Swaras
Swa Sw ar as in Ca Car na nati tic c M us usiic Written by: Ram S. Sriram
T he Th Basic Swaras
There are seven basic notes in Ca Carna rnattic music ic:: Shadjam (Sa), Shadjam Risha ishaba bam m (Ri), (Ri ), Gandharam (Ga), M adhy adhyam amam am (Ma), (Ma), Panchamam (Pa), Dhaivatham (Da) and Nishadam (Ni).
Sa is is the basi basic note and the re rest of the notes notes are are succe success ssiive velly highe higher to the the basi basic Sa. This giv ive es an ascendin ing g scale of se seven notes. On Onc ce the seventh note or the the hig igh her Sa Sa is reached, the notes begin to descend in frequency from Sa to Ni to Da and so on by the same interval. These seven notes or sw swara ras s are not specific to Ca Carna rnattic M usic but are als lso o commo mon n to Hi H industani, Weste sterr n, and other other sys syste tems ms of mus musiic. I n Carnati C arnatic c music music and and Hi H indus ndustani tani music, we ca calll the se seven swar swaras as as Sa, Ri Ri, Ga, Ma, M a, Pa, Pa, Da, and Ni and in We W estern Music, M usic, the sam same e seve ven n swar swaras or or notes are called doh, ray, me, fa, soh, lah, te respectively.
Octave
What is an octave? An octave is doubling the pitch of a swara by a factor of 2. Take a lo Take loo ok at at a keyboard rd.. Y ou will notic ice e th the e C key. I n Ca Carn rna atic music ic,, th the e C key is call calle ed one one katta kattaii or a pitch of one. one. I n a ke keybo yboard, ard, the C ke key y is foll follow owe ed by D, E, E , F, F, G, A, A , and B ke keys ys.. T he B ke key y is again again foll f ollow owe ed by anoth anothe er C ke key. y. Tha T hatt is, is, the r an ang ge betwe be twee en a lowe lower C to the the next high hi gh is is oneoctave. T he rang ange e that begins begins fr from the next ne xt C unti untill the next hig hi ghe herr B is re reac ache hed d is i s Octave 2 and and so on. on.
Converting I n We W este sterr n Music, M usic, the the interval be betwe twee en two keys keys or freque quenci ncie es betwe betwee en two keys keys the Seven (.e (.e.g .g.. D and E) E ) are are of of fi fixe xed inte inter va valls. Swaras to However, in Carnatic music, the intervals between two keys are not absolute twelve nterrva valls but re r elative inte nterrva valls or or no nom mina nall inte nterrva vals. ls. Swaras (or inte sixteen I n the the keybo keyboar ard, d, there there ar are e black ke keys in be betwe twee en the whi white te keys keys that re r epr pre esent swaras) pitche pi tches (e.g. (e.g. C, C , D, etc.) T he hese sebl blac ack k key keys s re r epr pre esent half half piche piches s or fr fre equencies betwee betwe en two swar swaras as or note notes s (e.g. (e.g. betwe betwee en C and D). I n a keyboar keyboard, d, there there ar are e five five white whi te keys in be betwe twee en the seve ven n black bl ack ke keys that re r epr pre esent the the pri prima marry notes. notes. The T he twelle note twe notes s are are forme for med when when we add the se seve ven n pri pr ima marry notes notes to the the five fi ve half half--note notes s or inn-be betwe twee en fr freque quency ncy notes. notes. The tw twe elv lve e div ivis isio ion ns are common both to Ca Carna rnattic music and We Wes stern music ic..
Swaras
The following table gives you a comparison of the twelve swaras of Carnatic Music and the corresponding twelve notes of the Western M usic.
Carnatic Swaras and Western Notes -A Comparison Carnatic Swara Name
Note in the Western System
1
Sa or Shadja
C
2
Suddha Rishabha
D flat
3
Chatussruti Rishabha
D
4
Sadharana Gandhara
E flat
5
Antara Gandhara
E
6
Suddha Madhyama
F
7
Prati Madhyma
F sharp
8
Panchama or Pa
G
9
Suddha Daivata
A flat
10
Chatussruti Dhaivata
A
11
Kaisiki Nishadha
B flat
12
Kakali Nishadia
B
No.
