Carnatic Music & The Mind – Melody to Meditate è Tune to Tone 

Geetham Vaadhyam Thathaa Nruthyam – Thrayam Sangeetha Mucchyathe||

Carnatic Music comprises of Geetham, Vaadhyam and Nruthyam meaning Music, Instrument and Dance respectively. These are inter-related with each other with Geetham or Music, being highly prevalent in this world. This article will feature the spiritual essence behind Carnatic Music from the perspective of a listener, a singer, a learner and a teacher.

Listener’s Mode

Let me begin with a listener’s mode. Imagine you are sitting in a packed concert where the classical musician has just begun with a Kalyani Varnam. What do you think happens to the Listener’s mind? The brain picks up the musical notes and passes them through the various chakras or energy centers in our body. Sound is divine and the basis of its existence are the vibrations. As these musical notes vibrate through the various powerful energy centers, it emanates positive energies, getting rid of all the bad toxins from our body. As the listener gets fully engrossed through the concert, unknowingly, it activates or awakens different energy centers in his body, based on the rasas or emotions conveyed by the concert music. So, he/she feels very refreshed at the end of the concert, just by sitting idle, without twisting or moving a muscle, unlike Yoga. The greatness of Carnatic Music lies in the ability to tone our mind, in addition to getting tuned to it.

The sound that is pleasing to our ears is called ‘Naadham’, which is of two types called ‘Anaahatha Naadham’ and ‘Aahatha Naadham’. It is from ‘Pranava Naadham’ or ‘OM’ that these two kinds of sounds came forth. Naadham that is created as a part of our nature is called ‘Anaahatha Naadham’. Common examples are the air entering bamboo tress producing natural music and the sounds given out by the bronze bells in temple when wind blows.

On the other hand, the ‘Aahatha Naadham’ is the sound that is produced naturally and is transformed and made sweet by human’s effort. What does the singer need to do to generate the Naadham? Let’s look at the cumulative effort made by the singer to produce it. There are four stages involved in this effort:

Ø  Dipta – Opening the mouth – This happens when the life force in the body decides to sing and tries to make a sound.

Ø  Aayata – Attempt to bring out the sound – Through mouth, air enters, joins the Fire or Agni in the body, goes to the bottom of the stomach called ‘Naabi’ and from there goes upward to chest and ejects the sound through the mouth.

Ø  Madhyama – Enlarging the sound

Ø  Karuna – Reduce the volume and singing in tune with Shruthi or pitch

I personally feel that this is the main reason why ‘Sound’ is not one of the Panchabhoothas or five great elements of this universe, because it is primarily dependent on wind or air in order to be created.

Quoting a religious connotation in this context, there is a strong link between Vedas and Carnatic Music, which is derived from Sama Veda. Out of the four Vedas, Saptaswaras or 7 musical notes are echoed in entirety in Sama Veda only. There are 7 undulations or up and down movements of notes such as DNSRGMP in Sama Veda, whereas there are only 3 undulations (NSR) in other Vedas such as Rig & Yajur. Lord Shiva is an ardent lover of Maarga Sangeetha or Sama Veda. In the Krithi, ‘Naada Thanumanisham’ by Saint Thiagaraja, the composer mentions that the musical notes (SRGMPDN) were born out of Lord Shiva’s 5 faces in the line ‘Sadyojaataadi Pancha Vaktraja’. Both the above forms share a closer similarity in the tutelage mode, by adhering to the method of ‘Learning by Listening’

In addition to the power of singer’s voice, the choice of ragas and the order of songs in a concert play a major role in meditating on the melody. The various ragas and the song sequences are chosen such that they tap the chakras or energy centers in a certain way that aligns with the yogic techniques. The various compositions in a concert evoke different rasas or emotions in a listener such as joyfulness, melancholy, devotion and mercy which help to balance the listener’s mindset.

Silence/Pause in between or during song renditions is impactful in triggering different areas of any Carnatic Music lover’s brain to establish instant connections between neurons called Synapses. When the notes are received by the brain, and if the song is unfamiliar to you, the brain tries to compare or hunt for similar notes that are settled at the sub-conscious level, which happens involuntarily. Eventually, the listener gets to identify several ragas or identify similar tunes.

Music Therapy or Raga Therapy

Let me extend the chakra activating concept of music to the therapy world, which is gaining popularity these days.

Carnatic Music is highly resonant with nature, because these basic seven notes can be heard from the sounds of a peacock, a bull, a goat, a Krouncha bird, a cuckoo, a horse and an elephant. Another well-known example would be that, singing Amruthavarshini Raga with utmost divinity is supposed to bring instant downpours.

