Consecutive Concerts

Two weeks ago, I travelled to Chennai to participate in a competition where one was required to perform songs composed by Oothukadu Venkata Kavi. I played the same songs as my last performance. For more information about that experience, please take a look at my previous post.

After my last experience, I was not as worked up as I was before so I ended up calm for the three hours I had to wait before getting on stage. During this time, I managed to squeeze in a practice session with my guru Chitraveena Ganesh who helped me work on the songs which I was to play very soon.

When they called my name, I could not perform immediately due to the difficulties with setting the instrument up so someone played on stage while I awkwardly walked behind him with a handful of wires and mike stomping about the stage during his performance. I hoped that this would break his concentration leading to my victory! When I finally finished, I had to come on stage to start my song.

I gave them a choice of two songs and thankfully they chose the one I was more proficient in. When I sat down, I found out that my instrument was not tuned. I spent the next five minutes awkwardly tuning my instrument while the judges were yawning out of boredom. However, this soon as changed as I started to play. I wish I could have seen the look on the judges face when I started but I was too engrossed in my music. I had to hit every note with precision or the first prize would be lost due to a something as simple as a slip of hand. Suddenly, my mike fell down on my speaker and posed as a massive distraction which could hamper my ability to play well. My mother then walked up to the stage while I was performing and fixed the mike. I found this quite embarrassing but it was not as bad as traveling all the way to Chennai and not winning.

I also missed a few notes during the performance but the judges forgave me because they were too enthralled to notice the mistakes. This is one of the advantages of playing  a rare instrument like the Chitraveena.

If we fast forward to the prize ceremony, I was scared that I would not win a prize but I came through and managed to win first place! I was truly surprised and was ecstatic when I received my gold medal and certificate. I really hope this will be a foundation for a long and glorious music career. I feel I performed better then I did last time due to the lack of other performers and the enhanced and more vigorous practice sessions I went through. I look forward to my next performance and will do whatever it takes to get it perfect.

Concert Confidence

I recently performed at a concert where I had to actually try to make mistakes. Seriously. It was my first ever stage performance playing the chitraveena, and as an accompanist, I had to shadow the vocalists who were students just like me. Supporting them meant playing every note they sang, and even making all the mistakes they made to make it look like we were a perfect music troupe.

This challenge to me occurred at Sankara Math which hosts an annual Navaratri music festival involving many influential musicians such as Chitraveena Ravikiran. In my troupe, there was a percussionist who played the mridangam, three vocalists and a veena player; the regular kind.

We played five songs called navavarnams composed by Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi. These songs are sung in devotion to the goddess Kamakshi and are notoriously hard to perform. With their meandering, curvy phrases, known as gamakas, and hard to reach notes that test the virtuosity of performers, it is not a surprise that these are considered the most challenging aspect of Carnatic music.

To tell the truth, I had been nervous at the prospect of playing this difficult repertoire on a real stage and before a live audience but after hours of practice, my confidence grew and my nervousness fell. As I stepped foot on the stage, things took a turn for the worse. My nervousness came rushing back and I felt sweat running down my back like a raging river. My fingers were trembling on the chitraveena, I looked around at the other performers. It seemed like we took a collective breath and dived in. As the notes came, my nervousness gradually fell and I began to play louder and clearer as I became more courageous by the second.

The “crowd” of ten made up in thunderous enthusiasm what they lacked in numbers. Displeasing all of ten people is worse than displeasing half of a hundred! Our audience supported us by clapping loud and long after each song. The "crowd" of ten people also helped to ease my nerves as displeasing ten people is worse than displeasing a hundred! Although small in number, the audience's enthusiasm made up for it as the ecstatically clapped for us after each song.

Looking back, I learned that I could become an even better performer by avoiding certain wrong notes I hit when my fingers suddenly turned to jelly, and tuning my instrument more accurately. These are lessons from this performance I will take on to my next one. I also learned that music lovers are devoted to passing this art from to the next generation so much so that they are not too particular about their music.

If you ever find yourself on stage sweating profusely and struggling to speak coherently, just take a deep breath, settle down, and play until you flush the butterflies out and just play to your hearts content.

