Kerala Plus Two Music cheat sheet

Svara (tonal position) has seven names: Shadja (Sa), Rishabha (Ri), Gandhara (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivata (Da), Nishada (Ni); Sa and Pa are achala (fixed), the rest are chala (movable).

Sruti denotes a microtonal interval; the standard 22-sruti division of the octave is a theoretical framework, and the svarasthanas are placed on selected srutis rather than evenly spaced.

Twelve svarasthanas are conventionally named: Shuddha Ri, Chatushruti Ri, Shatshruti Ri, Shuddha Ga, Sadharana Ga, Antara Ga, Shuddha Ma, Prati Ma, Shuddha Da, Chatushruti Da, Shatshruti Da, Kakali Ni, plus Shuddha Ni and Kaishiki Ni in the 16-name scheme.

Raga lakshana rests on: graha (starting svara), amsa (predominant svara), nyasa (resting svara), apanyasa, and the arohana/avarohana with vakra (zig-zag) or straight progression.

A raga is classified as sampurna (7 svaras), shadava (6) or audava (5) in each direction; janya ragas derive from a melakarta by omitting, bending or reordering svaras.

Melakarta scheme (Venkatamakhin, Kanakangi to Rasikapriya): 72 ragas, 12 chakras of 6; the first two letters of the melakarta name encode the Rishabha and Gandhara, the third encodes the Madhyama.

Tala is measured by anga units: laghu (I), drutam (O) and anudrutam (U); the laghu's jati (3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 9 aksharas) determines the tala's total akshara count.

Sapta talas are Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata and Eka; the 35-talas arise by applying the five laghu jatis to the seven, and the 175 scheme adds the five gati (nadai) speeds.

Bharata's Natyasastra (c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE) is the earliest surviving treatise covering sruti, svara, grama, murcchana, jati and the 22-sruti division.

Sangita Ratnakara by Sarangadeva (13th century, Yadava court) systematises svara, raga, tala and prabandha and is the bridge text between ancient and medieval practice.

Matanga's Brihaddesi (c. 9th century) is the first text to use 'raga' as a technical category and describes desi (regional) melodies.

Narada's Sangita Makaranda and the Sangita Samayasara of Parshvadeva also belong to the medieval period; Abhinavagupta's commentary on Natyasastra treats rasa theory.

Venkatamakhin's Chaturdandi Prakasika (17th century) sets out the 72-melakarta principle and the four dandis: alapa, thaya, gita and prabandha.

Govindacharya's Sangraha Chudamani (18th century) gives the modern kanakangi–rasikapriya ordering and the katapayadi naming of melakartas.

Modern period landmarks: Purandara Dasa's pedagogical framework, the Tanjore and Travancore courts, and 20th-century institutionalisation through music colleges and All India Radio.

Sangita Parijata (Ahobala) and Ragavibodha (Somanatha) are key medieval texts on raga and svara placement, and Ramanatya's Svara-mela-kalanidhi (16th century) links southern and northern theory.

Purandara Dasa (16th century) is called the Sangita Pitamaha; he codified the sarali, janti and alankara graded exercises and composed thousands of devaranamas.

Trinity of Carnatic music: Tyagaraja (Pancharatna kritis, Utsava sampradaya kritis), Muthuswami Dikshitar (navavarana, navagraha, nottusvara sahityas) and Syama Sastri (swarajati, tana varnam in Bhairavi).

Other major composers: Annamacharya (sankirtanas), Kshetrayya (padams), Swati Tirunal (Travancore, varnams and kritis in many ragas), Papanasam Sivan, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Veena Kuppayyar.

Musical forms in ascending structural size: geetham, swarajati, jatisvara, varnam (tana and pada), kirtanam/kriti, ragamalika, tillana, javali and padam.

A kriti's standard structure is pallavi, anupallavi, charanam, with optional chittasvara or swarasahitya passages; the pallavi carries the main theme.

Ragamalika is a composition whose successive sections use different ragas; examples include the Bhairavi raga-tala malika and Bhadrachala Ramadasu's ragamalika kirtanas.

Varnam has two types: tana varnam (etudes in raga grammar, with purvangam and uttarangam) and pada varnam (dance-oriented with sahitya throughout).

Manodharma components: alapana, niraval, kalpanasvara, tanam and pallavi (ragam-tanam-pallavi); niraval improvises on a chosen sahitya line within the tala cycle.

Gharana = a lineage of style transmitted through guru–shishya parampara, identified by distinctive treatment of raga, laya and voice/instrument technique.

