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Inside a beginner Carnatic vocal class
Sarali varisai, the shruti box and the tala on your thigh: what happens in the first months of vocal lessons.
Parents waiting outside our classrooms often hear the same short phrases sung again and again, and wonder what their child is learning. Here is what happens in a beginner Carnatic vocal class, which runs for 45 minutes, twice a week, with four to six students.
Every class begins with the drone. The teacher sets the shruti box to the pitch that suits the group, and everyone sings the base note, sa, holding it steadily. This trains the ear to stay in tune, and it is harder than it sounds.
Next come the exercises. In the first months students learn the sarali varisai, simple patterns climbing and descending the scale, in the raga Mayamalavagowla. They are sung in three speeds, so the voice learns control and the mind learns rhythm. Each student keeps the tala by patting the thigh and counting on the fingers, a habit that stays for life. After a few months they move to janta varisai, with doubled notes, and then to alankarams.
Each student sings alone at least once in every class, which is why we keep groups small. The teacher corrects pitch and pronunciation gently, one phrase at a time, and the others listen. At the end of the class, students write the new lesson in their notebooks in Tamil, English or Kannada script. By six months most beginners are ready for their first geetham, a short song, and many sing it at their first quarterly concert.