Source: South I ndian Music by Prof. P. Sambamurthy.
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Please note that the swaras Sa and Pa do not admit variations and are called fixed notes or achala swaras.
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The notes with Suddha in their names -- Suddha Rishabha and Suddha Madhyama - refer to the lowest pitch of the corresponding note- the Rishabha or Ri and Madhyama or Ma, respectively. These twelve swaras become sixteen swaras with the addition of four more swaras called Vivadi (or tainted) swaras. These additional swaras occupy the same nominal swarasthana or frequency position as some of the swaras from the group of twelve swaras. I n other words, the sixteen swaras are formed basically by calling the same swara by two different names.. Depending on the a raga scale used, a swaram may becalled by a different name (e.g. Shatsruti Rishaba is the new name given to Sadharana Gandhara; Suddha Gandhara is the new name given to Chatussruti Dhaivata; Shatsruthi Dhaivata is the new name for K aisiki Nishada; and Suddha Nishada is the new name for Chatussruti Dhaivata).
But, remember, as the table shows, the twelve swaras are the fundamental swaras and they evolve from the basic seven swaras. Notation There are two basic ways to write music - Staff notation and script notation.
in Indian Western music uses the Staff notation approach. In this approach, music is written Music on five parallel lines. The position of the note on the line and the space between lines indicate pitch.
The script notation is common to I ndian music including, Carnatic music. In script notation, music is written on straight lines. The pitch, intervals and related
Swaras
measures are indicated by using additional symbols. The following will give a basic understanding of the script notation. Duration (time) 1 akshara or unit time 2 aksharas 3 aksharas
SR G M P D N s, , r , , g , , m , , p , , d , , n , , or
4 akshara
S, R , G , M , P , D ,N , s, , , r , , , g , , , m , , , p , , , d , , n , , ,
Swaras or Notes
Comments
s r gm p d n
or
Each comma represents one aksharam or unit time
S , ,R , ,G , ,M , ,P , ,D , ,N , , Reducing the time
___
ss === ss
Sthayi or pitch . . . . s r gm s r gm . . . . s r gm g
Swara type
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One horizontal line on top of swaras indicate that the time is onehalf and two lines on top denote that the time is one-quarter and so on. A dot on the top of a note indicates that it belongs to the higher octave and a dot below the note indicates that it belongs to the lower octave. Without a dot, indicates middle range or manthra sthayi.
The sixteen swaras that we discussed earlier, are represented using the following vowel notations. Swara Suddha Rishabha Chatussruti Rishbha Shatsruti Rishbha Suddha Gandhara Sadharana Gandhara Antara Gandhara Suddha Dhaivatam Chatussruti Dhaivatam Shatsruti Dhaivatam Suddha Nishadam K aisiki Nishadam K akali Nishadam Sudha Madhyamam
Notation ra ri ru ga gi gu dha dhi dhu na ni ni ma
Swaras
Prati Madhyamam Shadjam (single type) Panchamam (single type)
mi sa pa
Are swaras No. They are not the same. A note can be produced by mechanical means. By and notes pressing the key in a harmonium or plucking a string in a Veena or a Guitar. the same? However, swaras can only be produced by the human voice. Refer to the differences between the harmonic music system of the West and the melodic music system of I ndia. I n a harmonic system, each note is separated from another note by a defined frequency interval. I n a melodic system, each note is separated by relative intervals. Therefore, a swara can only be learnt by listening and learning. For example, a K aisiki Nishada and a K akali Nishada are not separated by exact frequency of 100. Only by listening and singing them, you can learn the precise way to sing a swaram. The word Swaram came from two syllables - 'Swa' meaning the self and 'ra' meaning to shine. That is, only when you feel the swaram inside you, you can throw light on it and make it shine.
