Flute Maestro Dr. N. Ramani

Flute Maestro Dr. N. Ramani

Tribute to Dr. N. Ramani This is a humble tribute to Padmashri Dr. N. Ramani who had popularized the Carnatic flute to what it is tod... 20:24

Tribute to Dr. N. Ramani

This is a humble tribute to Padmashri Dr. N. Ramani who had popularized the Carnatic flute to what it is today. He had arguably brought numerous innovations in both flute playing techniques and concert patterns. His warm and soft nature had always overshadowed all his pioneering achievements in the field of Carnatic flute playing which would sit so lightly on his shoulders. Most amazingly, he does not even bother to publicise his innovations including the introduction of bass flutes and transposed fingering. Steeped in Nadhabrahma (Cosmic Consciousness of Aum) bakthi, such publicity does not mean much to him.

Even as an octogenarian, his musical competency had not lost its sheen and he continued to draw packed crowds both from the lay and connoisseurs wherever he performs in India and abroad till his very end

This blog would gladly welcome inputs from well-wishers and fans who would like to add on to this page and promote Dr. N. Ramani and his music.

Birthplace 

Tiruvarur is a holy town in South India, famous for the holy temple of Lord Thyagaraja - who is Shiva of the Hindu Trinity - where many sages, poets and musicians have derived inspiration to sing in praise of the deity notable among them, to mention a few, Sri Sundramurthy Nayanar, and the Carnatic Music Trinity Sri Thyagaraja Swami, Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, Sri Shyama Sastrigal. 

It is prompted by many that it is due to Lord Thyagaraja's divine grace and will that all of the Carnatic Music Trinity were born in this holy town and flourished in the same period. This holy temple is noted for music performances, especially on the Nadaswaram during festivals and even for daily worship. 

Heritage 

Born in a family of rich musical traditions on 15 Oct 1934, young Ramani grew up in an atmosphere charged with music. His grandfather, and first Guru, Sri Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer was a well-known flute artist who could also play other instruments as well as singing. Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer himself was declared on many occasions that he had learned some music from Sr. Aazhiyur Narayanaswami Iyer. 

Noting Ramani's natural attraction to music and to the flute, his grandfather started instructions on the flute at the age of 5, the formal initiation age. Many noted musicians of that period would visit their house and invariably muscians would begin, with young Ramani listening with full attention. 

Flute Mali's Appraisal 

On a memorable day, Ramani's uncle Sri T. R. Mahalingam, the celebrated flute artist, popularly known as Mali, had a concert at Tiruvarur. Ramani attended this concert spell bound and was inspired by it. The next day, in the presence of Mali, he reproduced many songs from that concert. Mali was so impressed by the natural control of Lay and South of the young Ramani who was just 9 years old that he himself undertook to train Ramani. Since Mali was mostly at Madras, Ramani would spend his vacation from school, at Madras and got intense training from Mali. After completing the school education, Ramani's family moved over to Madras permanently to enable Ramani to get further training from Mali, as well as to pursue a musical career.

The Arangetram - Debut Concert 

The formal introduction to Ramani as a flute artist, the Arangetram, was performed in 1942 when he was just 8 years old, in the holy shrine of Chikkil Singara Velan the famous temple of Lord Subramanya, the favourite Deity of Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar of the Carnatic Music Trinity. This was certainly an auspicious moment. On this occasion, the veterans, Vedaranyam Krishnamurthy Iyer on the Violin and Tiruvarur Kunju Iyer on the Mridangam provided the accompaniment. It was a splendid success. Sri Krishnamurthy Iyer and Sri Kunju Iyer and other musicians present, praised Ramani's talents, especially the grasp of Laya, and predicated a great musical career, which proved to be correct.

Training under Flute Mali 

In 1945, while undergoing intense training at Madras under Mali, Ramani got the opportunity to accompany Sri T. R. Mahalingam in a flute concert, given at Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Madras to the accompaniment of Sri. T. N. Krishnan on the violin, and Sri Muruga Bhupathy on the Mridangam. Ramani's performance on that day drew appreciation from Mali himself and other vidwans and fans present. This success was followed by other such concerts with Ramani accompanying Mali, for over a decade at various cities of India.

Blessings from Legends 

Many famous vidwans listened to Ramani's flute concerts while he was very young and not only appreciated them, but also predicted a great future and blessed him. Sri Palladam Sanjeeva Rao, Sri Tiruppampuram Swaminatha Pillai, two famous flute artists, Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Alathoor brothers, Madurai Mani Iyer, Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar were among those vidwans who encouraged Dr. Ramani while he was a young artist. 

All-India-Radio (AIR) Debut Concert 

It was about this time, in 1945 that Ramani gave his first flute concert over the All India Radio, at Trivandrum station. Then onwards he his regularly performing concerts through AIR, as well as Television. He had been participating in Radio Sangeetha Sammelan and national programmes of A.I.R. since 1968.

Marriage & Stellar Concerts 

In the year 1956, at the age 22, Ramani got married, and in the same year his first flute concert at the Music Academy, Madras was given. Since then, his concerts at the Music Academy became a regular feature. He is also on the expert committee of the Music Academy, Madras. The well- known music critic Subbudu praised this concert very highly. Just as the Madras Music Academy concert of 1956 was a milestone in Dr. Ramani's great career; other concerts around this period deserve special mention. The concerts at Sri Krishna Gana Sabah, Sri Bala Subramanya Sangeetha Sabha, The Mylapore Fine Arts, all at Madras, were noteworthy because, in these, Dr. Ramani was provided with accompaniments of rising stars like Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman, Sri T. N. Krishnan, Sri M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Sri Palghat T. S. Mani Iyer and other eminent artists. 

Other leading music centres like Tamil Isai Sangam, Indian Fine arts, Kalakshetra, Kartik Fine Arts, all at Madras, and other leading sabhas of Madras, Bombay, Bangalore and other cities followed this example.

Concert Innovations 

Another notable milestone in Dr. Ramani's brilliant long carrer was the "Violin - Venu - Veena - Trio Concerts" with Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman on the Violin, Sri Ramani on the Flute and Sri R.Venkataraman on the Veena. This was in the mid 1966 and the first of this series was given at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Madras. These concerts instantaneously became popular. His collaborations with Lalgudi Jayaraman & M.S. Gopalakrishnan became legendary and set a trend in flute violin duets.  

