4.1 Dhatu varisai, and leaping across the scale

The same thing, four instruments

The exercise is the same whichever one you play. What changes is how you make it.

Singing

A leap is a guess until the ear knows it: the voice has nothing to aim at except the pitch it remembers. Practise each leap on its own against the drone, and add the note between when you miss, then take it away again.

On the veena

A leap means the fretting finger travels, and travelling silently is the skill. Lift the pressure as the hand moves and arrive before you pluck, or every leap carries a smear of the notes in between.

On the violin

A leap is a shift of the whole hand with nothing to stop it in the right place. Practise the leap as a slow slide first so the distance is learned, then take the slide away and keep the arrival.

On the flute

A leap can mean several fingers moving at once, and they must arrive together or the note in between will sound. Practise the fingering silently, with no breath, until the movement is one action.

Work through these

• Learn the first dhatu varisai and name the size of each leap.

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• Check the note you land on against the drone every time.

• Work through the rest of the set at first speed.