Vocal gharanas: Gwalior (founded in the court of Daulat Rao Scindia; khayal in slower vilambit, tappa influence), Agra, Jaipur-Atrauli, Kirana, Patiala, Rampur-Sahaswan, Bhendi Bazaar, Indore and Mewati.

Instrumental gharanas: Maihar (Allauddin Khan), Senia (Beenkar and Rababiya branches), Imdadkhani/Etawah (Imdad Khan, Vilayat Khan), Gwalior and Kirana for sarod/sitar lineages.

Prominent exponents: Faiyaz Khan (Agra), Abdul Karim Khan (Kirana), Alladiya Khan (Jaipur-Atrauli), Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Patiala), Amir Khan (Indore), D. V. Paluskar and Bhimsen Joshi.

Khayal has two parts, sthayi and antara, and two speeds, vilambit (bada khayal) and drut (chhota khayal); it uses bandish as the fixed composition.

Other forms: dhrupad (with dagarbani and nauharbani styles, in chautal and dhamar), dhamar, tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, hori, chaiti and bhajan.

Dhrupad's four vanis and its alap in nom-tom syllables are distinct from khayal's nom-tom-free alap; the pakhawaj accompanies dhrupad, tabla accompanies khayal.

Raga presentation sequence in khayal: alap, jod/bandish entry, bol-banao, bol-taan, sargam and taans, ending on the sam.

Kathakali sangeetham is a sopana-style vocal tradition sung by two singers (ponnani/pattu) behind the actors, with chengila and elathalam keeping time and chenda/maddalam for rhythm.

Kathakali songs are in ragas drawn from Carnatic music but rendered in a slow, elongated Sopana idiom; the slokas are intoned in a characteristic recitative.

The ashtapadi (Gita Govinda of Jayadeva) and manipravalam slokas form part of the Kathakali repertoire; Kottayam Thampuran and Irayimman Thampi are noted composers of Kathakali padams.

Sopana Sangeetham is the temple music of Kerala, sung in ragas such as Bhairavi, Kalyani, Sriragam and Todi, accompanied by edakka and elathalam, in a slow stepwise (sopana) ascent.

Kerala folk forms: Theyyam (ritual dance of north Malabar with thottam songs), Padayani, Mudiyettu, Thira, Koodiyattam and Chakyar Koothu.

Vadakkan pattukal (northern ballads), Mappila pattukal, Pulluvan pattu (with pulluva veena and kudam), and Thullal songs (Kunchan Nambiar's Ottamthullal, Seethankan and Parayan).

Melam ensembles: Panchavadyam (five instruments), Pandi melam, Panchari melam and Thayambaka, using chenda, maddalam, kombu, kuzhal, elathalam and chengila.

Kerala instruments: edakka, chenda, maddalam, timila, idakka, kuzhal, kombu, chengila, elathalam, pulluva veena and villu (a stringed bow instrument).

Carnatic notation uses svara letters (S R G M P D N) with superscript/subscript markers for octave, commas or dashes for duration, and separate lines for sahitya.

Symbols: a dot above a svara raises it to the upper octave, a dot below lowers it; a comma marks a beat, a semicolon a half-beat, and avartana boundaries are marked by vertical bars.

Hindustani notation (paluskar and bhatkhande systems) uses sargam letters, with bar lines for vibhag divisions, and marks for komal, tivra and mandra/taar saptak.

Bhatkhande's system marks komal svaras with underlining and tivra Ma with a specific sign; Paluskar's system uses capital letters for shuddha and small letters for komal.

The natya/classical fourfold classification (Bharata) is tata (stringed), sushira (wind), avanaddha (percussion, covered) and ghana (solid, idiophones).

Tata vadya: veena, violin, sitar, sarod, sarangi, guitar; sushira: flute (bansuri), nagaswaram, shehnai, kuzhal, harmonium.

Avanaddha: mridangam, tabla, pakhawaj, chenda, maddalam, idakka, kanjira; ghana: jal tarang, ghatam, morsing, chengila, elathalam.

Pitch and range: mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and tara (upper) saptak; the tanpura's four strings are typically tuned Pa–Sa–Sa–Sa (lower) or Ma–Sa–Sa–Sa.

A concert typically opens with a varnam in a raga such as Nata or Kalyani, followed by kritis, with the main (raka) piece given full alapana, niraval and kalpanasvara.