Dr. Ramani's popularity as a flute artist grew far and wide and his fame spread to an international level. His global concert tours and performances all over the world became a regular feature. Popular demand and a touch of prestige compelled many wedding celebrations to include Dr. Ramani's flute concert. 

Dr. Ramani also gave Carnatic music Flute duet concert with double mridangams at Coimbatore. Mali, his Guru preside over this function and appreciated the effort very much and honoured Ramani with a momento. Mali suggested that such duet flute concerts must be given in larger number and at various centres. Mali himself set this in motion, and in the year 1974, Dr. Ramani gave a flute - duet concert with Mali and with double mridangam. About a dozen such concerts were given at cities like Madras, Delhi, Bombay, Hyderabad, and Nagpur and were eagerly awaited and appreciated by those who attended them. Dr. Ramani gave a "five flute" concert with his disciples, which was featured in Television also. 

Dr. N. Ramani was one of the first Carnatic musicians to come to wider, Western attention. The Soul of Indian Flute (World Pacific WPS 21456) followed the release of Balachander's Sounds of the Veena Featuring the Flute of Ramani (WPS 21436). 

- Ken Hunt, The Guardian

In the year 1962 famous 'World Pacific' L.P. records album containing the contributions of leading artists like Pandit Ravi Shankar, included the L.P. records of Dr. Ramani. Dr. Ramani had given in USA and at other places several records, audio cassettes and C.D's and is continuing to give many more such records. 

Appraisal from Pt. Ravi Shankar

A special feature of Dr. Ramani's musical career was that he was involved with famous Hindustani music artistes and western music artistes and gave several "Jugalbandhi" concerts at various cities all over the world. This happened to have its origin under unexpected circumstances. During the mid 1960s the famous Hindustani sitar artist, Pandit Ravi Shankar was visiting India to give a Sitar concert. He happened to hear Dr. Ramani's concert over the All India Radio Broadcast, at the airport. Attracted by Ramani's music, he made enquiries about the artist and was at Ramani's house the very next day to express his appreciation, and to induce Ramani to make a USA Tour to give Jugalbandhi performance with him. 

The First Flute Jugalbhandi (Hindustani & Carnatic) 

Though Ramani could not undertake the U.S.A. tour then, he accepted Pandit Ravi Shankar's another suggestion to give Jugalbandhi performance with Sri Hariprasad Chaurasia, the famous Hindustani Flautist. This was given at Sri Balasubramania Sangeetha Sabha, Madras (1971) and Pandit Ravi Shankar himself attended this concert and expressed his appreciation of Dr. Ramani's music. This was historically first flute Jugalbandhi of Hindustani and Carnatic Music. Dr. Ramani is the only flute artist to have performed Jugalbandhi performance with Hindustani as well as Western Music Artists. Dr. Ramani had since then given over 100 such Jugalbandhis, approximately half within India and others abroad. In about 40 about them, Dr. Ramani performed with Sri Chaurasia. 

He had occasionally duetted with the Hindustani flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia -- the first occasion was 1971. Other jugalbandis have included partnerships with the vocalists Balamurali Krishna and Pandit Jasraj, the violinist T.N. Krishnan and the sarodist Amjad Ali Khan. He had pursued a parallel recording career for a variety of labels including EMI India and Magnasound/OMI and Shankar.

- Ken Hunt, The Guardian

Appraisals from Hindustani Music Maestros 

Noted Hindustani artists like the late Ustad Vilayat Khan, Kumar Ghandarva and many others, were in full praise for Ramani's talent as a musician of rare class. This culminated in several international Jugalbandhi concerts and ones involving top ranking Western music artists as well. These experiences brought Ramani's music to the pinnacle of Carnatic music Jugalbandhi concerts.

The World's Biggest Representative of  Carnatic Music - Olympics & World Tours

A very special feature of Dr. Ramani's brilliant career was the spread of his fame all over the world. He had undertaken over 100 major international concert tours and had participated in every major music festival in the world adding up to over 10000 concert performances throughout his career

Dr. Ramani was also the first Carnatic music artist to have participated in the Olympics (at Munich, Germany in 1972), sponsored by the Government of India. This list of concert tours is long enough to be attached separately to this article. 

The auspicious beginning of this phase of Dr. Ramani's career was in the year 1962 when he was just 28. Asia society, New York, USA. Invited him for an international concert tour. This is historically the first International Carnatic Music Flute concert tour. Dr. Ramani undertook flute concert tour of U.S.A. with Sri S. Balachander the well-known Veena artist, in 1962. This initiated a series of concert tours of USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and Singapore the Gulf Countries and Australia.

The Plethora of Honours, Citations & Awards

Dr. Ramani's great success as a performing artist brought to him many titles, awards and honours. This list is also long enough to be added as an appendix. Just as his talents blossomed at very tender age, he started receiving honours also at tender age. This first major one was at age 10 from Tanjore Palace. Tanjore Kings were great patrons of art, particularly music; some of them gifted musicians and scholars. 

Many famous musicians like Pachimaryam Adiappa; Pallavi Gopala Iyer adorned the list of the palace artists. Tanjore district is the proud birthplace of the great Carnatic Music Trinity - Sri Thyagaraja, Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, Sri Shyama Sastrigal and many other famous musicians of Carnatic music. Dr. Ramani himself was born in this district and hence receiving an honour at the conclusion of his concert at the palace from the Royal Patrons at age 10, was an auspicious start; at it proved to be later. 

Dr. Ramani had received awards and honors directly from the Presidents and the Prime Ministers of India and the Holy Sri Sankaracharya Swamigals of Sri Kanchi Peetam and Sri Sringeri Peetam. The "Sangeetha Choodamani" (1971) "Kalaimamami" (1973), the Doctorate (1980), the "Sangeetha Nataka Academy Award" (1984-85), the "Padmashree" (1987), the honorary citizenship of Maryland, the state of Maryland and the district of Columbia, Washington DC (USA) (1993-94) are some of the honours he had received. 

Apart from giving several concerts in Art centres all over the world, Dr. Ramani had enchanted millions of fans through Radio broadcasts, television programmes, audio cassettes and CD's. His music is thus well preserved for the future generations.

The Ramani Bani - Ramani Style 

Dr. Ramani is identified easily from his flute performances by his own characteristic, strong, pleasing, soft tonal quality, subtle variations and the melodious quality of the music he produces. These are, apart from his natural inherent talents and skills due to several other factors. The flute playing techniques such as the blowing, fingering, which he inherited from his grand father and his guru, Mali was further developed by Ramani's own researches. 

