Introduction 1. Lesson 1 2

Transcription

1 DHAD ELEMENTAY EXECIE: TABLE OF CONTENT AND IDE TO THE MATEIAL Introduction 1 Lesson 1 2 A D: arm syllables and the shuddh ( pure, or maor) scale E: Introduction to dhrupad syllables ing exercises B, C, and D in the sequence B C D C B. ing the syllables of exercise E on any comfortable pitches, particularly middle s!. Lesson 2 3 A: Expanded aum B C: epeated notes and scale fragments D: Exercise for pitch accuracy A phonetic transcription of exercise A s expanded aum is: a o u m (in Devanari: ) Lesson 3 4 A: Omission exercise: six-, five-, and four-note scales B: The komal ( flat, or phrygian) scale C: Juxtapositions of shuddh and komal scales and tetrachords D: Chromatic exercise Lesson 4 5 A C: cale fragment exercises involving chains and slopes of notes D E: Intervals F: The four varnas (types of melodic movement) H: Exercises ith repeated scale fragment and descent to pa I: cales ith one accidental ee lesson 5, exercise A for an explanation of accidentals in Hindusta music. Lesson 5 8 A: Altered notes B: ange exercise C: Introduction to m!nd (lo slides) i

2 ing the slides in exercise C should sloly and smoothly, though not mechacally; a graph of the change of pitch from one note sliding to the next looks more like than the straight line of the score s glissando. Take a full breath for each slide. Lesson 6 9 A: Wedges B: Mind ith larger intervals C: amak (ornament) exercises Ain, the m"nd should be smooth: rather than amak in exercise C refers to ornamentation ith grace notes, not the complex vibrato characteristic of North Indian singing and also called mak; see lesson 7 exercise B and the mak exercise on page 16 for an introduction to the complex vibrato. Lesson 7 9 A: More mak exercises B: Complex vibrato Experiment ith changing the parameters of exercise B to create other complex periodic sounds. Lesson 8 11 A: olyrhythm exercises in dugun (double speed) and caugun (quadruple speed) B: Ornamented variations Lesson 9 14 A: Introduction to the nom-tom syllables The exercises of lessons 9 and 10 introduce four model sequences of four syllables each, and then sho ho to expand these sequences into longer ones by adding ra s and na s. The basic principles are expang ra na into longer patterns by adding more na s, and appending ra na, ra na na, etc. to existing sequences. (For a more detailed description, please see anyal and Widdess s Dhrupad, page 152.) For example, ta ra ra na (the first model phrase) can expand to ta ra, ra na na ii

3 2. ta ra ra, ra na na (see note belo) 3. ta ra ra, ra na na na 4. ta ra ra na, ra na na na (= ta ra ra na, ra na ra na; see note belo) 5. ta ra ra na, ra na, ra na na For sequences starting ith a three-note group, ra is inserted after the first to syllables, rather than na. The four-syllable pattern ra na ra na is structurally interchanble ith ra na na na this explains the transformation from step 4 to 5 in the example above. But ra na ra na is alays sung as ra na na na, hich explains the irregular form of the fourth model phrase. Appendix to the exercises 17 amak (vibrato) exercise This is a vibrato exercise from lesson 20. The first to lines sho the melodic outline of the exercise, and the bottom line illustrates hat the voice is doing to produce the mak effect, hich is to slide from a note (substantially) loer than the focal pitch to one (somehat) higher. The simplified notation to sho the approximate range of the slides is a little misleading: the individual slides blend into a smoother oscillating figure than appears on the page. (ee Dhrupad, page 166, for a more literal transcription.) Even though the slides hide the exactly pitches of the melody, the melodic outline is still clear: as the melody ascends, so do the slides. The general range of the slide may be large or small from a microtone to over an octave but the slides tend to get relatively smaller as the melody ascends. iii

