Beginner Level

Online Carnatic Music - Beginner Level

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Foundation Course

An introduction to Carnatic music courses.

Music is an universal language to express emotions. India, being a country of diverse customs and traditions, is much spiritual in nature and utilised all the art forms to express spirituality. Indian music is believed to have its origin from the Vedas and existed as a single system of music till the 12th century after which is bifurcated into the systems of South Indian music or the Karnatic music and the North Indian music or the Hindustani music. South Indian music is unique by itself possessing intricacies in the system of srutis, raga, tala, bhava and so on.

In todays fast moving world, even though people are interested in learning music, they may not have enough time to approach a tutor or guru who may be at a long distance or sometimes in other countries. The thurst of such passionate learners is satisfied by go4guru assuring quality music education at reasonable cost.

We offer certificate courses at 3 different levels for the basic understanding of Carnatic music.

  1. Basic level 1
  2. Basic level 2
  3. BasicLevel 3
Level 1

This course starts from fixing the pitch of a student and makes the student to understand the swara sthanas of the raga Maya malava gaulai. Apart from this, short songs of devotional and patriotic nature are taught to the students.

Learning experience:

      No prior knowledge of Carnatic music is required.

      If a student has discontinued upto any of this basic learning due to any reason.

Portions covered during this course:
  1. Sarali varisai.
  2. Janta varisai.
  3. Mel sthayi or hechu sthayi varisai
  4. Mantra Sthayi varisai. [All the 4 varisais in 3 speeds]
  5. Names of 7 Swaras and 12 Swara Sthanas and basic technical terms: Sruti, Raga, Tala, Aksharakala, anga,Mathra,Sthayi, Karvai.
  6. The concept of tala and 7 principal talas.
  7. The scheme of 72 melakarthas.
  8. A devotional song on Lord Ganesha, Lord Muruga/ Any form of Lord Vishnu / Shiva,] and ambal [in the regiona language of the student]
  9. A patriotic song in any one of the south Indian Languages and a patriotic song in Hindi or Sanskrit.
  10. A Tevarnama of Purandaradasa.
  11. Biography of Sri Purandaradasa.
  12. A song of the famous writer in the past such as Bharatiyar or Bharathidasan in Tamil.
Course objectives:
  1. Getting Familiar with the notes of Mayamalava Gaula Raga.
  2. Ability to handle twin notes or to sing aahata or pratyahata gamakas.
  3. Gaining knowledge of the upper and lower octaves or registers.
  4. Basic Sense of timing or rhythm and knowledge of singing varisais in 3 speeds.
  5. Ability to sing short songs.
  6. Acquires knowledge of the basic concepts of raga and tala.
  7. Gets an exposure of one or more languages.
  8. Creates interest among the students to perceive the next level of learning Carnatic music.
Course Duration:

Music, being the finest of the fine arts, is not so easy to learn without making good effort. A person must possess a inborn intelligence to grasp it quickly or should put great efforts to master the art.

The time duration of this course is 6 months for a normal student. But in order to provide quality and perfect music education to the students, the course duration may vary from student to student. Some may grasp extraordinarily well so that they may complete the course even before the stipulated time. But some students may take more time to understand the srutis and talas and for such students the course may take some more time than the stipulated time. As we are much concerned about the perfection, the time mentioned above is just a plan of completing the course. But it may be either quick or late depending the involvement and practice of the individual student.

Level 2

Makes the students sing jumbled swara patterns, in different combinations. Enhanses voice culture through akaram practices. Learns to sing the 12 Swara sthanas with their gamakas or shakes.

Learning experience:

      Should have completed Level 1

            Or

      Should be able to sing the basic varisais mentioned in Level 1.

Portions covered during this course:
  1. Datu varisai in 3 speeds.
  2. Alankaram in 3 speeds.
  3. 12 Swaras with their gamakas. Teaching the students to sing aakarams of the varisais.
  4. Alankaram in the raga Mohanam, Shankarabharanam and Kharaharapriya.
  5. An utsava sampradaya/ Divya nama Keerthana of Tyagaraja.
  6. Annamacharya keertana 1.
  7. Devotional Songs in The regional language of the student.
  8. Patriotic Song in any language preferred by the teacher.
  9. Biography of Annamacharya.
  10. Songs Based on folk tunes such as kavadichindu.
  11. Concept of 35 Talas.
  12. A short introduction to Raga Classification and a short introduction to the system of musicography or notation writing.
Course objectives
  1. Learns to handle jumpled swara patterns acquiring more perfection of notes.
  2. Achieves a practical knowledge of application of the 7 principal talas in Alankaras.
  3. Knows to Sing and identify the 12 swaras.
  4. Introducing new scales apart from mayamalava Gaulai.
  5. Knows the outline of raga and tala system.
  6. Able to read the notation and sing.
  7. Able to sing songs of even perfect and tougher than level 1.
  8. Creates interest among the Students to undergo the next stage of learning music.
Course Duration:

The Duration to complete this course is assumed to be 6 months which may vary according to the student. The course may be completed even before the stipulated time or late after 6 months as per the capability of the student. The freedom of the course duration completely vests with the opinion of the teacher

Level 3

Introduces 3 Different musical forms and improves the voice culture.

Learning experience:

      Should have completed Level 2

            Or

      Should know the basic exercises in Level 1 & 2.

Portions covered during the course.
  1. Alankarams in ragas kalyani, and Todi.
  2. Pillari geethas
  3. Geethas in the Ragas: Mohanam, Kalyani, Ananda bairavi, Suddha saveri, Bairavi.
  4. Lakshana geethas 2.
  5. Swara jatis in ragas bilahari, Ananda bairavi and Kamas.
  6. 3 Jati swarams.
  7. About the musical forms of geetham and lakshana geetham.
  8. The difference between the musical Forms of Swara jati and Jati swara.
  9. 2 kritis of muthuswamy Dikshithar with samashti charanam.
  10. Simple kriti of Tyagaraja in the Raga Mohanam and any other kriti in any other raga of the teachers choice.
  11. Biography of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshithar and Sri Tyagaraja.
  12. Detailed study of Janya Raga Classification.
  13. The concept of 175 talas.
  14. Outline knowledge of Musical instruments used in Carnatic music and their classification.
  15. Ashtapati/ Taranga/Thirupavai.
Course objectives:
  1. Know the Scales of 2 more major ragas Kalyani and todi.
  2. Know about the Musical form Geetham and Lakshana geetham both theoretically and practically.
  3. Know about the Musical forms of Swara jati and Jati swara practically.
  4. Introduction to a musical form kriti.
  5. Knows the biography of 2 of the trinity.
  6. Gets knowledge on Raga and tala system in a detailed manner.
  7. This Final course prepares the Student for further intense training of music learning leading the student to flourish as a concert performer.
Course Duration:

The Duration to complete this course is assumed to be 6 months which may vary according to the student. The course may be completed even before the stipulated time or late after 6 months as per the capability of the student. The freedom of the course duration completely vests with the opinion of the teacher