Dr. Ramani's flute guru, the famous flute Mali was the first artist to exploit the eighth hole in flute while playing in the lower octave. Dr. Ramani had exploited this further, and extended the range further below by employing more number of longer flutes one after the other. He had developed many innovative fingering techniques and the technique of blowing, which are quite complicated but very effective. His exquisite raga bhava, melody, precision of notes, control over laya, all seem to come to him effortlessly. 

He was also able to indulge in complicated rhythmic gymnastics without loosing melody and precision of notes in such an effortless manner, to make the listener delude into the feeling that is so easy.

Flute Innovations

Dr. Ramani is the first Carnatic music flute artist to introduce long bass flute to the concert to enable longer reach in the lower octaves. Usually he plays on this long flute towards the conclusion of his concerts and invariably chooses devotional songs from the famous compositions such as Ashtapadi of Jayadeva, Tarangam of Sri Narayana Theertha, Purandara Dasa's songs, Sadasiva Brahmendra's songs Meera Bhajans etc. with suitable ragas to match their moods.

The mellow, bass tonal quality Ramani produces on these occasions full of Bhakti rasa; hypnotizes the audience and invariably brings tears in an enchanting mood of devotional ecstasy, swaying the audience into a trance like state. Dr. Ramani is conducting researches on the special sizes and positioning of the holes, to enable very fast tempo music on the long flute, which is quite difficult with the present types of long flute. 

We should mention here that Dr. Ramani boldly departed from the traditional method of using 4 or 5 pitch flutes in concerts, and settled to 2.5 pitch which is ideal sruthi for veena and violin solo concerts. 

The natural musical creativity in Dr. Ramani is manifest through his musical compositions of Varnams, Songs, Tillanas and Pallavis. For the performances on the long bass flute, he had set new tunes in very melodious ragas, specially suited to the moods of the selected devotional songs. These are preserved in many commercial audio cassettes and CD. 

Among the many unrecognized innovations also involves the transposed fingering which was pioneered by Dr. N. Ramani before being developed and popularized by later flautists. 

Recognized Performer & Teacher 

The power of music over living creatures to produce various moods and psychological effects is well known from ancient times. So experiments are being conducted at various centres all over the world, to explore the use of music to produce favourable effects upon plants in agriculture, to cure diseases etc., Dr. Ramani was involved in such projects sponsored by the Government and private institutions.

Dr. Ramani’s musical talents have made him not only a great performing artist, but also an excellent teacher. He is very quick to spot talents, strong and weak points of his students and innovating methods to improve the students from all over the world. Many of them are performing artists and teachers in many parts of the world. His skill as an outstanding teacher is recognized internationally. He had also been honoured as "Sangeetha Acharya" (Wasser College, U.S.A., 1978). 

Charity Concerts 

Dr. Ramani had given several charity performances to help in the welfare of the disabled, the orphans and to help fight diseases such as cancer etc., for over two decades and continued this noble trend till the very end.

Ramani Academy of Flute (RAF) 

To propagate flute playing further and to preserve that art and to carry on the torch for the years to come Dr. Ramani with far reaching vision, established "Ramani Academy of Flute" in 1983, to train young talents from India and abroad in his art. Dr. Ramani continues to have the largest

member of disciples spread all over the world. Many are performing artists. All India Radio had also employed many of his students. 

Dr. Ramani had given several lecture demonstrations all over the world. It started with his international concert tour of 1962. During his several subsequent worldwide concert tours, he had given lecture - demonstration at various universities and music centres. The RAF also honours, every year, noted flute artists (including those who do not belong to the Ramani school) who have contributed to the progress of flute playing such as H. Ramachandra Shastri, the disciple of Palladam Sanjeeva Rao.

Palladam Sanjeeva Rao was also honoured by the school.

Personal Life 

Dr. Ramani's gigantic stature as an artist of international fame is contrasted with his total simplicity as a person and his extreme humility. He is not shy to openly acknowledge his indebtedness to other musicians, and is willing to learn new features, even if it is found in a young budding talent. Deeply religious in a quiet way, he performs pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine of Sri Ayyappan in Sabari Malai in Kerala. Despite being the current numero uno of Carnatic flute in the world, Dr. Ramani is not dazzled by the pompous and a luxurious life, which he could well, indulge in, and leads a very simple life. He is blessed with excellent happy home with many grand children, several of whom show musical talents. 

Legacy 

The family tradition of Dr. Ramani from his grand father is continuing in the future generations. His son and disciple, Sri R. Thyagarajan is a well- established flute artist of his own standing who had given over 2000 concerts all over the world. He continues to manage the Ramani Academy of Flute (RAF) till today. He has accompanied Dr. Ramani in international tours and has himself on his own given many solo performances in international tours. Dr. Ramani's grandson and disciple, Atul Kumar is blossoming into a talented artist and he has also accompanied Dr. Ramani in international concert tours of the USA since 1995. 

Sangeetha Kalanidhi & Other Awards 

The Music Academy of Madras has established its "Sangita Kalanidhi" title (which it confers upon outstanding artists of reputation and record of long service to art, each year, on the first day of the year) as an honour and recognition of outstanding level of achievements in the music world, which many artists as well as music listeners feel should adorn the list of honours of any great musician. 

On January 1st 1997, Dr. Ramani joined the band of musical celebrities who have received this honour, when the Music Academy of Madras selected Dr. Ramani as the President of its 70th Conference and honoured him with the title of Sangita Kalanidhi. Following this event, Dr. Ramani was felicitated at many centres of music all over India. 

Dr. Ramani continues to entertain international fans by undertaking international concert tours. During August - September 1997 he had undertaken a tour of Australia, to give Jugalbandhi concerts. He had also given several concerts in Europe during November 1997. 

In 1998, Bhairavi invited him to give concert at Cleveland, Ohio, USA, which was followed by concerts at other cities of USA. It is worthy to mention here that Bhairavi had been inviting him continuously every year to play at their Thyagaraja Festival usually during the month of May every year. He was invited to give concerts at Kuwait in November 1998.

Till the very end, he remained as a stock performer in the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Celebration held in Cleveland, Ohio, USA every year. 

Honours and felicitations continue to be bestowed upon him. The "Papanasam Sivan Award" was awarded to Dr. Ramani at Chennai on 9th January 1998.