Tana varnam structure: purvangam (pallavi and anupallavi with muktayi svara) and uttarangam (charanam with chittasvara); it is practised in two speeds.

Kriti rendering order: pallavi, anupallavi, charanam, then improvised niraval and kalpanasvara on a chosen line, returning to the pallavi.

Kalpanasvara is improvised svara passagework in the raga of the composition, structured around the tala's aksharas and cadencing on the sam.

Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi (RTP) is the most elaborate manodharma form: alapana, tanam, then a composed pallavi line improvised with niraval and svara in multiple gatis and eduppu placements.

Eduppu is the offset of the composition's start from the tala's sam: samam (on sam), atita (before) and anagata (after).

Tala gati (nadai) may be tisra (3), chatusra (4), khanda (5), misra (7) or sankirna (9); a pallavi may switch gatis during improvisation.

Instrumental performance mirrors vocal: the violin and veena imitate vocal gamaka; flute and nagaswaram rely on breath and continuous phrasing, and mridangam accompanies with tani avartanam.

Bharata's Natyasastra lists eight rasas - sringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, veera, bhayanaka, bibhatsa and adbhuta - with shanta added later as the ninth.

Rasa is evoked by the combination of vibhava (cause), anubhava (response) and vyabhichari bhava (transient states); the theory is elaborated by Abhinavagupta.

In music, rasa is carried by raga ethos (e.g. Bhairavi for karuna, Kalyani for sringara/auspiciousness), gamaka, tempo, and the sahitya's meaning.

Raga-time associations (samay) in Hindustani music link certain ragas to hours (e.g. Todi to morning, Yaman to evening); Carnatic music generally does not enforce samay.

Appreciation criteria: correctness of raga lakshana, fidelity to tala, clarity of sahitya, variety in sangatya, and appropriateness of improvisation to the composition's mood.

A concert's aesthetic arc moves from structured composition toward elaboration and back to a light close (tillana, mangalam), giving contrast in tempo and texture.

Gamakas - kampita, jaru, sphurita, nokku, orika - are the microtonal ornaments that distinguish ragas sharing the same scale, and are central to aesthetic identity.

Rasa in Kathakali and other dance-dramas is conveyed through navarasa abhinaya combined with padam sahitya and the slow sopana-style rendering of the song.

Svara (tonal position) has seven names: Shadja (Sa), Rishabha (Ri), Gandhara (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivata (Da), Nishada (Ni); Sa and Pa are achala (fixed), the rest are chala (movable).

Sruti denotes a microtonal interval; the standard 22-sruti division of the octave is a theoretical framework, and the svarasthanas are placed on selected srutis rather than evenly spaced.

Twelve svarasthanas are conventionally named: Shuddha Ri, Chatushruti Ri, Shatshruti Ri, Shuddha Ga, Sadharana Ga, Antara Ga, Shuddha Ma, Prati Ma, Shuddha Da, Chatushruti Da, Shatshruti Da, Kakali Ni, plus Shuddha Ni and Kaishiki Ni in the 16-name scheme.

Raga lakshana rests on: graha (starting svara), amsa (predominant svara), nyasa (resting svara), apanyasa, and the arohana/avarohana with vakra (zig-zag) or straight progression.

A raga is classified as sampurna (7 svaras), shadava (6) or audava (5) in each direction; janya ragas derive from a melakarta by omitting, bending or reordering svaras.

Melakarta scheme (Venkatamakhin, Kanakangi to Rasikapriya): 72 ragas, 12 chakras of 6; the first two letters of the melakarta name encode the Rishabha and Gandhara, the third encodes the Madhyama.

Tala is measured by anga units: laghu (I), drutam (O) and anudrutam (U); the laghu's jati (3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 9 aksharas) determines the tala's total akshara count.

Sapta talas are Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata and Eka; the 35-talas arise by applying the five laghu jatis to the seven, and the 175 scheme adds the five gati (nadai) speeds.

Bharata's Natyasastra (c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE) is the earliest surviving treatise covering sruti, svara, grama, murcchana, jati and the 22-sruti division.

Sangita Ratnakara by Sarangadeva (13th century, Yadava court) systematises svara, raga, tala and prabandha and is the bridge text between ancient and medieval practice.

Matanga's Brihaddesi (c. 9th century) is the first text to use 'raga' as a technical category and describes desi (regional) melodies.

Narada's Sangita Makaranda and the Sangita Samayasara of Parshvadeva also belong to the medieval period; Abhinavagupta's commentary on Natyasastra treats rasa theory.

