0b.2 Tuning the four playing strings and the three side strings

Work through these

• Set your sruti on a drone first, and tune the instrument to it rather than to itself.

  An instrument tuned only against its own strings drifts a little further from your sruti every week. Starting from an external drone is what stops that.

• Tune the sarani string, the one nearest you, to the sa you will play in.

  The sarani carries the melody, so it is the string every other one is set against. On most instruments it is tuned to the middle-octave sa.

• Tune the remaining three playing strings to pa and sa below it, checking each against the sarani.

  The four playing strings together give you sa and pa across three octaves, which is where the low notes of the exercises come from. The exact octave each one takes varies between schools and instruments, so take the pattern from your own teacher.

• Tune the three side strings so they sound the drone against your sa.

  They are tuned to sa and pa, and they are what makes a veena sound like a veena even when nothing is being fretted. Their order also varies between teachers, which is worth asking about before you touch them.

• Check the tuning again after ten minutes of playing, and after any change of room.

  Gut and steel both move with temperature, and a veena that was right when you sat down often is not right by the time you reach the second exercise. Rechecking is part of practice, not an interruption to it.