Violin
वायलिन
The European violin, retuned and played seated for South Indian classical music
The Carnatic violin is the Western violin as played in South Indian classical music: tuned differently, played seated on the floor, and heard as accompanist and soloist.
ساز کو جانیں
ساز کی گائیڈ میں اس کی آواز، ساخت اور دیکھ بھال کے بارے میں جانیں۔
History & Evolution
The violin entered Carnatic music in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and accounts credit more than one musician. By tradition the first was Baluswami Dikshitar (1786 to 1858), younger brother of the composer Muthuswami Dikshitar. A patron with business at Fort St George in Madras took the brothers there, where Baluswami heard Western music and learnt the violin from a European player. Muthuswami set Sanskrit texts to Western tunes, among them jigs, reels and marches, in a major scale and without gamaka. Tradition holds that he wrote these nottuswara songs for his brother's violin practice.
Other accounts name Vadivelu of the Tanjore Quartet, who studied the violin with a European in Thanjavur. C. R. Day's 1891 list of southern musicians records him as one believed to have brought the violin to South India. R. Sathyanarayana of Mysore argued for an earlier entry in the Mysore region, but the editors of Sruti magazine found no named early players to support it.
The violin later replaced the veena as the usual accompanying instrument. Sruti records Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer (1857 to 1913) as the first violinist to give solo concerts.
- Fort St George, Madras
-
Manali years, near Madras
Muthuswami Dikshitar's family hears European band music at Fort St George in Madras, through a patron with access to the Fort. Muthuswami's younger brother Baluswami takes lessons from a European violinist, about three years of them by one account. - Baluswami Dikshitar
-
1786 to 1858
Baluswami Dikshitar adapts the violin to Carnatic music, changing its tuning and playing posture. In 1905 Subbarama Dikshitar's Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini prints 33 of Muthuswami's nottuswara songs with notation. - Vadivelu at the Travancore court
-
1829 to 1846
Vadivelu (born 1810), youngest of the Tanjore Quartet, moves from the Thanjavur court of Serfoji II to Travancore, where Swati Tirunal makes him a court musician. He is also a composer, singer and Bharatanatyam exponent. - Soloists take the stage
-
Before amplification
Mysore T. Chowdiah develops a seven-stringed violin so that his accompaniment carries in large halls. Also before amplification, Marungapuri Gopalakrishna Iyer popularises the phono-violin, a violin fitted with a megaphone-type horn. - The violin trinity
-
From the 1940s
Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, T. N. Krishnan and M. S. Gopalakrishnan become the leading soloists known as the violin trinity. Krishnan accompanies T. R. Mahalingam in Chennai in 1943, and Lalgudi develops a vocal, lyric-led style, the Lalgudi bani.
Technical Aspects
Tuning to the drone
The Carnatic violin keeps the Western instrument and changes how it is tuned. A Western violinist tunes G-D-A-E, rising in perfect fifths. In Carnatic music a drone sounds the tonic, Sa, and usually its fifth, Pa, and every instrument on stage, percussion included, tunes to it. The tambura supplies that drone in most Carnatic music.
Gamaka and the left hand
On the violin, gamaka, the ornaments on and between notes, comes from the left hand. The seated posture holds the instrument still, with the scroll on the foot and the back against the left collarbone or shoulder, so the hand can travel for fast ornaments. R. Sathyanarayana of Mysore linked the violin's adoption to its sustained tone and to the ease with which it produces gamaka.
Ludwig Pesch writes of the proverbial 22 shrutis, fine shades of pitch, alongside twelve semitone positions, or svarasthanas.
Accompanying the singer
In a kutcheri, or Carnatic concert, the violin plays in unison with the singer in composed passages and imitates the voice in improvised ones. Sruti remembers Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer as a loyal accompanist who drew out the lead performer's ideas. Lalgudi G. Jayaraman brought a vocal, lyric-led approach to the violin, the Lalgudi bani.