Venkatamakhin's Chaturdandi Prakasika (17th century) sets out the 72-melakarta principle and the four dandis: alapa, thaya, gita and prabandha.

Govindacharya's Sangraha Chudamani (18th century) gives the modern kanakangi–rasikapriya ordering and the katapayadi naming of melakartas.

Modern period landmarks: Purandara Dasa's pedagogical framework, the Tanjore and Travancore courts, and 20th-century institutionalisation through music colleges and All India Radio.

Sangita Parijata (Ahobala) and Ragavibodha (Somanatha) are key medieval texts on raga and svara placement, and Ramanatya's Svara-mela-kalanidhi (16th century) links southern and northern theory.

Purandara Dasa (16th century) is called the Sangita Pitamaha; he codified the sarali, janti and alankara graded exercises and composed thousands of devaranamas.

Trinity of Carnatic music: Tyagaraja (Pancharatna kritis, Utsava sampradaya kritis), Muthuswami Dikshitar (navavarana, navagraha, nottusvara sahityas) and Syama Sastri (swarajati, tana varnam in Bhairavi).

Other major composers: Annamacharya (sankirtanas), Kshetrayya (padams), Swati Tirunal (Travancore, varnams and kritis in many ragas), Papanasam Sivan, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Veena Kuppayyar.

Musical forms in ascending structural size: geetham, swarajati, jatisvara, varnam (tana and pada), kirtanam/kriti, ragamalika, tillana, javali and padam.

A kriti's standard structure is pallavi, anupallavi, charanam, with optional chittasvara or swarasahitya passages; the pallavi carries the main theme.

Ragamalika is a composition whose successive sections use different ragas; examples include the Bhairavi raga-tala malika and Bhadrachala Ramadasu's ragamalika kirtanas.

Varnam has two types: tana varnam (etudes in raga grammar, with purvangam and uttarangam) and pada varnam (dance-oriented with sahitya throughout).

Manodharma components: alapana, niraval, kalpanasvara, tanam and pallavi (ragam-tanam-pallavi); niraval improvises on a chosen sahitya line within the tala cycle.

Gharana = a lineage of style transmitted through guru–shishya parampara, identified by distinctive treatment of raga, laya and voice/instrument technique.

Vocal gharanas: Gwalior (founded in the court of Daulat Rao Scindia; khayal in slower vilambit, tappa influence), Agra, Jaipur-Atrauli, Kirana, Patiala, Rampur-Sahaswan, Bhendi Bazaar, Indore and Mewati.

Instrumental gharanas: Maihar (Allauddin Khan), Senia (Beenkar and Rababiya branches), Imdadkhani/Etawah (Imdad Khan, Vilayat Khan), Gwalior and Kirana for sarod/sitar lineages.

Prominent exponents: Faiyaz Khan (Agra), Abdul Karim Khan (Kirana), Alladiya Khan (Jaipur-Atrauli), Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Patiala), Amir Khan (Indore), D. V. Paluskar and Bhimsen Joshi.

Khayal has two parts, sthayi and antara, and two speeds, vilambit (bada khayal) and drut (chhota khayal); it uses bandish as the fixed composition.

Other forms: dhrupad (with dagarbani and nauharbani styles, in chautal and dhamar), dhamar, tarana, thumri, dadra, tappa, hori, chaiti and bhajan.

Dhrupad's four vanis and its alap in nom-tom syllables are distinct from khayal's nom-tom-free alap; the pakhawaj accompanies dhrupad, tabla accompanies khayal.

Raga presentation sequence in khayal: alap, jod/bandish entry, bol-banao, bol-taan, sargam and taans, ending on the sam.

Kathakali sangeetham is a sopana-style vocal tradition sung by two singers (ponnani/pattu) behind the actors, with chengila and elathalam keeping time and chenda/maddalam for rhythm.

Kathakali songs are in ragas drawn from Carnatic music but rendered in a slow, elongated Sopana idiom; the slokas are intoned in a characteristic recitative.

The ashtapadi (Gita Govinda of Jayadeva) and manipravalam slokas form part of the Kathakali repertoire; Kottayam Thampuran and Irayimman Thampi are noted composers of Kathakali padams.

Sopana Sangeetham is the temple music of Kerala, sung in ragas such as Bhairavi, Kalyani, Sriragam and Todi, accompanied by edakka and elathalam, in a slow stepwise (sopana) ascent.