The "Isai Perarignar" of Tamil Isai Sangam, Chennai was awarded to him during the Music Festival 1998.

His Holiness Ganapathy Sachithananda Swami ji, Mysore honoured and blessed with the award "Nadha Nidhi" in May 1999.

During the December 2000 music season, Dr. Ramani was awarded the "Hanumath Gana Shiromani" from the Anjaneyar Temple Nanganallur and "Sangeetha Kala Ratna" by the Sri Ranjani Trust Chennai.

Bhairavi Fine Arts society celebrated its 25th Anniversary in April 2002 and honoured him with a Golden Flute and the award "Seva Ratna".

Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts, New Delhi honoured Dr. Ramani in February 2003 with the title "Nadha Kalanidhi".

All India Radio celebrated its Golden Jubilee Year in March 2004 and honoured Dr. Ramani with the most prestigious award "National Artiste Award" along with other eminent and senior Carnatic and Hindustani Artists. It was a special event organized by AIR at the Golconda Forte, Hyderabad. We also mention here that only 25 artists from across the country were selected to receive this award. 

Recent Years 

In Oct 2010, he released a book called Ramaneeya Geetham, a collection of songs popularized by him and also rare ones which he had not performed himself. It is only available in the Ramani Academy of Flute. The speciality of the book is that the notations are all tuned to suit flute playing which is arguably the first of its kind in Carnatic music book publications.

In April 2012, he received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Tagore Ratna award from the most esteemed body of music and arts, the Sangeet Natak Academy. In a felicitation function honouring 50 of the most celebrated musicians of the country, Dr. N. Ramani was aptly selected for the award.

Of the most esteemed awards that was bestowed to Dr. N. Ramani, was the "Padmavibhushan Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia Award" which was personally presented to Dr. N. Ramani by his counterpart Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia on Jan 2013 at a glittering function in Thane, Mumbai at Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar Theatre. Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia relished that it was indeed an honour for him to personally present the award to Dr. N. Ramani. Both Pt. Hariprasad and Dr. N. Ramani have given many a jughalbhandi flute concerts and the most recent one being in the GNB Centenary Celebrations that was held in Chennai in 2010.

He passed away on 9 Oct 2015 due to age-related ailments.

G.N.B - The Superstar Of Carnatic Music

G.N.B - The Superstar Of Carnatic Music

G.N.B, is a name synonymous for a revolution, neo-classicism, charisma, appeal, generosity, magnanimity and most rarest of all; ... 19:48

G.N.B, is a name synonymous for a revolution, neo-classicism, charisma, appeal, generosity, magnanimity and most rarest of all; humility. To even talk about this great personality not many are worthy, but this write-up is a humble tribute to a person or better, a sathguru of Nadabrahma who influenced the views of Indian classical music forever.

Introduction

Gudallur Narayanaswamy Balasubramaniam, as the acronym goes, is a person who brought the first idea of neo-classical Carnatic music on the concert stage, reviving the performing genre of a bygone era with a modern appeal. In the performing era of this art form, he was the first vocalist to approach Carnatic music with an intellectual bend of mind and that too successfully on the concert circuit. He revived the shruthi-bedam (calculated tonal shift of one raga to another in a composition, a sophisticated science in Carnatic music) technique from obscurity (in ancient times, it was reportedly used by music bards of of Sangam music to showcase their deep knowledge of raga science). He proved that the madhayama kala (middle tempo) is the ideal singing tempo that appeals to the lay and connoisseur alike and likewise, all his concerts drew packed audiences even in his final years. Among his iconic colleagues, he had the fortune of training some of the most brilliant musicians of his time and trained 2 of the greatest amongst them (a record yet to be broken by any performing music guru); Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman (a genius star disciple) & M. L, Vasanthakumari (former film actress & a musical genius matched). Both SKR and MLV stood head and shoulders with GNB and by the time of their passing, they both had already trained a legion of disciples of the GNB school. GNB was unusually blessed with a rare blend photogenic looks and a divine voice so versatile and flexible that captivated one and all. Scholars have gone so far to declare that a voice of such calibre was not heard of in known Indian history. Nevertheless, the daunting question arises; who is G.N.B, the man who single-handedly transformed the Carnatic music scene? Is he the genius of extraordinary musical gifts or a staunch hedonist of surprising humility?

The Musician

Much about his life, achievements and contributions in the field of Indian music (Carnatic & in a certain way Hindustani music) have been discussed in numerous books, lecture demonstrations and websites. But to define G.N.B as a musician, one has to understand or at least look at the human being who lived a personality comparable to a fictional superhero. That's how I saw a person who overwhelmed me more than his music, a person called G.N.B. Since young, he had a penchant for music and challenged even the great Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar at the age of 12 that he can sing Hamsadhwani raga at the hesitation of his father in a musical discussion. Upon hearing the boy's music, the great legend was speechless, the copious swaras, and the boundless creativity that the young lad unleashed, prompted the legend that a new age is dawning in Carnatic music. He grew up listening to great stalwarts especially Nadeswaram artistes, who created matchless elaborations of raga alapanas that are so exquisite that vocalists are never said or heard to have emulated. GNB thought otherwise and attempted to vocalize the grandeur of this instrumental genre. Realizing the wide-reaching appeal of this instrument among the masses, it is only sensible, how aptly he used his gifted voice to maximum effect by incorporating the instrument's vibrant brigha (rapid crescendo) techniques.

His musical sensitivity was remarkably unusual and he had the rare ability to grasp swaras (musical notes) from even common speech by his friends and anybody, all of which accelerated his musical acumen very quickly. Despite his unparalleled musical gifts, pride never cast its shadow on this teenager who finished his B.A. (Hons) in English Literature. One may say that an educated upbringing will add arrogance, ego and pride in one's achievements. But to this great young man, the world stood still as he made his debut concert in 1928 in the auspices of the Kapaleshwar Temple in Mylapore during the Spring Festival as a replacement for Musiri Subramaniyar Iyer another great legend who was ill and was unable to make it for the occasion.

