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What is a Swara?
A swara is a musical note (or tones) in an octave. Think of it as a building with floors. The ground level is our
starting point, and that musical note is called the Tonic or the Shadja. A certain distances (or heights) away from
this starting point, we have the positions of the remaining notes. Check this post out, if you don’t understand the
concept of the tonic. Swaras are like alphabets of a language. Each Swara has its unique sound, and by
combining those sounds we get melody. Just as you would get words when you combine letters.
1. Sa – Shadjama (Tonic)
2. Ri – Rishabha
3. Ga – Gandhara
4. Ma – Madhyama
5. Pa – Panchama (Perfect Fifth)
6. Da – Dhaivata
7. Ni – Nishada
The notes Sa (tonic) and Pa (Perfect Fifth) are always fixed once we decide on a Tonic (according to the Shruti).
The remaining 5 notes have 2 varieties each. So we have 2 + (5X2) = 12 musical positions of notes. We shall
explore in future videos what these 12 positions are.
Mayamalavagowla:
Traditionally speaking, this is the raga in which the basics of Carnatic music are taught. It is called the Double
harmonic scale in western music theory. The intervals of these music notes are difficult to grasp for people who
don’t listen to the Carnatic form of music often.
Ascending: S r G m P d N Ṡ
Descending: Ṡ N d P m G r S
Shankarabharanam:
This is much easier scale to learn the basics in, and it corresponds to the major scale in western classical music.
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Ascending: S R G m P D N Ṡ
Descending: Ṡ N D P m G R S
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