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Six Strings

Swaras and ragas

The vocabulary of Carnatic melody.

  1. Swaras, Sa and the twelve positionsThe vocabulary of Carnatic melody, measured from a chosen Sa.Builds on: Making melodic phrases
  2. Ragas: aarohanam and avarohanamA raga is more than a scale. Play the ascending and descending paths of two ragas.Builds on: Swaras, Sa and the twelve positions

Gamakas and phrasing

Ornamentation and what guitar can do with it.

  1. Gamakas and what the guitar can doUnderstand ornamentation and approximate some of it honestly on a fretted instrument.Builds on: Ragas: aarohanam and avarohanam, Bends and vibrato

Notation and tala

Reading swaras and keeping time the Carnatic way.

  1. Reading and singing tunes in swarasWrite a simple tune in swara notation and play it from any Sa.Builds on: Ragas: aarohanam and avarohanam
  2. Tala: keeping time with Adi tala and janta varisaiCarnatic time-keeping by hand, and the exercise with paired notes.Builds on: Ragas: aarohanam and avarohanam

Going further with ragas

More ragas, graded exercises and phrasing that sounds like the raga.

  1. More ragas: Shankarabharanam, Kalyani and HamsadhwaniThree new ragas, the next sarali varisai, and the same exercise in a new raga.Builds on: Ragas: aarohanam and avarohanam, Tala: keeping time with Adi tala and janta varisai
  2. Melodic phrasing within a ragaMove from running the scale to shaping phrases that rest, turn and arrive.Builds on: More ragas: Shankarabharanam, Kalyani and Hamsadhwani, Gamakas and what the guitar can do

Practical checkpoint

Module 7 checkpoint: sing it, then play it

Choose Sarali varisai 1 in Mayamalavagowla. Sing it with the swara names, then play it on guitar, then play it again adding one gamaka of your choice. Listen to a recording by a Carnatic musician afterwards and note what the guitar cannot do.

You are ready for the next module when you can honestly say:

  • I can name the 12 swarasthanas relative to a chosen Sa and play them on the guitar.
  • I can sing and play the aarohanam and avarohanam of Mohanam and Mayamalavagowla.
  • I can explain, in my own words, why a raga is not just a scale.
  • I can say which gamakas I can approximate on guitar and which I cannot.

7 lessons in this module are not complete yet. You can still attempt the checkpoint whenever you like.