Class notes 8/9/11

Date: 8/9/2011

We started with Kaarvais or pauses. Recall that some time ago we learnt tha-ki-ta in which you spread your hands out and then bring them in. The feet work goes as step-cross-step, step-step-step. Notice that tha-ki-ta is a 3 beat (Thisra) step. However, we can extend this to either a 4 step or a 5 step by adding pauses(or holds) as follows

4-beat (Chatusra) - Tha-ki-ta-hold tha-ki-ta-hold. so you go step-cross-step-hold, step-step-step-hold. 

5-beat (Kandam) - Tha-pause-tha-ki-ta. so you go beat-step-cross-step, beat-step-step-step (where beat is really 1-pause, in other words the beat will take 2x time as a step) making a total of 5. 

********** NERD ALERT- The following paragraph maybe a little too technical for some of you. Please feel free to skip **********

You can see how we have taken a single step and made it into 3 variations in the 3 jaati (of tisra, chatusra and kanda). Why is this needed? These form building blocks and the actual song may or may not subdivide evenly into the step which makes it necessary for adjustment. For example the normal tisra jaati tha-ki-ta will work well for a rupaka tala (6 beats to a measure) because 6/3 works. Now if the song were in aadi tala (8 beats to a measure), the tisram won't divide  equally. Of course you always have an option of dividing 3 such measures into tisram (that is 3 measures of the song into 8 cycles of the step). This doesn't always work because songs are usually not 3 measures or multiples thereof. The other option is obviously to use the chatusra kaarvai. 8/4 works perfectly.

*********** END NERD ALERT ****************

We also need kaarvais for creating other jaati combinations. For ex 3+4 =7 (misram) or 4+5=9 (sankeernam). If you start thinking of the adavus that you have learnt so far as building blocks to creating sequences then all this starts making a lot more sense. Analogously, the adavus are the equivalent of the sarigama when learning music. You first start by learning small sequences before putting them all together into bigger pieces. 

We also started learning the first steps towards Pushpanjali. (i am really excited about this because this is the first piece where we will put together steps we have learnt so far to form a more complete experience). The first few steps in Pushpanjali are as follows. 

1. 2 cycles of tha-thai-thai-tha.

2. 4 cycles of ta-ka-dhi-mi twice (so total of 8 ta-ka-dhi-mis) 2 in each direction.

3. Followed by ta-ki-ta. 

The hand gesture of pushpanjali are pushpaputa (like offering flowers) and dolahastha (let your hands fall to the side, slightly awayfrom your body,  as though you are going to be hitting a dolak at your hip level). The hands are either held together in pushpaputa or one is held in pushpaputa while the other is in dola. 

This set of notes turned out to be more technical than I intended, please let me know if you have any questions. 

-Vidya