lyrics

often repeated many times

Slide21

Slide22

Aspects of Dance

Karanas: 108 transitional movements

Hastas

:

Expressive hand gestures

Adavus

:

Basic rhythmic dance unit (108-150)- Most use around 60 (syllables)

Bhedas

– head, neck, eye movements

http://www.ehow.com/video_2382623_basic-bharatanatyam-dance-hand-gestures.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQOdTmF8u0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96AGc1qRWDI&feature=relmfu

(group)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waEXlvat5GA

Bollywood

Slide23

Psychedelic Rock

Late 1960s – WestCountercultureAttempts to replicate and enhance mind-altering experiences

Draws on ragas and drones of Indian music

The Beatles, The

Byrds

, The

Yardbirds

, Grateful Dead

Slide24

Fusion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtzrbbJ6N2g Yehudin

Menhuin

and Ravi Shankar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1g2o7nVy-g&feature=related

George Harrison and Ravi Shankar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljnv3KGtcyI&feature=related

Within You Without You

Slide25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

AI9RJbljBLw Rohan

Krishnamurthy video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLA58vT-FI0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=

PL91F824B8ECE3D33C

Veena

Master

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

lBwAV8urkvw

Shruti

Box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

KxPwJ93aWcI

With

Tampura