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New Methodology For Learning Carnatic Music Easy and Fast

SPRING NECTAR'S SPECIAL EDITION - 4

(Abhyasa Ganam Series)

AUTHOR
ROSE MURALIKRISHNAN

Voice Culture & Vocal Exercises for Carnatic Vocal Students Introduction To Carnatic Vocal

A complete premier learning guide for learning intermediate rudiments of South Indian Carnatic

1. MOHANAM VARNAM

2. SHANKARABHARANA VARNAM

3. HAMSAHWANI VARNAM

4.KALYANI VARNAM

5. ABHOGI VARNAM

What is Varnam
Varnam is a musical form which has in it all the elements of geetham, jatisvaram and svarajati and so forth. It prepares one with adequate skills to be able to learn kritis in near future. The first half of a varNam which has profuse vowel extensions resembles a kriti while the second half beginning with Etthugada pallavi and charanam swarams resembles a svarajati or a jatisvaram. A varnam is a relatively long composition that can range from 30 minutes to an hour. It is the introductory piece in music concerts and a main one in dance. The lyrics are simple and consist mostly of long extended syllables and swara phrases of various lengths which bring out the essential features of the raga. The varnams are of three kinds, 1.Taana varnam 2. Pada varnam, and 3. Ragamalika varnam, 4. Ganakrama varnam  5. Daru varnam.

Varnams come under Sabha Gaanam category and are considered as vocal exercises in a particular raga. The patterns in a varnam are characteristic patterns of a particular raga. Varnams are considered as the complex of the vocal exercises in Carnatic Music. They are designed to help develop voice culture and proper control of rhythm. Indeed, varnams are often practiced in double and triple speeds or even up to 6 speeds if one can have a proper rhythmic control (tala).

Types of varnams

Tana Varnams
Tana Varnams are the compositions sung at the commencement of a concert. The tempo is usually madhyama kalam. The pallavi and anupallavi consist of very few sahityam syllables with profuse vowel extensions. In the second half of the varnam, the ettugada pallavi consists of sahityam syllables. The remaining portions comprise of solfa or swara passages. Therefore tana varnam is an instance of a composition which consists of two parts – one in which sahityam is predominant and the other in which solfa is predominant. They both are mutually exclusive. Once the first section is over, we are done with it. It is like putting two different compositions together, one of which is sahityam oriented and the other that has swarams as the main forte. The ettugada charanam swarams increase in size and complexity starting from the 1st to the 4th or 5th caranam swarams. Tana varnams are mostly set in Adi and kanda jati Ata talam. They are rarely set to other taams. Almost all of them start with sama eduppu if in Adi talam and at the third beat if set to ata talam

Pada Varnams
Pada varnams are also called chauka varnams (slow tempo varnam). As the name implies, the tempo intended for these is chaukam or slow to give scope for the expressions of bhava. chittaisvaram and ettugada swaram have sahityam. The theme of a pada varnam is devotional, shringara or in praise of a patron. It is usually set in Adi talam. Unlike tana varnams that are sung in different speeds, pada varnams are usually sung only in slow speeds. Most pada varnams have eduppu at samam while a few have different eduppus. The entire varnam has the sahityam.

Ragamalika Varnams
Ragamalika is a concept as old as Matanga who refers to it as "raga kadambakA". Many have used this concept but Veerabhadraiah was supposed to be the first one to compose a ragamalika varnam. He was the guru of Ramaswami Dikshitar. He was also the first to use the raga mudra. One of the most popular ragamalika varnams is "valachi vacchi", the navaragamalika varnam of Patnam Subramanya Iyer.

Ganakrama of Varnam
The ganakrama of a varnam is different compared to that of a svarajati/ jatisvara. The pallavi, anupallavi and muktayi swaram are performed continuously and the first Avartanam of the pallavi is sung as a conclusion to the first half of the varnam. The second half has an ettugada pallavi with many charanams are sung in sequential order. The charanam begins with ettugada pallavi and after each charanam swaram, the ettugada pallavi is repeated and is also sung as the concluding Avartanam.  In earlier days, a section called anubandham existed after charanam in which the sshityam of the muktayi swaram would be sung followed by the pallavi. The anubandham used to link the end of the varnam back to the pallavi. Examples are anubandhams in bhairavi raga Viriboni Varnam, pantuvarali Sami Ninne varnam to name a few.

