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Taalam (thALam) in Carnatic music | Deponti to the world

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Taalam (thALam) in Carnatic music

Having grown up learning Carnatic music, it never struck me how complicated our way of keeping the beat on our fingers and palm is, to an outsider. This song from the Tamizh/Telugu movie, Missyamma, has the famous film star, Savitri, putting Adi Taalam, the most basic of the Talams (Adi means beginningthis four-by-fourequals sixteen talam is the first one to be taught to beginners.)

Yes, thats the way all Carnatic vocal musicians keep the talam, whether singing privately or in concert, even today. Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tala_(music)) is the Wiki about Taala. If one goes through it (worth the read!). one realizes that though there is a very complex system of Taalam in Carnatic music, the Suladi Sapta Tla is the widely accepted one, with seven types of Taalam, and even in that, by default,

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Dhruva tala is chaturasra jati dhruva tala

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Taalam (thALam) in Carnatic music | Deponti to the world

Dhruva tala is chaturasra jati dhruva tala Matya tala is chaturasra jati matya tala Rupaka tala is chaturasra jati rupaka tala Jhampa tala is misra jati Jhampa tala.[1] Triputa tala is thisra jati triputa tala Ata tala is kanda jati ata tala Eka tala is chaturasra jati eka tala Marking the Taalam on the thigh with the palm and fingers, to any taalam, has the following angam or parts: Anudhrutam : This is a single beat, notated U. An anudhrutam stroke consists of a downward clap of the open hand with the palm facing down. Dhrutam: This is a pattern of 2 beats. This is notated O and consists of a downward clap with the palm facing down followed by a second downward clap with the palm facing up. Laghu: is a pattern with a variable number of beats, 3, 4, 5, 7 or 9, depending on the jati chosen. It is notated l and consists of a downward clap with the palm facing down followed by counting the fingers from little finger to thumb in order and back again after reaching the thumb depending on the jati chosen Each laghu can have different jaathis: Chaturasra 4 Thisra 3 Khanda 5 Misra 7 Sankeerna 9 So, Aadi Taalam, which is, technically, Chaturasara jaati Triputa Taalam, would be notated as I-4 O O. In each taalam, the nadai (or gati, that is, speed) might be differentcorresponding to the jaathi. That is, between each count, the interval might be 3, 4, 5, 7 or 9. A combination of these obviously gives rise to a huge variety of taalam.but in common practice, only Aadi Taalam, default Roopaka taalam ( U O) , Mishra Chaapu (I-3 O O) and Khanda Chaapu (usually kept only with beats of two/three) are used. I am reasonbly proficient in many varieites of taalam The point of this post? What one grows up with is so familiar, and so easy, it is difficult to imagine that it might be quite complicated to someone else! I was trying to explain to someone all about it just now, and I dont know if I have quite succeededso I am putting it down here, and will be sending the link to her to further clarify things! Tags: carnatic music (http://deponti.wordpress.com/tag/carnatic-music/), About these ads (http://en.wordpress.com/aboutexplanation (http://deponti.wordpress.com/tag/explanation/), music these-ads/) (http://deponti.wordpress.com/tag/music/), wiki (http://deponti.wordpress.com/tag/wiki/) This entry was posted on October 7, 2011 at 9:04 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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