one of these numbers indicates that there is also notation for it.
I use minimal notation in my courses, mainly as a jog to the memory. For the sake of convenience I have provided notation, in tāḷa and syllables, for eighty-eight of the exercises and patterns in this book. The notation should be used as a reference, not as a primary means of learning the material. Once a piece has been memorized, the notation will have served its purpose.
Some readers will be tempted to represent material in this book in staff notation. While I will not say it is wrong to do this, I find it at best culturally dissonant and at worst misleading. In any case, the syllable/tāḷa notation in this book, supported by exhaustive video examples, should make it unnecessary.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book may be used in several ways. An interested individual could certainly use it for self-training, as could a group of musicians. I have successfully used this method with classes of up to twenty students. Here are some suggestions, section by section. Perhaps the most important suggestion is to enjoy the process. Solkaṭṭu should be fun!
Part I: Tiśra Jāti Ēka Tāḷa
CHAPTER 1: LESSONS, FIRST SERIES
The entire first section is designed for beginners, not just in Indian rhythm studies but in general rhythm studies. I have used it in entry-level music courses with great success. The exercises are supported by clear, detailed notation and video examples. These are truly fundamental lessons; they should be taught, practiced, and mastered with great care. Every subsequent lesson is built on the foundation established by these lessons. Once they have been mastered using the original three-note phrase, they should be repeated with each of the substitute phrases, until any of them can be performed on demand.
CHAPTERS 2–4: LESSONS, SECOND SERIES, AND MŌRĀ SERIES 1 AND 2
Each student should learn to perform both series according to the instructions. Again, the notation and video support will be extremely helpful. Students should learn to perform this material without looking at the notation. Remember that Karnatak music is an oral tradition.
Once each student has mastered every mōrā, they can be performed in turn by a group of musicians. The group can recite the main body of the composition, using the mōrās as small solos for individual students.
Part II: Exercise Mōrās
CHAPTER 5
These mōrās should be learned and mastered one at a time. I use an exercise mōrā at the beginning of each class session as a kind of tune-up; first the group performs it together, then each student performs it in turn. Once everybody has a good command of a particular exercise mōrā, we go on to the next one. I recommend doing all four versions of exercise mōrā 1 before going on to the others. Do only the mōrās that can be handled comfortably; there is no reason to do them all. On the other hand, if the group breezes through them, feel free to make up variations.
Part III: Ādi Tāḷa Lessons
Chapters 6–12
I strongly recommend that all members of the class or group work through all of the versions and variations of each mōrā, kōrvai, and koraippu pattern in this part of the book. This will reinforce the important point that the material is extremely flexible and can appear in any of the forms presented. Naturally, when it comes to performing the full composition, parts and variations will be assigned and practiced, and the performance order will be set. But this should be delayed as long as possible. In addition to the video examples of each lesson, chapter 12, “Putting It All Together,” provides three examples of performance pieces for groups of varying sizes. Feel free to experiment.
Pronunciation
Two different types of pronunciation guide are used in this book. The first concerns Sanskrit and Tamil words; the second, the solkaṭṭu syllables. This pronunciation guide applies to the former—pronunciation of the syllables will be handled on a case-by-case basis throughout the text:
vowels may be short—a (opera, cinema), e (pet), i (tip), o (porch), u (put)—or long—ā (blah), ē (say), ī (tee), ō (blow), ū (tool)
consonants t and d are dental, pronounced with the tongue flat against the top teeth
consonants with dots underneath, ḍ, ṭ, ḷ, ṇ, are retroflex, pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled against the roof of the mouth, as if a liquid “r” preceded them: bird, curt, snarling, corn
ś sounds like flash, s sounds like dust, not music
r is like the single Spanish r, in which the tongue bounces once off the roof of the mouth, not like the liquid American row
j and g sound like jog
c sounds like church
Accents in Sanskrit and Tamil words are functions of long and short syllables. If all the vowels in a word are short, the syllables are pronounced with equal weight, for example sol-kaṭ-ṭu, not SOL-kaṭ-ṭu or sol-KAṬ-ṭu. A long vowel in a word generates an accent, for example TĀ-ḷa, san-KĪR-ṇa. Most of the non-English words in this text can be sounded out using this scheme. One exception is the Sanskrit caturaśra, which most Tamil-speaking Karnatak musicians pronounce as cha-TOOSH-ra or cha-TOOS-ra. The following glossary includes approximate pronunciations and definitions for the non-English terms used in this introduction.
GLOSSARY
aḍavu (ah-dah-voo): A basic movement pattern in bharata nāṭyam.
ādi tāḷa (AH-dee TAH-la): The predominant tāḷa in Karnatak music. Its eight beats are counted with a four-beat laghu and two drutams (clap and wave).
bharata nāṭyam (ba-ra-ta NOT-yum): South India’s classical dance.
caturaśra jāti (cha-TOOSH-ra JAH-tee): The family of four-beat rhythms. Also, when referring to the laghu, four beats.
ēka tāḷa (ACHE-a TAH-la): A tāḷa made up of a single clap and finger counts (laghu).
Hindustani (hin-du-STAH-nee): The classical music of North India.
jati (jetty): Patterns of hand and foot movements in bharata nāṭyam.
kaṇakku (kah-na-kuh): “Calculation.” Rhythmic figures that create tension within the tāḷa they are designed to fit.
Karnatak (kar-NAH-tuck): The classical music of South India.
khaṇḍa cāpu tāḷa (con-da CHA-poo TAH-la): A five-beat tāḷa counted with claps on the first, third, and fourth beats.
konakkol (koe-nock-coal): Solkaṭṭu performed in a concert setting.
koraippu (ko-rye-pooh): “Reduction.” A section of the tani āvartanam in which drummers trade progressively shorter groups of phrases.
kōrvai