Daru Varnam:
DARU VARNAM usually consists of  swaram, sahithyam and Jathi  syllables. The "MATHE MALAYADHWAJA" is a very Unique Daru Varnam due to the fact that the Chittai swara has three different types of swaram, sahityam and jathis arranged according to it.

Structure of a varnam
The pallavi of a varnam usually consists of 2 Avartanams followed by an anupallavi of equal length. The third section is an optional upapallavi of the same length. The theme of the text could be devotional, shringara(love) or in the praise of a patron.

The varnam is subdivided into several sections:

• Pallavi: The first section of the Varnam, sung with lyrics or sahithym, Anupallavi: A sort of recapitulation, sung with lyrics or sahithyam also, Mukthaayi Swaram: Sung or played completely with solfa syllables or swaras. In Pada Varnas it is known as Mukthaayi Swaram-Sahithyam. Charanam: Sung with lyrics. Chittai Swarams: Sung completely with syllables. But in a Pada varnam, there are lyrics which correspond to the Charanam swaras. The swaras occur in several groups.

Generally, a varnam is sung as follows:
First Segment:
Pallavi
Anupallavi
Muktayi Swaram
Finally pallavi will be sung in triple or more speeds  than the original speed and end with pallavi original speed.

• Second Segment:
• Charanam, Charanam Swara Group 1
• Charanam, Charanam Swara Group 2
• Charanam, Charanam Swara Group 3
• Charanam, Charanam Swara Group 4
• And then at last end it with Charanam

There are generally 3–5 swara groups in every varnam. In a concert, the entire charanam section is sung at approximately 1.5 speed. Sometimes when repeating the Pallavi the Annupallavi and Muktayi Swarams are repeated in double or triple and upto 5 speeds. Varnams are commonly sung in two varieties of talas, or metric systems, Adi Tala (8 beat cycle) and Ata Tala (14 beat cycle), where Ata Tala varnams are generally more complicated and advanced.  But in recent days there are several other talas used to compose varnams. In most of the Adi Tala Varnams the tala is placed in the 2 kalai version. So therefore each beat and finger count is placed twice.

Examples of famous Adi Tala Varnams

• "Sami Ninne" in Sree Ragam composed by Karur Devudu Iyer
• "Ninnukori" in Mohanam ragam by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar
• "Evvari Bodhana" in Abhogi ragam by Patnam Subramania Iyer
• "Valachi Vacchi" in Navaragamalika (9 ragas, similar to Ragamalika which literally translates to a garland of ragams.

     
Examples of famous Ata Tala Varnams:
"Viriboni" in Bhairavi ragam by Pacchimiriam Adiyappa

• "Nera Nammithi" in Kaanada ragam by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar
• "Chalamela" in Sankarabharanam by Swati Tirunal
• The Arabhi ragam varnam is supposed to be the only longest piece with jantai and tattu prayogas.
  

The Valachi vachi varnam is a Navaragamalika composition.

Composers of Varnams
Composers of varnams include Govindasamayya, Shatkala Narasaiah, Adiyappaiah, Sonti Venkata Subbiah, Pallavi Gopala Iyer, Pallavi Doraiswamy Iyer, Ponnaiah, Chamarajendra and Veena Kuppaiyer. Govindasamayya and his brother Kuvasamayya. Apart from being composers, the brothers were also dancers. Govindasamayya is considered to be the first composer of varnams. The period of the trinity saw many varNam composers. Ramaswami Dikshitar and his guru Veerabhadraiah were among the earliest composers. Pacchimiriyam Adiyappaiah is called the "Tana Varna Margadarshi". He composed the famous bhairavi varNam "viribONi". Gangai Muthu Nattuvanar, Subbaraya Nattuvanar and the Tanjore Quartette have composed many pada varNams.  Some of the modern day composers are Tiger Varadachar, Muthiah Bhagavathar, G.N. Balasubramaniam, T.M. Thyagarajan, Tanjavur Sankara Iyer, Calcutta Krishnamurthy and Lalgudi Jayaraman.

Significance of  Varnams
The main significance of varanm denotes the four melodic movements: Sthayi varnam, Arohi varnam, Avarohi varnam, Sanhari Varnam etc. Therefore a varnam consists of all the possibilities of melodic movements. It has now become necessity to perform a varnam at the beginning of a music concert and as a main piece of a dance concert.