It was there that the first rains of musical bliss poured and a thousand suns of joy and wonder lit the sky, ushering in an era so bright, that the music world was never the same again. His brilliantly fast but controlled music, copious brighas, dynamic appeal and rhythmic adherence stunned audiences all times. He criss-crossed the nation's length and breath, with concert bookings up to 2 years in advance. As he grew at a meteoric speed, he stood head and shoulders with the giants. Now as a young man, informed of his music and those of his seniors, he personally venerated Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar as his idol and inspiration even defending criticisms against the master. T. N. Rajarathnam Pillai, the Nadeswara Chakravarthy became his most prominent muse. T. N. Rajarathnam Pillai, who once said, that no one can sing with the effect of his Nadeswaram, was taken back after hearing a concert of G.N.B and personally felicitated him on stage. Their friendship remained very intimate till the passing of the former. As fame grew, humility is supposed to fade, but in this divine star, it grew larger and more visible than most other famous colleagues of his profession. Even at the height of his stardom, a tambura accompaniment to Maharajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer or an obedient fan sharing a listening ear on the dias as Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar gave a vocal recital were moments that made his humility stand out.

Always open to musical ideas, he had long discussions with many up-coming musicians of his time including Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna who was then a young artiste (while they were both working in AIR in the 1950s) and with his disciples like M.L.V and most of all with his star and genius disciple, Tanjore S. Kalyanaraman and even called him, a Sangeetha Shastri (a well-versed musical scholar), and that at the height of his fame and amidst people who didn't know much about his upcoming student. At a time when it was taboo for a student to share the stage with a teacher extempore, G.N.B even shared his stage many a times with Kalyanaraman who sprung brilliant musical exchanges on the spot to surprise an audience who came to listen to G.N.B. He declared that his student can stand up to any raga in Indian music despite his vast knowledge in rare ragas. Such was his student's calibre that G.N.B christened him as a "Sangeetha Shastri" coming from a person who does not believe in recommending musicians even his own students for favours in music competitions, concert recommendations and grading assessments. S. Kalyanaraman became a maverick in his own right extending the boundaries of the GNB style to its almost absolute limit and he is emulated by both leading and upcoming musicians in Carnatic music today.

He also had a heart to generously apologize many a times to the surprise of his many young, but brilliant accompanists whenever he had a shortcoming because of an ailing health in his later years or some reason. On a metaphoric note, one may ask who his he apologizing to? He is apologizing to the Nadabrahma that exist in the music of everyone making it. He is rightfully doing his duty as a musician and I think everyone in such a dilemma should do regardless of seniority or experience. He also became the first musician to share his remuneration equally with his accompanists regardless of their seniority and experience and kept it that way even at times when he needed the money in his ailing final years. In my own observation, nobody in a field of envy and pride, was this generous then and now.

A hedonist who spent his money lavishly while giving his generous share to needy musicians, he didn't care how much he made in his coffers, but how many people were made happy and be duly satisfied. Paradoxically, how can a hedonist be generous to others? The equation isn't balanced. Even so, he lived such a short life, but with achievements that require a lifetime to achieve. 

There were times when professional rivalry got the better of him, when Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, his foremost rival, created the post of Chief Producer Carnatic Music in AIR and gave him the post of a Producer. Semmangudi Iyer also "renovated" the AIR archives which housed many of G.N.B recordings made during his prime years in the 1940s and 1950s while working in AIR for the reason of "space management", and also disputably said to have passed belittling comments to the Travancore Royal family among many others about G.N.B. Another question to ponder here is how can a musician who remained at the top rank for all his life ignore such immoral actions of envy and pride? On my own logical view, its simple, he didn't consider anyone his rival, but looked at them as learning avenues to improve his music. He remained like all the greats, a student of music all his life, learning whatever he can from the masters and even his juniors and never accepted titles like "Great one", "Divine one" and as such.

It is expectant for an ascetic or a saint to live a renounced life. But to see a person, enshrined in fame, unparalleled talent and fortune exuding humility to others, that is even rarer and more holier. It is indeed more difficult to live such a life. An ordinary person cannot live a life like this. It is a divine calling, a calling so rare, that history can never forget. To shun envy, pride and arrogance in the sphere of fame is indeed achieving enlightenment. Feted by the entire nation for all he had achieved, he was an enlightened soul who had accomplished his birth task and left his mortal coil, for the world to tell his story. He died at the age of 55 leaving behind a treasure trove of over 250 compositions and a legacy carried on by his many disciples.

Till the end, he never believed in recommending his students, fans or even his own family members (siblings) for performing opportunities or for any other reason. He believed that the quality of the individual's music alone should recommend the artiste for his own progress. On one such instance, he refused to give the college "donation" money of 2000 Rp, to his brother to get into B.A. (Hons) programme which he did not qualify on his own merit. To the dismay of his brother, he took up the B.A. programme as required. Before he passed on, he made a diktat that none of his family members should take up music as a profession as they would be compared to his legendary music & knowing the growing commercial politics & esotericism in the business of performing music, he feared they would be subjected to immense media scrutiny.

As for his rivals, he became a lesson and a role model to how a musician should live and that humility, he proved, triumphs above envy, pride and arrogance. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the so-called Pitamaha of modern Carnatic music regretted many a times for having done such unfair things to a musician who stood above him in many aspects of  music and character. In fact, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer significantly incorporated the G.N.B style in his music that made him popular even in his golden years and glorified G.N.B.'s music and humility in many interviews and concerts. Even to this day, I have not witnessed a single criticism said or discussed about his music and character by anyone. Indeed its a huge challenge for any human being to live such a life. The zenith of his achievement was the division of the performing era of Carnatic music into two parts; the pre-G.N.B era and the post-G.N.B. era, an honour he alone received for his revolutionary services in the field of Indian classical music.

Conclusion

G.N.B is the rarest talent the music world had ever produced. Musicologists had even gone to the extent to declare  that a voice like G.N.B with the ability to create any vocal inflections never existed in the past 1000 years in Indian music as no mention of such a singer was mentioned in the literature of Indian music. Considering the fact that classical Indian music is the oldest classical music in the world, G.N.B is indeed a gift to the world of music. For if he lived for just a couple of decades past his 55th year, he would surely been feted all over the world personally.

G.N.B was not only a gifted singer of extraordinary ability, but a brilliant composer, musicologist, critic and performer rolled into one. He was also a good violinist & learnt how to play the veena. He also had sound knowledge of Western classical music & knew how to write the staff notation with ease. To the many Western music enthusiasts who visited his residence, his high command of the English language & his knowledge of bridging the similarities between Carnatic, Hindustani & Western classical music always held their attention in music discussions. Above all, he was a noble human being worthy of even worship.

