Theory
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The Sapta Tāla Alankārās
The Sapta Tāla Alankārās literally translates to "The Ornaments of the Seven Tālās". In general terms, the Sapta Tāla Alankārās are exercises constructed to fit the seven tālās. They are similar to experiments in science class. Your teacher can teach you forever that sodium reacts violently with water. However, it is more fun and better understood when experimented compared to just being taught the fact. It is a similar case with the Sapta Tāla Alankārās. They are seven exercises, each set to one of the seven tālās so that we can experience each tālā and better understand them.
What are Gītās?
What are Gītās?
In Sanskrit, Gītam, or गीतम्, literally means "a song". In Carnatic music, it is specifically the simplest melodic form and is very suitable for beginners. Gītas do not have sub-components like other forms of Carnatic music, though some gītās do consist of a pallavi, an anupallavi, and a charanam.
What are Lakshana Gītās?
A Lakshana Gītam is a unique type of gītam. As the name suggests, they tell the qualities, or lakshanās, of the rāgā they are composed in. These gītās are typically continuous and uninclusive of sub-components.
Rāgam
A rāgā is a set of notes with a certain swarasthānam. There are 2 types of rāgās: (1) Mēlakartā Rāgās, and (2) Janya Rāgās.
Mēlakartā Rāgās
Mēlakartā Rāgās are like parent rāgās (you will see later why). They each have all the Sapta Swarās and are divided into two groups—Śuddha Madhyamam and Prati Madhyamam. As the names suggest, rāgās categorised as Śuddha Madhyamam all have a Śudha Madhyamam as one of their swarās, and rāgās categorised as Prati Madhyamam all have a Prati Madhyamam as one of their swarās.
Janya Rāgās
The second type of rāgās are Janya Rāgās. Janya Rāgās are child rāgās, as they are derived from the swarsthānam of their Mēlakartā, or mother rāgā. Janya Rāgās do not always consist of all seven Sapta Swarās and can come in a wide range of different patterns. Sometimes, a song might have a swarā that is not set to the given rāgā. These notes are called ananya swarās and do not appear often in a song.
Gati/Nadai
Gati (Sanskrit) or Nadai (Tamil) are basically sub-beats. Gati determines the duration of a single beat for a song.
It is significantly important to pay attention to the gati, for it plays a minor role in how the composition sounds. It might not seem much, but a difference in the gati might induce a different mood than intended. Gati is somewhat similar to jāti. Jāti determines the number of beats in a laghu, whereas gati determines the number of sub-beats in a beat. The number of sub-beats is defined by the type of gati. Tisra gati means a beat has 3 sub-beats, chaturasra gati means a beat has 4 sub-beats and so on, just like Jāti. The most common gati is chaturasra gati, with four sub-beats. The gati is usually not mentioned on sheet music, and if so just know the composition is set to chaturasra gati. But if the gati is listed, make sure to perform in the given gati.
Short Biographies
As Carnatic musicians, it is important for us to know important figures who influenced this style of music. Without figures like Purandaradasa, Thyagaraja, and Annamacharya, Carnatic music would not be what it is today. Below are the Biography of Purandaradāsa, Āndāl, and Annamāchārya are recommended for students at this level.
Recommended Biographies:
The Biography of Purandaradāsa.pdfThe Biography of Āndāl - Ganabadi Academy.pdfThe Biography of Annamacharya.pdf