Q: Hindustani teachers never teach without harmonium - which is very similar to keyboard/piano. And Hindustani musicians are known for their perfect sense of shruti. By that token, wouldnt keyboard lessons would be helpful for the Carnatic student as well. (A teacher from the Balabrundam team responds...) A: I would like to answer this question in points 1. The harmonium, piano and guitar are used as reference points to teach children the sthanas of the different svaras in the case of all systems of music even carnatic music. 2. But in classical music it stops there. Our music cannot be perceived merely as combinations of svara. When I give you a sangati in a composition, identifying the svaras, svarasthanas is just the first step. If the same thing is played on a western instrument like harmonium and piano, it is easy for a person to get an idea of what svarasthanas are used to frame that sangatis through these plain notes. But it ends there.. ultimately how a sangati is produced depends on how much of life is given to every svara in terms of giving the gamaka, the anusvaras, the modulation, the dynamics etc. In such western instruments the concept of gamakas cannot be portrayed. The extent and length of oscillation cannot be expressed. 3. A student who learns keyboard or piano initially, is in a situation where his mind does not get tuned to the concept of gamakas or oscillation. In other words, since our music is gamaka oriented, the art of looking beyond just the svarasthanas and bringing out the aesthetics of a raga is a challenge for the student because his mind is tuned to think only of the plain notes he is exposed to... 4. The hindustani musicians invariably perfectly to align to sruti but I feel that has nothing to do with using harmonium. The reason for this is the riyaz that they do -- a student has to stand on svaras in akaaram for atleast two years even before an exercise or a composition in a raga is taught. Their music give so much importance to the correct sound from the correct position in the body.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:32:08 +0000
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