More ragas: Shankarabharanam, Kalyani and Hamsadhwani

With Mohanam and Mayamalavagowla in your ears, you can take on three more ragas that students meet early: Shankarabharanam, Kalyani and Hamsadhwani. Two of them differ by a single swara, which makes them perfect for training the ear. Alongside them comes the next step in the graded exercises, sarali varisai 2, and the habit of playing a varisai you know in a new raga.

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Sing and play the aarohanam and avarohanam of Shankarabharanam, Kalyani and Hamsadhwani.
• Hear and name the difference between Ma1 and Ma2.
• Play sarali varisai 2 in Mayamalavagowla with Adi tala, and sarali varisai 1 in Shankarabharanam and Kalyani.

Three ragas that students often learn early, with Sa = A on the 5th string as before:

Shankarabharanam: Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni3 Sa, in both directions. All seven swaras, with the same pitches as the Western major scale on the guitar. It is one of the 72 melakarta ragas, the parent ragas from which many others are derived.

Kalyani: Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma2 Pa Da2 Ni3 Sa. It is identical to Shankarabharanam except for one swara: Ma2 (prati madhyamam, fret 6) instead of Ma1 (fret 5). Kalyani is also a melakarta raga. Playing the two side by side is one of the best ear exercises there is: a single swara changes the whole mood.

Hamsadhwani: Sa Ri2 Ga3 Pa Ni3 Sa. Five swaras in each direction, with no Ma and no Da. It sounds bright and festive.

Graded exercises. The sarali varisai continue in Mayamalavagowla. Sarali varisai 2 keeps the frame of the first one (up and back down in four lines of eight) but begins each half with a repeated pair: "s r s r s r g m". Each line fills one cycle of Adi tala. Teachers also have students take varisais they know into other ragas, which is what the third exercise does.

Remember: these swaras on frets are a map. Kalyani in particular is known for its gamakas, and its character only really appears when you hear it sung or played by a Carnatic musician.

Hearing Ma1 and Ma2.

1. Play Sa (open A string) and let it ring.
2. Play Ga3 (fret 4), then Ma1 (fret 5), then Pa (fret 7). Sing along.
3. Now Ga3, Ma2 (fret 6), Pa. Sing along.
4. Ma2 sits a semitone from Pa and leans towards it; Ma1 sits a semitone above Ga3. Play the two versions back to back until you can tell them apart with your eyes closed.

Sarali varisai 2 with the tala. Clap on count 1, then touch little, ring and middle fingers for 2, 3 and 4, clap on 5, wave on 6, clap on 7, wave on 8. Sing the first line, "s r s r s r g m", one swara per count. Add the guitar only when singing and tala are steady together.

Do these in order. Each one is small. Tick the ones you have practised.

• 1.Three new ragas

  5 min

  1. With Sa = A (open 5th string), sing and play Shankarabharanam: Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni3 Sa, frets 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12.
  2. Sing and play Kalyani: the same, except Ma2 (fret 6) instead of Ma1 (fret 5).
  3. Sing and play Hamsadhwani: Sa Ri2 Ga3 Pa Ni3 Sa, frets 0 2 4 7 11 12. Five swaras each way.
  4. Come back down each one, singing the swara names.

  You have it when

  • You can sing and play all three up and down from memory.
  • You can hear Ma1 and Ma2 as clearly different swaras.
  I practised this one

• 2.Sarali varisai 2

  5 min · 60 → 80 BPM

  1. Learn the four lines of sarali varisai 2 in Mayamalavagowla from the tab, one line at a time.
  2. Keep Adi tala with your free hand or a foot while you sing it: one swara per count.
  3. Play it on guitar, still keeping the tala.
  4. When it is steady, play it at two swaras per count.

  You have it when

  • You can play all four lines in one go with the tala, at one swara per count.
  I practised this one

• 3.Same varisai, new raga

  4 min

  1. Play sarali varisai 1 in Shankarabharanam (frets 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12).
  2. Play it again in Kalyani, using fret 6 for Ma.
  3. Sing each before you play it. Notice how the one changed swara changes the mood.

  You have it when

  • You play sarali varisai 1 in both ragas without slipping into the other's Ma.
  I practised this one

Varisais are practised in speeds: first one swara per count of Adi tala, then two, then four. Start at 60 BPM, one swara per count, and move to two per count only when every swara is clear and the tala is steady.

• Thinking of Shankarabharanam and Kalyani as "the major scale" and "Lydian". Their swaras coincide with those scales on the guitar, but each raga has its own phrases, emphasis and gamakas. Learn them by listening, not from scale names.
• Dropping the tala when the swaras get hard. Slow down instead. The tala is part of the exercise, not an extra.
• Playing without singing. Sing each line before you play it. Singing is how the swaras become sounds you recognise rather than frets.

Listen to recordings in each raga by Carnatic musicians: Muthuswami Dikshitar's Vatapi Ganapatim is a famous composition in Hamsadhwani, and Kalyani and Shankarabharanam are among the most performed ragas of all. Listen for how the musicians move around the swaras you have just played as plain notes.

Short version (10 minutes)

Sing and play the three ragas up and down, then the first line of sarali varisai 2.

Standard version (about 30 minutes)

Do all three exercises, then listen to one recording in each raga and write down one thing you heard that the plain swaras do not show.

• Shankarabharanam: S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S.
• Kalyani: the same with Ma2 instead of Ma1.
• Hamsadhwani: S R2 G3 P N3 S, five swaras.
• Varisais are practised with the tala, slowly first, then faster, and in more than one raga.

You are ready to move on when you can honestly say:

• I can sing and play Shankarabharanam, Kalyani and Hamsadhwani up and down.
• I can hear the difference between Ma1 and Ma2.
• I can play sarali varisai 2 in Mayamalavagowla with Adi tala.