4 Introduction Dhrupad singing lessons map out the Indian vocalist s musical landscape in broad strokes before zeroing in on particular r!gs to fill in the details. I spent ten lessons learng simple musical exercises. ome of these focus on vocal techque and sound production. The ideal voice of a male dhrupad singer stretches, roughly, from lo C to the about middle C to-and-a-half octaves, a range exceeding my natural capacity in both directions. The teacher emphasizes early morng practice to develop the bass register, and prescribes scalar exercises for the highest register. lissando and grace-note exercises introduce the student to these dimensions of dhrupad ornamentation, hich require the ability to move beteen pitches quickly and accurately. The teacher dictates exercises to develop the student s vibrato, but in general, exercises are sung ithout vibrato, ith pinpoint pitch accuracy. 1 (The constant toc-dominant drone of the tambura makes subtle variations of pitch and tung easier to hear in Indian music than in tonal, modulating Western music.) All these exercises condition the student s voice. The other exercises are not so physical; instead, they highlight different aspects of r!g construction, such as omitted notes, combinations of accidentals, and characteristic melodic movements. The most complex and difficult of these exercises builds on the simple foundation of ascending and descending scales, combined ith the idea of varying some patterns hile leaving others unchanged. The student can combine and overlap many of these exercises; this relieves the monotony of practicing the same thing ain and ain, develops mental flexibility, and provides insight into the relationship beteen these musical building blocks and an actual musical performance. Note on transposition In Indian classical music, the toc pitch, or s!, is variable. My teacher s middle s! is approximately the C- sharp belo middle C, hich is fairly standard for Indian male vocalists. In my transcriptions, hoever, middle s! is alays the C-natural belo middle C, to mimize accidentals. Note on transliteration Finale 2001, the program I ve used for my transcriptions, doesn t support the diacritical marks that distinguish Devanari s long voels!, ", and # (,, ) from the short voels a, i, and u (,, ). For this reason, I ve ritten the long voels as aa, ii, and uu. Note on sarm I ve ritten sarm (Indian solfege) letters under the staff music to aid musicians ho aren t familiar ith Western music notation. The shuddh notes are all upper-case (,,, and so on), and altered notes, including t"vra ma, are loer-case. Notes in the upper octave (middle C to the B above) have an apostrophe after the letter (such as ) and note in the loer octave (from the C to octaves belo middle C to the B above) have a period after the letter (such as N. D..). Thank you My guru-i, rof. itik anyal, taught me these onderful exercises. I am indebted to him for his knoledge, enthusiasm, and kindness. 1 Vibrato (mak) in dhrupad is more variable than in Western classical music; in general, it is entirely absent, but may span an octave or more in heavy mak. 1

5 [Filename] c re Lesson 1 arm (solfege) syllables ith the shuddh ("pure") scale; A a full breath for each note,,,, sim. N. M ma D. dha. pa pa D dha B Four notes per breath (in tempo) N. D.. sim. M. ma.. re N '..,,,,, M M.. D. N. ' N M. re D dha. pa M. ma pa. D. dha M, D N ' ma, ' N D N. re, M C Dugun (double speed): eight notes per breath,,..,, N. D.. M.... D sing: Dhrupad Elementary Exercises... M.. D. N. M D N ' ' N D M Caugun (quadruple speed): sixteen notes per breath.., 4 times, N. D.. M M.. D. N. M D N ' ' N D M E ome dhrupad syllables, and their spacial associations vertical line line horizontal point circle (sa) aa naa rii nom aum 9/5/06 age 2

6 Lesson 2 Expanded "aum", ith several voels A see "uide to the Exercises" for phonetic transcription smooth transition beteen voels c aa uh a o u uu ng m epeated notes B Expand the folloing exercises by descending to lo sa and returng to middle sa. accent a little M M (sarm) D D N N ' ' ' ' N N D D M M M M M D D D N N N ' ' ' ' ' ' N N N D D D M M M M M M M D D D D N N N N ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' N N N N D D D D M M M M C cale fragments To-note fragments M M Three-note fragments D D N N ' ' ' ' ' ' N N D D M M! M M M D D N D N ' N ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' N And so on, ascending and descending, Four-note fragments Five-note fragments until eight-note fragments:!!! c M M M M D M D N ' M D N ' ' Try to go up to high or ma, and don to lo dha or, but don't strain the voice 9/5/06 age 3

7 D itch accuracy exercise c M D N ' M D N ' And so on, alays raising the pitch of the final note by one step, until: M D N ' Then repeating the exercise ith the first note omitted: etc. M D N ' ' This process of omission continues until only the highest note of the scale remains: 9 8 J J c M D N ' M D N ' ' E The same exercise, inverted c ' etc. ' N D M Lesson 3 Omission exercise A ing scales leaving out individual notes in turn: first re, then, etc. up to. ' ' N D M N () M D N ' ' N D M Then sing scales leaving out pairs of notes: re-, re-ma, etc.; then -ma, -pa, etc.; up to dha- (15 total). () M D N ' ' N D M Then leave out groups of three notes, from re--ma to pa-dha-. There are 20 combinations. b b b b () b b b b (M) () (M) (DN) (M) (DN) B Komal (flat) scale r g M d n ' epeat all previous exercises ith this scale. Exercise uxtaposing shuddh and komal scales and tetrachords C b b b b c n n n n 2. b b b b r g M d n ' 9/5/06 age 4 ' N D M M D N ' ' n d M g r