To call G.N.B the "Prince of Carnatic Music" is an understatment. He should be duly called Booloka Nadarupa Chakravarthy. (the Earthly Emperor of Music). Some may disagree. But on the basis of his monumental innovations, this title fits the great, the one and only; Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri. G. N. Balasubramaniam. He is and will be the only "Superstar of Carnatic Music".

Excerpts of his Essays on Music

The rapid advance of democracy which connotes that all citizens shall have equal opportunities to participate in all activities - political, economic, social or cultural - has led to the natural result that no art can be regarded as a privilege of those better placed in life. 

- (Mass Appeal in Music)

Our system, the most aesthetic, intricate & exalted in the world, is the noblest heritage of man.

- (Concert Tradition)

The word tradition connotes the sum total of observances & practices as they come down in human history, in the aspect of man's mental & social activities such as literature, art, religion & philosophy.

- (Concert Tradition)

The greatest art is that which is born out of profound & powerful emotional inspiration, controlled selected & chiseled by the exercise of reason & giving us a unified & structural whole & achieving the union of vigour & beauty in the parts & exquisite attractiveness & appeal in the whole.

- (Art: Its Dawn, Perfection & Future Role)

While listening to good music, one moves along its graces & nuances its waves of ascent & descent, its caresses & its kicks & its tears & its smiles.

- (Art: Its Dawn, Perfection & Future Role

In short the end of all art is to unite one with a common feeling.

 - (Art: Its Dawn, Perfection & Future Role)

It will be evident that a musical performance those days was considered a really serious affair alike by the musicians & the audience. There was so much of science in it that the appeal was bound to be restricted to a very few.

- (Mass Appeal in Music)

The individual artist loses his personality & he becomes as it were, one of the common herds of sheep whose wool is sheared for producing aesthetic warmth to the otherwise ill-clad, common, lay listener.

- (The Annihilation of Art)

A book which lays down the principles on which music criticism should be written & which will be useful to critics as well as lay listeners is very much needed now.

- (Music Publication Work)

In music, as in other aspects of the culture we have inherited from the past, we have now come to a stage, where I am afraid, blind & unmeaning obedience & adherence to the past will no longer obtain amongst the younger & future generations.

- (Presidential Address Music Academy, 20/12/1958)

Lecture 1: Anatomy of the Carnatic Flute

Lecture 1: Anatomy of the Carnatic Flute

Origins Music has always been the fascination of early man. The reverberating sounds of the woods, the ever rushing rapids of streams, t... 17:49

Origins

Music has always been the fascination of early man. The reverberating sounds of the woods, the ever rushing rapids of streams, the chirping of the birds, the howling of the gales, are some of the common examples that could have surely fascinated him. His growing curiosity only made him develop methods & more specifically instruments to produce music or at least to re-produce the already existing sounds of nature around him.

Fortunately, hollow tubes, initially made from animal bones are found to produce sounds that varied with different lengths. Later on, after further experimentation, holes were bored in the body of this bones to produce a flute like device that can produce a series of sounds or notes on a single piece of bone.

Strangely, most early men from different cultures across the planet had a penchant for this device & similarities were found in cave drawings in many cultures in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia & Oceania. Undisputedly, this device became the first musical instrument of humankind.

The evolution of his culture & his civilization saw wood as the most suitable instrument for the production of sound. Coincidentally, many ancient civilizations ranging from the Egyptians, Indians, Assyrians, Israelites & the Chinese developed almost similar way to produce these instruments. While some held the instrument in a tilted sideway posture, some held it perpendicular to the mouth.  The basic logic of closing a certain number of holes in the instrument to produce the sound of a specific note remained the same throughout all these cultures.

Of late, recent underwater archaeological findings of massive buildings in Dwaraka (city of Lord Krishna, an expert flute player) & Poompuhar (the place where the epic of Silappathikaram supposedly happened & where the protagonist, Kovalan was also stated to be an expert flute player) prove that classical music existed over tens of thousands of years before the common era, further suggesting that this instrument is the first of its kind that mankind could have behold in music production. These recent findings has also thrown new light in re-dating the civilized history of mankind up to the beginning of the last Ice Age when massive meltdowns of colossal glaciers swallowed low-lying (below sea-level) landmasses across the world.

Material

In the East, bamboo became a preferred choice, due to the homogeneity of the bamboo plant that made it easier to predict the note when holes are bored. The tone of the sound is also found to be soothing. As such, ancient cultures like the Chinese, Japanese & Indians extensively used bamboo for the production of flutes.

The bamboo is by nature, a type of grass that belongs to the Poaceae family of grasses with over 1400 species in all 3 tropics. This family of grass develop almost tree like features when fully grown often deceiving the unlearned observer into thinking that it is a tree.

While the Japanese & Chinese modified their original designs with other materials with metal mouth pieces & sometimes even glass parts, & with the West adopting brass & steel tubes, its quite surprising, why the Indians retained the original design; that is a single, unjoined piece of bamboo with holes bored at various distances from each other. One hole became the blowing hole, while the rest became the fingering holes. The primary reason is the music. While the West adopted the counterpoint method of sound production which required harmonic principles and thereby "harmonized notes", the Indians on the other hand, retained the melodic nature of their music. As such the keyless bamboo flute is still used today in Indian classical music, using the 16 natural musical notes (as in Carnatic Music) in sound production.

Design & Construction

The earliest reference of flute in classical music came from the South, in the ancient Tamil literary text of Silappathikaaram (Tale of The Anklet), where the protagonist, Kovalan is mentioned to be an expert flautist. Incidentally, this ancient Tamil text also mentioned many aspects of ragas used in ancient Tamil classical music that are still practiced today including the playing posture of the instrument. The 16-note system of Carnatic music was also mentioned in these ragas. There are however later references to the instrument in the North like in the musical treatise of Sarangadeva, the Sangitaratnakara (Jewel Mine of Music) who mentions 15 different types of flutes based on the distance, known as angula (1.9cm) between the mouth-hole & the first finger hole chiefly Ekavira, Umapathi, Tripurusha, Chaturmukha, Panchavaktra, Shanmukha, Muni, Vasu, Nathendra, Mahananda, Rudra, Aditya, Manu, Kalanidhi & Ashtadasangula. Of which, the Ashtadasangula has the widest seperation of 17 & 18 angulas, thereby the longest in the list.