Kerala folk forms: Theyyam (ritual dance of north Malabar with thottam songs), Padayani, Mudiyettu, Thira, Koodiyattam and Chakyar Koothu.

Vadakkan pattukal (northern ballads), Mappila pattukal, Pulluvan pattu (with pulluva veena and kudam), and Thullal songs (Kunchan Nambiar's Ottamthullal, Seethankan and Parayan).

Melam ensembles: Panchavadyam (five instruments), Pandi melam, Panchari melam and Thayambaka, using chenda, maddalam, kombu, kuzhal, elathalam and chengila.

Kerala instruments: edakka, chenda, maddalam, timila, idakka, kuzhal, kombu, chengila, elathalam, pulluva veena and villu (a stringed bow instrument).

Carnatic notation uses svara letters (S R G M P D N) with superscript/subscript markers for octave, commas or dashes for duration, and separate lines for sahitya.

Symbols: a dot above a svara raises it to the upper octave, a dot below lowers it; a comma marks a beat, a semicolon a half-beat, and avartana boundaries are marked by vertical bars.

Hindustani notation (paluskar and bhatkhande systems) uses sargam letters, with bar lines for vibhag divisions, and marks for komal, tivra and mandra/taar saptak.

Bhatkhande's system marks komal svaras with underlining and tivra Ma with a specific sign; Paluskar's system uses capital letters for shuddha and small letters for komal.

The natya/classical fourfold classification (Bharata) is tata (stringed), sushira (wind), avanaddha (percussion, covered) and ghana (solid, idiophones).

Tata vadya: veena, violin, sitar, sarod, sarangi, guitar; sushira: flute (bansuri), nagaswaram, shehnai, kuzhal, harmonium.

Avanaddha: mridangam, tabla, pakhawaj, chenda, maddalam, idakka, kanjira; ghana: jal tarang, ghatam, morsing, chengila, elathalam.

Pitch and range: mandra (lower), madhya (middle) and tara (upper) saptak; the tanpura's four strings are typically tuned Pa–Sa–Sa–Sa (lower) or Ma–Sa–Sa–Sa.

A concert typically opens with a varnam in a raga such as Nata or Kalyani, followed by kritis, with the main (raka) piece given full alapana, niraval and kalpanasvara.

Tana varnam structure: purvangam (pallavi and anupallavi with muktayi svara) and uttarangam (charanam with chittasvara); it is practised in two speeds.

Kriti rendering order: pallavi, anupallavi, charanam, then improvised niraval and kalpanasvara on a chosen line, returning to the pallavi.

Kalpanasvara is improvised svara passagework in the raga of the composition, structured around the tala's aksharas and cadencing on the sam.

Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi (RTP) is the most elaborate manodharma form: alapana, tanam, then a composed pallavi line improvised with niraval and svara in multiple gatis and eduppu placements.

Eduppu is the offset of the composition's start from the tala's sam: samam (on sam), atita (before) and anagata (after).

Tala gati (nadai) may be tisra (3), chatusra (4), khanda (5), misra (7) or sankirna (9); a pallavi may switch gatis during improvisation.

Instrumental performance mirrors vocal: the violin and veena imitate vocal gamaka; flute and nagaswaram rely on breath and continuous phrasing, and mridangam accompanies with tani avartanam.

Bharata's Natyasastra lists eight rasas - sringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, veera, bhayanaka, bibhatsa and adbhuta - with shanta added later as the ninth.

Rasa is evoked by the combination of vibhava (cause), anubhava (response) and vyabhichari bhava (transient states); the theory is elaborated by Abhinavagupta.

In music, rasa is carried by raga ethos (e.g. Bhairavi for karuna, Kalyani for sringara/auspiciousness), gamaka, tempo, and the sahitya's meaning.

Raga-time associations (samay) in Hindustani music link certain ragas to hours (e.g. Todi to morning, Yaman to evening); Carnatic music generally does not enforce samay.

Appreciation criteria: correctness of raga lakshana, fidelity to tala, clarity of sahitya, variety in sangatya, and appropriateness of improvisation to the composition's mood.

A concert's aesthetic arc moves from structured composition toward elaboration and back to a light close (tillana, mangalam), giving contrast in tempo and texture.

Gamakas - kampita, jaru, sphurita, nokku, orika - are the microtonal ornaments that distinguish ragas sharing the same scale, and are central to aesthetic identity.

Rasa in Kathakali and other dance-dramas is conveyed through navarasa abhinaya combined with padam sahitya and the slow sopana-style rendering of the song.