Saxophone
सैक्सोफोन
The saxophone in South Indian classical music, adapted to carry raga and gamaka
The saxophone as a lead instrument in South Indian classical music, pioneered by Kadri Gopalnath (1949 to 2019) on an alto he modified to carry gamakas.
History & Evolution
Kadri Gopalnath was born in Bantwal taluk, Dakshina Kannada, in Karnataka. His father, Taniyappa, played the nadaswaram, the South Indian double-reed temple wind instrument, and gave him his first training. On a visit to Mysore the boy heard a saxophone in the palace band, at about eight or, by another account, at fifteen. He later gave up the nadaswaram to concentrate on the saxophone.
Two teachers gave him the grammar of Carnatic music on his new instrument: N. Gopalakrishna Iyer of Kalaniketan, Mangaluru, and Balakrishna Pillai of Kumbakonam. At about fifteen he played at a puja (worship ceremony) in the Kadri temple in Mangaluru, his first public performance, which brought offers from nearby towns. T. V. Gopalakrishnan heard him in concert and invited him to Chennai; Gopalnath called him his guru. Film widened his audience: A. R. Rahman and K. Balachander used his saxophone in Duet, and Rahman used him again in Sangamam. He became known by the title Saxophone Chakravarthy.
- 1840s to 1856
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Saxophone reaches Mysore
The Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone in the 1840s. In 1856, according to research reported by Paul Wehage, the Maharaja of Mysore hires the French saxophone player Ali Ben Sou Alle to direct his palace band. - 1978 to 1980
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First broadcast and jazz stage
Gopalnath gives his first concert for All India Radio, Mangaluru, in 1978. At the 1980 Bombay jazz festival, the American saxophonist John Handy joins him on stage, and the pair go on to play European festivals. - 1994
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BBC Proms
On 12 August 1994 Gopalnath plays Prom 34, a late-night BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall, with A. Kanyakumari on violin, Mysore Rajappa Sainatha on mridangam and Bhimachar Rajashekar on morsing. - 2004 to 2019
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Honours and collaboration
Gopalnath receives the Padma Shri from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2004. In 2008 Pi Recordings releases Kinsmen, his album with the American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. He dies in Mangaluru on 11 October 2019.
Technical Aspects
Breath and Blowing
Gopalnath found that the standard saxophone's key action produced separate notes, which did not suit the gamaka-based line of Carnatic music. His alto's wide bore and spaced keys added to the problem, and gamakas on it took immense lung power, so he changed his blowing, the way he sent breath into the instrument.
Instrument Modifications
Gopalnath described three modifications to his saxophone. He blocked some openings for the lowest notes, because their levers got in the way of his fingering and Carnatic music seldom needs more than two octaves. He replaced the rigid metal rods that work the keys with elastic rubber strings. He also swapped the leather pads that seal the tone holes for convex felt pads.
The Alto and Its Pitch
Gopalnath played the alto saxophone for nearly five decades, and accompanying violinists had to retune to match its deep pitch. By 2014 he had moved to a narrower-bored, 26-key German-silver saxophone dated 1914. With it the violins could settle at a shruti (tonic pitch) of C, and he found anuswaras easier to handle and his blowing and fingering 50 per cent easier.
Journey to Mastery
Follow this structured journey to master this discipline
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Saxophone Fundamentals
Build a steady tone on the alto saxophone through long notes, slow scales and breath control. Work on embouchure, the shaping of the lips and mouth on the mouthpiece, until each note holds its pitch at soft and loud dynamics. Practise with a drone set to your chosen shruti, the tonic pitch, from the first lesson.
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Raga Theory
Study each raga through its scale, its characteristic phrases and its ornaments. The tana varnam works as a kind of raga dictionary: it presents its raga in full and teaches the player to perform and later improvise in it. Learn by ear from a teacher and from vocal and instrumental recordings.
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Gamaka Technique
Shape gamakas through breath and fingering together. Start with a slow oscillation on a single note, then slides between neighbouring notes, then anuswaras, the subsidiary notes touched around a main note. Move each ornament into the raga phrases from the previous stage, and record yourself to check that the ornament sits on the right note of the raga.
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Repertoire Development
Build a repertoire of composed pieces. Varnams come first: students practise them at double speed, and tana varnams open concerts. Kritis follow, and Gopalnath himself auditioned for All India Radio with Upacharamu, a kriti in raga Bhairavi. Then comes ragam-tanam-pallavi, a suite in which a single composed line, the pallavi, is developed after alapana and tanam.
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Improvisation and Performance
Develop improvisation within the rules of raga and tala (rhythmic cycle). Practise alapana, the unmetred exposition of a raga; niraval, variations on one line of song text; and kalpanaswaram, improvised passages played to note names. Gopalnath's own All India Radio audition already carried niraval and kalpanaswaram on a Bhairavi kriti.