مہارت کا سفر
اس فن میں مہارت کے لیے اس منظم سفر پر چلیں
-
Sarali varisai and alankaras
The graded method credited to Purandara Dasa sets the general Carnatic teaching order. It starts from the scale Mayamalavagowla. Lessons begin with sarali varisai, simple ascending and descending note patterns, then janta varisai, with notes repeated in pairs, then alankaras, exercises set to the talas, or rhythmic cycles. Simple songs called gitams follow.
-
Gamaka ornaments
This stage covers gamaka, the ornaments played on and between notes. Which gamaka a note takes depends on its melodic context in the raga, and gamakas are integral to Carnatic music. On the violin they come from the left hand. The seated posture, with the scroll on the foot, holds the instrument steady and leaves that hand free for fast ornaments.
-
The varnam stage
Varnams come next. The tana varnam presents its raga's phrases and ornaments and teaches the student to sing or play and improvise in that raga. Students practise varnams at double speed as well as at the base tempo. Most are set in Adi tala, a cycle of eight beats, or Ata tala, of fourteen.
-
Kritis and improvisation
Concert pieces follow the varnams, among them kritis, the main composed song form. Improvisation comes last. Its forms include raga alapana, an unmetred exposition of the raga; tanam, a pulsing but unmetred exposition; niraval, variations on one line of text; and kalpanaswaram (svara kalpana), improvised note patterns in sol-fa names.
اکثر پوچھے جانے والے سوالات
Where can I learn Carnatic violin online with a live teacher?
KalaSudha's online lessons in Carnatic violin are live and one-to-one, with a vetted teacher. It is the European violin, tuned differently and played seated on the floor. The scroll rests on your right ankle, which holds the violin steady and leaves the left hand free for fast ornaments.
At Foundation you start with sarali varisai, simple rising and falling note patterns, then janta varisai, with notes repeated in pairs. The violin accompanies singers and plays solo. One teacher guides you through our courses over years, and workshops and summer camps run where enough learners sign up.
How can a beginner, a child or a violinist returning after a long break start learning Indian classical violin?
You can learn Indian classical violin with KalaSudha online and in workshops, and beginners start at Foundation level. Foundation teaches the seated Indian hold, with the scroll resting on the right ankle so the left hand moves freely. Children learn with us too. Ask us about a starting age and a violin size for a younger learner.
Violinists coming back after a long break start again where they left off, because our courses run in levels; your teacher reviews where you stand first.
Can a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist learn to play Indian classical music?
Yes, a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist can learn Indian classical music; KalaSudha teaches it online in live one-to-one lessons from Foundation. We add workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up. The new part is the raga, a melodic framework of set notes, stressed notes and characteristic phrases.
On the Hindustani violin, fingering and bowing join the notes. On Indian slide guitar, a bar glides between them. The piano cannot glide, so pianists learn to suggest meend, the glide between notes. In South Indian music, Ludwig Pesch writes, each note's ornament, its gamaka, depends on its melodic context.
How do I find a good Carnatic violin teacher?
To find a good Carnatic violin teacher, or guru, look for one who can tell you who they learned from. From your first lesson, a good teacher checks your seated Indian hold, with the scroll resting on your right ankle. On KalaSudha, each teacher's lineage is on their profile. Pick one yourself, or ask us to match you.
Lessons are live and online, from £30 / $30 an hour, set by each teacher. If you have played before, your teacher first reviews where you stand. Where enough learners sign up, we also bring workshops and summer camps near them. Ask about Carnatic violin lessons in the Academy.
How much do Carnatic violin lessons cost?
Carnatic violin lessons with KalaSudha are from £30 / $30 an hour, set by each teacher, and shown in your currency on the teacher's booking page. Every lesson is live and one-to-one, online, booked in your own time zone. Each teacher's lineage is on their profile: pick a teacher, or ask KalaSudha to match you, then choose a length and a time and pay at checkout.
Have more questions? Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!