8 3. b b b b n n n n b b b b n n n n r g M 4. M D N ' ' N D M g r b b b b n n n n b b b b d n ' ' n d 5. b b b b n n n n b b b b n n n n M r g M D N ' ' n d M 6. b b b b n n n n b b b b n n n n M d n ' ' N D M g r D Chromatic exercise b b n n # b b n n b b b # n b b r g M m d n D ' N r' ' N ' D n d m M g r N. Lesson 4 A Chain exercise M M M M D M M D N D M M D N ' N D M Continue up to, then invert the hole exercise M M M M D M M D N D M M D N ' N D M 9/5/06 age 5

9 B pard sloping steps First, starting from lo sa, sing scale fragments of increasing length, until arriving at high sa: M M M D M D N M D N ' Then, starting from re, repeat this process: Continue up to, then invert the hole exercise M M M D M D N M D N ' C Donard sloping steps This is similar to the preceding exercise, but each scale fragment is inverted M M D M N D M ' N D M D Intervals up This is also similar to "pard loping teps," but it removes all the middle notes of each scale fragment. Continue up to, then invert the hole exercise Continue up to, then invert the hole exercise M D N ' E Intervals don M D N ' Continue up to, then invert the hole exercise M D N ' Exercise highlighting the four varnas, F or elements of melodic movement c etc. up the octave, then invert The four varnas are: level, or keeping to the same note (sthayi) ascending (aroha) M M descending (avaroha) mixture of the above three (sanchari) M M M radually increase the melodic interval until it emcompasses an octave: etc. up the octave, then invert etc. M M ' ' ' ' 9/5/06 age 6

10 Exercise ith repeated scale fragment and descent to pa Ascending form: N. D.. M M M N. D.. Descending form: M M M M N. D.. [Filename] etc. up the octave etc. ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' N D M N. D.. H The same, ith permuted scale fragment Ascending form: ' ' N ' N ' ' N D M N. D.. N. D.. Descending form: etc. etc. ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' N D M N. D.. I cales ith one accidental C b nb M D N ' ' N D M Accidentals in these non-standard key signatures hold for all octaves, ust like those in standard key signatures. r M D N ' ' N D M r b n# nb g M D N ' ' N D M g m D N ' ' N D m b n b n M d N ' ' N d M M D n ' ' n D M The same exercise, exapanded to to octaves.. Change key signature at the bottom, and repeat 6 times to cycle through all the one-accidental scales and arrive back at the maor scale. 9/5/06 age 7

11 Lesson 5 A Altered notes A A a A A c c r/ g/ M/m d/d n/n ' In the Hindusta music system, there are only five accidentals: flat re, flat, sharp ma, flat dha, and flat. This means that there are only thirty-to possible combinations of natural and altered notes: 1 pure scale, 5 scales ith one altered note, 10 ith to, and so on. In this exercise, sing all the scales. ange exercise B 2. M M M D D N D N ' N ' ' ' ' ' ' N ' N D N D D M M M (expand the exercise by descending to lo sa and returng to middle sa) etc. M M M M D M 3. D N D D N ' N D N ' ' ' N ' ' ' ' ' High note of the original patterns sung tice: 1a. M M M M D M 2a. M M M M 3a. M M M M High note of the original patterns sung four times: 1b. M M M D D M 2b. M M M M M M M M 3b. M M M M M M 9/5/06 age 8 M M M D D D D M

12 lo slides ("miind") C Ascending form:,,! re re,,! And so on, up to! N N ' Descending form: ' C! N N! D dha Lesson 6 Wedges (practice in the upper and loer octaves seperately) A Four notes each And so on, don to re! M ' N D M N D M Three notes each M D D M M D N M D N ' M To notes each ' N D M N D M D M One note each ' N N D M D B ' N D M lide exercise of previous lesson ith larger intervals 4 2 ma C M re ma M M re pa M pa dha D N D ' dha pa N amak (ornament) exercises Do each exercise tice: first slo, then fast One ornament melodically taut and rhythmically even re re M ' ' ' ' ' D dha ' ' ' pa ' D M D N ' N pa N M ma N ' N dha D M ma M dha D dha D N D dha ma M And so on, ith larger and larger intervals 4 3 9/5/06 age 9

13 2. To ornaments 4 3 c 3. Three ornaments re re re M M c 4 2 re re re re M M M 4 2 epeat the above ith sustained sarm voel 1a. 2a. 4 3 c 4 2 3a Lesson 7 A Examples of other mak exercises give more accent to larger intervals (Expansion:) N. N. 4. N. re N. re re re re M M ma re re These are model phrases that can be varied ith more repetitions, like the first mak exercise. ing them slo and fast; practice them ith sarm and sustained "a" voel. re M M M M N. N. N. re M re re M M ma B An example of sustained complex vibrato, ith a focal pitch and a range that extends above and belo this pitch h» º focal pitch range..! 9/5/06 age aa

