The South Indian classical beginner course, end to end: sruti and the swaras, the varisais and alankaras every student works through, then geethams, swarajathis, varnams and a first krithi — for singers, and for veena, violin and flute together.
Who it's for: Complete beginners, on any of the four instruments. The exercises are the ones a teacher would set, written down and read aloud; it is a companion to lessons with a teacher rather than a replacement for one.
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Setup for the instrument you play, then the exercise repertoire everyone shares: varisais, alankaras, geethams, swarajathis, varnams and a first krithi.
14 modules · 60 topics · ~167 estimated learning hours. Each one stands on its own, so start wherever you like.
Sruti and the drone, sitting and breathing, and practice on the open vowel. Take this module if you are singing; the three beside it are the same ground for the veena, the violin and the flute.
Holding the instrument, tuning the seven strings to your sruti, and what each hand does. Take this module if you are playing the veena; the three beside it are the same ground for voice, violin and flute.
The South Indian playing position, retuning from fifths to sa and pa, and finding notes with no frets. Take this module if you are playing the violin; the three beside it are the same ground for voice, veena and flute.
Choosing a flute whose sa is your sruti, getting a note out of it, and the fingering this tradition uses. Take this module if you are playing the flute; the three beside it are the same ground for voice, veena and violin.
The seven swaras and the sixteen names they take, the three octaves, the raga every beginner starts in, and how to read a written line — including everything the writing leaves out.
The fourteen first exercises, in Mayamalavagowla and Adi tala, and the same line at three speeds. This is where the physical habit of the music is formed, and nobody ever stops practising them.
The paired-swara exercises, where the second note of each pair is stressed — and where the first ornament appears, which the notation cannot write down.
Leaps instead of steps, then the exercises that push above and below the octave you started in — and an honest answer for the notes that are not there yet. This module differs most between instruments.
How a tala is built from laghu, drutam and anudrutam, how to keep one with your hand, and the same melodic pattern set in all seven talas.
The first compositions: short, sung straight through, and the point at which words arrive — in Kannada, Sanskrit and Telugu, each shown in its own script with a transliteration beside it.
The bridge between an exercise and a composition: sections that repeat, swara passages, and the same line sung once on the swara names and once on words.
The piece that concentrates a raga into a few minutes — its five sections, two of them, at two speeds, ending with an Ata tala varnam.
Arohana and avarohana, parent scales and derived ones, the seventy-two melakartas and the rule that hides their numbers in their names, gamakas, and why a written line is never the whole piece.
The central form of this music, a first set of simple ones, the Telugu repertoire of Annamacharya and Tyagaraja, what improvisation is and why it comes later, and playing a piece for another person.