Lec dem - Manodharma made easy - Part 2.

Part 1: Click here.

How to start the process of trying to get manodharma from a composition:

• A good teacher who has a good pathantara: Under the guidance of a good teacher, one can learn and understand something from every line of the composition. For example, in the composition gajavana by Maharaja Ettendra, if a teacher highlights on the fact that the chittaswara in the composition is not a mere notation but also contains varieties of sAdhArana gAndhara, then each of these varieties can be mastered.
• Composer's approach towards a raga: Each composer's approach towards a raga is different. Each one of these approaches enrich our understanding of the raga.
• Two kinds of learning: Intuitive learning and analytical learning. Intuitive learning involves learning something by intuition. It lights a bulb in our soul and brings so much joy. Learning by analysis or discovery through analysis brings in a lot of confidence in a person. Then he / she is confident with what he / she can do with a raga. Music needs both kinds of learning. This combination can develop a wonderful artiste who can sing a raga with limited scope for a long duration (without repetitions).
• Ideas of the same raga from various compositions: Rather than struggling and knowing not where to go while learning a raga, we have a easy tool with us in the form of compositions. By learning maximum number of compositions in a particular raga, we can learn many aspects or ideas of a raga. For example, the composition budhamAshrayAmi makes a very bold and brave statement of nAttakuranji. There is another composition, vazhi maraittirukkude of Gopalakrishna Bharathi which illustrates emotive aspects of the same raga. Yet another kriti of Dikshithar, pArvatikumAram in nAttakuranji focuses on the ArOhana and avarOhana form of the rAga. Furthermore, the first line of pArvatikumAram's pallavi features vilamba kAla or slow speed whilst the second line features madhyama kAla. So, the composition is a combination of the two speeds. We can implement this in a rAga Alapana. A beautiful alapana can be done by combining kAlas
• muktAyippu: The ending of each kalpanaswara is called muktAyippu. Most of these muktAyippus are not produced new or sung on the spot but which are already known and practiced by the artiste. For the composition pArvatikumAram in nAttakurinji, the eduppu or starting note or swara of the composition is upper sa. So, the kalpanaswara would end in ni. The muktAyippu would then be ga ma ni dha ni (pArvati......) or ga ma ni da ni ri sa ni dha ni (pArvati......). The second muktAyippu is taken from the ending of the pallavi, namely, saravanabhava guruguha sri (pArvati.....). We can use the same muktAyippu for any other composition in the same rAga which starts with upper sa or which has its eduppu starting with sa. Since we have learnt the muktAyippu from a dIkshithar composition, we can boldly use it and can never go wrong.

These are some of the ways in which compositions can be used to make Manodharma easy.

P/s: The speaker ended his lec-dem after highlighting on couple of hindustani rAgas.