The Shanmukha type is widely in use in the Carnatic flute today due to the flexibility of this design to handle Indian classical music as well as other forms of music pretty well. According to Sarangadeva, the other types are either too long or not practical to be practiced in classical music, while all of which are found to be used in other forms of music like folk, drama & dance where the demands of performing classical music are significantly reduced. 

The type of bamboo used in the North is structurally different from the South. The South Indian bamboo is only available plentiful in a forest in the southwestern state of Kerala in a place known as Nilambur where the climate & elevation is just right for the cultivation of this type of bamboo. The bamboo grown here has a thick reed & normally cut in a way that one end is naturally knotted. In the North, the bamboo used to make flutes are grown in the forests of Assam & generally possess a very thin reed. The color of the bamboo is also lighter as compared to the the South Indian bamboos. The selection of suitable bamboos for flute making is either done by a flute maker or a flautist himself. 

The Silappathikaram, from South India specifically mentions bamboo as the best material for flute making & details the dimensions of the making a flute. Though it mentions that both ends of the bamboo must be hollow with one end stopped by wax preferably or some other material, it's design ratio of hole placements is still followed as a guideline by flute makers in South India, with the exception that most South Indian flute makers use a knotted end bamboo on one side. It remains the earliest & most detailed authority on the design & construction of Carnatic flute. The boring process of heating a metal disc red-hot & burning the bamboo by pressing it against the designated area is also mentioned in this literature. As easy as it may seem, it takes immense skill on the part of the flute maker to make the right holes at the right places depending on the length & reed thickness of the bamboo, else he has to start all over again. In ancient times, many of the flute makers are actually flautists themselves.

There are of course some differences in using each flute. While the Assamese bamboo produces a shrill tone, the South Indian bamboo produces a sharp tone. While not much have been said of exchanges of each flute types among the North & South Indian flautists in the past, today, the distinction has almost blurred, as all Indian flautists generally accept & use both types of bamboos in flute playing, depending on their preference & type of ragas to which  some flutes produce better feel or musical effect. This confluence has also fortunately brought closer, with it the musical cultures of the North & South to interact seamlessly.

Variety

Nevertheless, there exist numerous varieties of flutes in India itself. In the Silappadikaram alone, there exist 3 types; Kondraikuzhal (z pronounced as l for lull), Ambarkuzhal & Mullaikuzhal all of which are end blown, like the beak-flute or the modern-day recorder in Western music. There also exist another type known as the Veynkuzhal which is technically an ordinary bamboo pipe. Double-flute was also played in India like the ancient Assyrians with striking similarities in design all of which use the bamboo as the default material. Double-flutes are challenging to be played as both are held by the mouth & played simultaneously, one is the drone & the other is the tune pipe. The drone pipe has a similar design to the shenai with a bell-shaped opening in the end. They are found in Tibet & Rajasthan with a sculpture in Sanchi.

Design Challenges

The most daunting yet most important aspect of the Carnatic flute that it has a highly-developed, complex fingering to produce the kind of music comparable to the vocal form of the music given the simple design of the instrument. Some of which can be plainly put down on paper & shown, but the most of the which, cannot be written down as to how much a finger is need to close that hole to produce that "special note" or to shake that finger over that hole to produce that "fluid effect". Only a competent flautist can impart such subtle yet very significant knowledge to the student. Even the brightest students, take years of practice and acclimatization to the same instrument to get the desired music. There is also a common myth due to the design of the Carnatic flute, there are many limitations as opposed to the vocal form, which on many accounts, highly-skilled professionals would beg to differ.

Professionals train for several hours every other day to upkeep their competency, while amateurs who occasionally perform don't usually develop the quality that professionals create. Therefore many highlight of the great rift between the quality of music from an amateur flautist to that of a professional as compared to other instruments. The main reason for this rift is not the instrument but the level of fingering that the flautist has to take pains to develop. As such many budding students of music often turn away from this instrument, knowing that mastering the finger work alone is a gargantuan task & that is before understanding the intricacies of the music.

Another most important task of the budding flautist is to understand the vocal form of the music very well, or better still, extremely well to the extent of producing it. The flautist or the nadaswaram artiste is a parallel to the vocalist in terms of music production, as both performers (wood wind instrumentalists & vocalists) use the vocal chords to produce music. While there is has been claims by reputed artistes, that the flautist will strain the vocal chords & therefore has to sacrifice the vocal asset of his music, it has not been scientifically proven. Vocal music, especially for the budding flautist is an important asset to understand at least so as to aptly reproduce the music on the instrument. All these efforts will eventually culminate in improving the blowing techniques of the flautists to an impressive quality. In addition, the know how of vocal knowledge will aid in better improving the fingering of unknown, difficult & rare ragas, giving an advantage of venturing into uncommon territory.

Much of the above challenges will be discussed appropriately in detail in the later chapters.

Lecture 2: Playing Techniques

Lecture 2: Playing Techniques

Origins This is probably the most interesting part of the lecture series. Before looking at the playing techniques of the Carnatic flute ... 17:48

Origins

This is probably the most interesting part of the lecture series. Before looking at the playing techniques of the Carnatic flute from a close-up preview, one needs to understand how the modern playing techniques evolved from the annals of history, so as to better appreciate the instrument as well as understanding the history of the musicians responsible for the evolution of these techniques.

As it is a widely known fact, Sharaba Shastri (1872 - 1904 A.D.) was the first Carnatic flautist to perform on stage & establish Carnatic the flute as a solo instrument. Hailing from the direct disciplic lineage of Saint Thyagaraja through Manamunchavadi Venkatasubbaiyar (1803- 1862 A.D.) & Muthuswami Dikshitar shisya parampara through the illustrious nadeswaram maestro, polyglot vocalist Kurainadu Ramaswami Pillai (1830 - 1925 A.D.), Shastri re-discovered & established the playing posture for the 7 musical notes that was lost in history. Even though he was blind, he was quickly recognized as a prodigy who had an uncanny sense of swara nyana (ability to grasp musical notes on the spot also known as "note wisdom"). He was also thought to have possessed "nada siddhi" or musical perfection, where reports have said that he brought rains when playing raga Amrithavarshini & attracted snakes when playing raga Punnagavarali.

His foremost student Palladam Sanjeeva Rao (1882 - 1962 A.D.) spent his life promoting the instrument, which however did not get the recognition as being able to mimic the vocal nuances of Carnatic music, which formed the backbone of Carnatic music. This prevented the instrument from being used as an accompanying medium in vocal concerts, since the vocal nuances were not heard. The fingering widely used till then was known as parallel fingering. 