The resonance is ideally how the nature responds to the music which is the reason why there are certain ragas sung only at certain time during a day (example: morning ragas, afternoon ragas, evening ragas and night ragas). There are also some ragas that can be sung anytime in a day. I feel the reason could be that the morning ragas align well with the wavelength of the spectrum of light that are seen during sunrise. Likewise, the notes of the evening ragas blend well with the wavelength of the sunsetting spectrum of light. When nature could blend so nicely with music, why not our body?

This is purely my opinion on what happens during any Music or Raga Therapy session. Any raga has something called a ‘Jeeva Swara’. The heart of the raga dwells on the vibration of this specific Jeeva Swara or life note. As mentioned earlier, constant listening to that raga emphasizing on the Jeeva Swara, activates the corresponding energy center or chakra that helps to cure the associated ailment in the body. In fact, I have personally experienced vibrations only in parts of my hands/feet when listening to certain ragas like Sindhu Bhairavi. Every raga’s Jeeva Swara varies and based on that, different chakras can be enabled, and various ailments get cured over a period of time.

To delve a little bit further, there are around 72,000 Nadis or network of channels which allow energy to travel through the body. These streams eventually land on the Chakras or Energy Centers. Listening to Carnatic Music will activate allow positive energies to flow through these Nadis which will eventually activate our energy centers, giving the perfect outcome of a healthy body and mind.

Singer’s Mode

A well-established musician is by far comparable to a Rishi or a Saint, who literally performs a Tapas or a Penance during a four-hour concert. Singing is a unique exercise where concentration, breathing and meditation exercises take place simultaneously and unconsciously. With utmost mental discipline, focus and clarity on flawless song rendition, constant adherence to Pitch and Rhythmic movements and silent communication with the accompaniments, a musician takes the place of a yogi on the stage.

Within a singer’s mind, internalization of any raga happens unconsciously, which is very key in bringing out creativity in various forms. ‘Creativity is rarely dirty’ is a well-known phrase and it applies perfectly to any musician. The amount of effort invested by him to improvise and bring out spontaneity is tremendous. Key features of improvisation techniques include:

-   Weaving Manodharma beautifully, unlocking the mysteries of the bounded raga territories using boundless creativity.

-   Delivering the sangatis or song lines in a linear progression is very essential to maintain a well-aligned and a balanced audience.

-      Ensuring every line of Neraval or improvisation of a line in a song is sung sensibly and meaningfully.

-     Building Impromptu Swara Patterns and Kalpana Swarams using Arithmetic and Mathematical Calculations requires years of practice and dedication.

Any Krithi could be sung from a broad range of being very simple to a very complicated, extended rendition.  Such is the power of Carnatic Music!

 Learner’s Mode

The first and foremost for any beginner is to develop a passion for music. Continuous listening helps a lot. A good idea would be to start listening to any instrumental music. Once you get tuned to it, it is better to begin lessons from a music tutor. The primary raga taught is MaayamalavaGowla in order to establish basic harmonics. Listening and repeating from the music Guru is the best way to activate neurons in several parts of the brain and establish newer connections, which makes the learners more intelligent. The basic underlying principle is Cognitive Behavior Therapy – Cognition affects emotions, which in turn modulate the individual’s behavior.

The other benefits of learning Carnatic Music are:
-         Proper way to think & analyze
-         Self-correcting our mistakes
-         Ability to improve our listening skills
-         To effectively build mental discipline
-         Helps to organize thoughts, driving excellent focus
-         Eliminates negative energies
-         Unlocks latent energies in the mind
-         Change from being a methodical, stereotyped, monotonous thinker to an exciting, creative person
-         Aids self-improvement by becoming better and better at singing, after every music class
-         Assist children to succeed and shine in their academic world as well

Tutor’s Mode

 I have observed the following in the learners, when I play the role of a music teacher:

-         Amazed at auto-correction of Swarasthanas which seem to happen unconsciously
-         Ability to gauge anybody’s listening skill or depth of comprehension, based on the way how he/she reproduces the notes
-         Moving to higher stage of lessons helps fix mistakes from previous lessons
-         Being able to repeat any random Swara patterns instantly, without any difficulty
-         Kids tend to connect the arithmetic behind the music to the math concepts learnt at their schools 

As a teacher, I could observe the following in myself :

-         Ability to dig and analyze deeper into the song better than before
-         Improved reception, due to increased listening power unknowingly, which in turn, helps me to reproduce Sangatis much effectively, during my music lessons with my Guru.
-         Mind tries to move away from a wavering state to a steady state, since I need to stick to teach the same set of phrases or sangatis, when a song is being taught repeatedly to many students.
-      Increased confidence to try newer styles/phrases in raga improvisation and build new Swara Patterns.

Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that, with such an immense benefit for anyone, be it a listener or a singer or learner or a tutor, Carnatic Music absolutely helps one to remain calmer and create eternal peace of mind.

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