Chitraveena Chronicles

The Chitraveena is one of the rarest instruments in the music world and only a handful of people even get the chance to learn the art of mastering the 21 strings. The reason the instrument is even known around the world is Chitraveena. N. Ravikiran. He regularly travels the world performing in places from Australia to Germany showcasing the instrument in all its glory.

Although instruments are a vital part of Carnatic music, they are given a lower priority over vocalists as the Carnatic music community prefers to listen to vocal concerts over instrumental ones. Many of the great artists were instrumentalists but that has little effect on the reducing popularity of instruments in the Carnatic world.

This makes it harder for the Chitraveena to make a mark on this world and it's now up to you and me to change this for the better.

Mastery Materials

The Chitraveena is made of a numerous number of materials and this article will highlight the important ones used to build the instrument and it's side pieces.

The gottu or the slide used to be made of bull horn or wood but as the years came by, the world moved ahead and it is now made of teflon as it is smoother and more friendly to the environment. It is also the more modern option as it is strong and gives a good sound.

Note: As a Chitraveena player, the teflon gottu does have a few flaws for example, after long periods of practice, the strings make impressions in the teflon making the surface rougher reducing the advantage it has over other types of gottus.

Normal Chitraveenas or even veena's are made of wood from a jackfruit tree but a more elite material used by maestro Chitraveena. N. Ravikiran is teak wood which is a bit heavier but gives better sound.

The strings which give the instrument it's appeal are made of steel and brass where the thicker mandram strings are made out of the latter and the normal, vibration and tala strings are made out of the former.

A Chitraveena not only requires many materials but it also requires nonstop, backbreaking work to carve the intricate designs ons the sides and to carve the hard wood into the bell shape to produce the sounds making this the "Singing Instrument".

Chitraveena Chronicles

Although it may seem new, the Chitraveena has very ancient origins which are cemented in a myth created a long time ago.

  The story goes that the god Narada, a mischievous meddler and messenger, and Tumburu, a celestial virtuoso, were quarreling over who was the better musician. They decided to settle this bet by competing in a concert.

Narada and Tumburu played the Veena over several days. Still, no winner emerged. Even Saraswathi, the goddess of learning could not decide who was more skilled.  They summoned Hanuman, the monkey god, to settle this duel.

Hanuman proceeded to rip the frets out of the veena. This enraged the two musicians, who mocked him for being a crude ignoramus, essentially, “just a monkey” unappreciative of the grand instrument in front of him.  Hanuman then ripped a branch off a nearby tree and began to play his newfound instrument by sliding a piece of wood over its fretless body.

The sound emitted from the instrument was so melodious and emotionally affecting that the very rock the Chitraveena was resting on melted. The fretless Chitraveena was invented.

Hanuman challenged different people to come and play the instrument, but they could not match his skill.  The arrogance of Narada and Tumburu was tamed, and they humbly accepted Hanuman as the greatest musician of all time.

A more realistic explanation for this is that Sakaram Rao, a renowned musician decided to take a piece of glass and slide it along the strings of the Tanpura which is a background instrument in concerts. He then decided to do the same thing with a fretless veena and used a buffalo horn instead of glass. And hence, the Chitraveena was born.

Amateur to Adept

I started off my musical journey when I was 6 singing songs from "Perfecting Carnatic Music I", the rookie song book. I was playing with my toy cars when my guru who was teaching my mother at the time called me and asked me to sing a few notes. Little did I know this would change my life forever.

Since then, I have come to play the Chitraveena and am working on perfecting my skills as an instrumentalist. My guru, Chitraveena Narasimhan taught me all I needed to know to make my transition from singing to the Chitraveena.

The Chitraveena, being a south Indian instrument favors Carnatic vocalists as notes played on a Chitraveena sound similar to those sung by vocalists. All the songs and notes meant for vocalists can be played seamlessly due to the absence of restrictive frets.

When I started, all I could play were a few varishais which are beginner exercises meant to introduce the person singing/playing it to Carnatic music so they get a feel for the art form. Even though I was a beginner, I already had a headstart due to my adventures in the musical world.

I took me a few months to start playing note which weren't out of tune but as soon as I got a hang of it, I was hooked! Sometimes, it is a bit hard to get a hold of those 21 strings but after practicing it a few times, it should be fine.

For anyone out there having any doubts about the Chitraveena or just music in general, don't fret about it!