14 Lesson 8 cale patterns ith to steps, in dugun and caugun A Model: three-note pattern Dugun (2 notes per beat) ing [Filename] Clap M M M D D D N N N ' ' ' ' ' ' N N N D D D M M M N. Caugun (4 notes per beat, doubling the speed of the pattern) M M M D D D N N N ' ' ' ' ' ' N N N D D D M M M N. erform each of the folloing patterns in dugun and caugun, hile clapping the pulse: Another three-note pattern etc. Four-note pattern etc. M M Five-note patterns (Written in 16th notes to clarify the grouping, not to imply that these patterns should be performed tice as fast) 2. M M M M M M M ix-note pattern M M M 9/5/06 age 11

15 even-note patterns 2. M M M Eight-note pattern M M M M atterns ith three steps Four-note patterns M M M M 2. M 3. M M Five-note patterns M M M M 2. M M 3. M M M M M M M M M ix-note patterns 2. M M 3. M M M M M 4. M M M M 5. M M M M 6. M M M M M M M M M M 9/5/06 age 12

16 7. even-note patterns M 2. M M M M M M M M M Eight-note patterns 3. M M M M M M M M M 2. M M M 3. M M M Nine-note patterns M M M 2. M M M M 3. M M M 4. M M 5. M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M 9/5/06 age 13

17 6. M M M 7. M M M M M M M B Every repeated note ornamented from above For additional variations on the basic patterns, ornament them as in Lesson 6C and 7A. The folloing to exercises are particularly good practice (using the preceding ne-note pattern as an example): re re re Every note in the pattern after the first ornamented from above Lesson 9 Introduction to the nom-tom syllables A Four model phrases: M M M M M [sim.] M M M M M M M re re re [sim.] ta ra ra na ri ra ra na te ta ra na ra na na na(a) Basic exercise: practice these phrases in the bhairav scale, at normal speed, dugun and caugun, in one octave, to octaves, and ascending to ma and descending to pa. Examples: b b One note per beat, in one octave ta ra r ra M na, ri ra d ra N na, te ta N ra d na, M ra na na r na; b b Dugun, in one octave ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, Clap te ta ra na, ra na na na; ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; 9/5/06 age 14

18 b b Caugun, in one octave ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; b b ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; b b One note per beat, over to octaves ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; b b ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; b b One note per beat, ascending to ma and descending to pa ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; b b B ta ra ra na, ri ra ra na, te ta ra na, ra na na na; Expansion of syllables into longer patterns (see the guide for a description of this process): etc. Five-note patterns ta ra ra na na ri ra ra na na te ta ra na na ra na ra na na 9/5/06 age 15

19 b b Complex exercise in dugun and caugun, singing the five-note patterns hile clapping the pulse: Dugun ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra Clap na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; b b ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; Caugun b b ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra na na, te ta b b ra na na, ra na ra na na; ta ra ra na na, ri ra ra na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; ta ra ra na b b na, ri ra ra na na, te ta ra na na, ra na ra na na; C epeat this exercise ith these syllable patterns: ix-note patterns ta ra ra ra na na ri ra ra ra na na te ta re ra na na ra na na ra na na 9/5/06 age 16

20 Lesson 10 A even-note patterns ta ra ra ra na na na ri ra ra ra na na na te ta ra ra na na na ra na na ra na na na 2. ta ra ra na ra na na ri ra ra na ra na na te ta ra na ra na na ra na na na ra na na B Eight-note pattern ta ra ra na ra na na na ri ra ra na ra na na na te ta ra na ra na na na ra na na na ra na na na C Nine-note patterns ta ra ra na ra na ra na na ri ra ra na ra na ra na na te ta ra na ra na ra na na ra na na na ra na ra na na 2. (etc.) ta ra ra na ra na na ra na ta ra ra na na ra na na na ta ra ra ra na ra na na na 5. ta ra ra ra na na ra na na D Ten-note patterns ta ra ra na na ra na ra na na 6. ta ra ra ra na na ra na na 2. ta ra ra ra na ra na na ra na 9/5/06 age 17

21 Later lesson amak exercise b b mak b b r r r r r M M M M M d d d N d N d N ' N ' N ' r' ' r' ' b b r' ' r' ' r' ' N ' N ' Ascending sounds like: N d N d N d d d etc. M M M M M r r r r r Descending sounds like: etc. 9/5/06 age 18