It took another phenomenal genius, flautist T. R. Mahalingam (1926 - 1986 A.D.) to perfect the instrument to produce the vocal nuances of Carnatic music. From shrewd observation of the fingering techniques of Nadaswaram (double-reed, metal trunk & bell mouthed trumpets) players, flute Mali as he was better known, adopted the technique to great effect. It soon gained attention as the best fingering technique for Carnatic flutes & flute Mali's name & fame grew far & wide. Though parallel fingering was completely not ignored, it still remained as a recognized technique & in fact, certain aspects got subsumed into the Carnatic flutecross-fingering technique. It is to important to note that the cross-fingering technique is only an adopted technique & not an assimilated technique from Nadaswaram music.

Musical Notes - An Introduction

Carnatic music is a very sophisticated & complex art form in the likes of which there is no parallel. Above all, it is a scientific music form. While it may seem easy to play the 7 notes from the perspective of a C major or D major scale, it has more than meets the eye. There are altogether a total note count of 16 notes in Carnatic music, 4 of which are dissonant notes which overlap & cross-over another set of 4 corresponding notes. In Hindustani music, these 4 dissonant notes are not handled & ignored. In Carnatic music, they form the basis of why the 72 melakartha raga scheme exists. 

The notes (sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, saa) below define the 16-note base of Carnatic music which includes the 4 dissonant notes marked with an asterisk (*) & their equivalent notes. In most contemporary musical texts, G2, G3, N2 & N3 will be replaced by either the prefix 1 & 2 for convenience. But students should know the dissonant notes from the congruent notes.

S - Shadjam

R1 - Suddha Rishabam
R2 - Chatushruthi Rishabam
R3 - Shatshruthi Rishabam*

G1 - Suddha Ghandaram* (same as R2)
G2 - Sadharana Ghandaram (same as R3)
G3 - Antara Ghandaram

M1 - Suddha Madhyamam
M2 - Prathi Madhyamam

P - Panchamam

D1 - Suddha Dhaivatham
D2 - Chatushruthi Dhaivatham
D3 - Shatshruthi Dhaivatham*

N1 - Suddha Nishadam* (Same as D2)
N2 - Kaisika Nishadam (Same as D3)
N3 - Kaakali Nishadam

While the notes form one part of the raga in Carnatic music, the next most important part are the nuances which form the integral part of defining a raga. In Carnatic music, these nuances are called the gamakas (vocal nuances). In Hindustani music, its called meend (bending of the note). In Carnatic music, there is a universally accepted version of 10 different gamakas better known as dasavidha gamakas. Mastering these gamakas is very important to be able to interpret & play ragas well.

Rhythm - An Introduction

Rhythm is an integral part of musical notes in Carnatic music, playing rhythmic passages (advanced skill) on the flute require both apt knowledge in rhythm science & musical notes. There are in total 175 different thalas or rhythmic patterns in Carnatic music. While mastering all of these is not mandatory for the non-percussionist, it is important to understand how they are formed & applied. 

This skill will become vital for creating raagam-thanam-pallavi (RTP) or refrain-improvised music which forms the crown jewel of a Carnatic music concert usually spanning from as little as 20mins to more than an hour. Occasionally RTPs are usually made with rare thalas (senior musicians) to attract attention or to show the musician's capacity in handling complicated thalas. Both ragas & thalas are given equal importance in RTPs.

Another point to take note is unlike vocalists, who visually take the rhythmic count from their hands, flautists & any other instrumentalist for that matter have to find other means of keeping count. For instrumentalists who generally use their hands to handle the instrument, normally their feet will play the role of the rhythm count keeper.

Playing the Basic Notes (Madhya & Thara Sthayi)

The postures are given below, take note the convenient notation in < > & the actual notation in ( ). Fingering that is applicable for the madhya & thara sthayi will be shown with an asterisk (*). All thara sthayi notes require hard blowing until a shrill tone is heard. A shruthi box can be used to check the notes played. 

As with personal experience, other fingering techniques for other notes cannot be shown in static pictures & varies with the guru's instruction based on their performing experience & knowledge. This is the reason, why many students of music do not take the flute as a choice of instrument. For universal convenience, only the widely accepted madhya & thara sthayi fingering is covered here. The range of the thara sthayi is limited to panchamam (Pa). Kindly seek assistance from a competent guru to learn other techniques. This lecture is not designed to downplay the role of a guru, but rather to enhance the student's or connoisseur's appreciation of the techniques of basic flute playing.

Disclaimer: This pictorial demonstration only serve one to play the basic exercises or simple compositions without gamakas. In most Carnatic music compositions, gamakas are mandatory & the fingering gets very complicated when one applies them. Only the close guidance of a guru can help one to achieve this. In no way, should this pictures be treated as the exact playing technique of a note in a composition. Viewers are to take note that in a composition playing of even these well established techniques may vary because of gamakas.


*Sa

This is the 9-hole Carnatic flute, the closed fingers are the first 2 finger holes, followed by the rest until the 8th hole. The extreme left as seen is the mouth hole & is closed at the left end

*Ra (R1) 

Note that the 2nd finger hole is partially closed. Again the degree of closure is subjective. Kindly check with a competent guru

*Ra (R2)

Only the 1st finger hole is closed

*Ga (G2) = <G1>

Playing G1 correctly is challenging as the degree of partial closing of the 1st hole is very subjective when playing a composition as opposed to playing the basic notes

Ga (G3) = <G2> (Madhya)

All finger holes are open. Note the playing posture. For Carnatic flute, this is the de-facto posture, whether one is left or right handed. For a change in posture, consult a competent guru

Ga (G3) = <G2> (Thara)

Only the 6th finger hole is closed. Hard blowing is required until a shrill tone is heard. Again for some flutes only the 7th hole may be closed or for some cases, totally different, please consult a competent guru

*Ma (M1)

The 1st finger hole is completely open while the 2nd-7th holes are closed

Ma (M2) (Madhya)

The 1st-5th holes are closed while the 6th is partially closed. Again this fingering is subjective on the flute's design

Ma (M2) (Thara)

1st, 2nd & 6th finger holes are closed, the 3rd is partially closed

Pa (Madhya)

Only the 1st-5th finger holes are closed

Pa (Thara)

Only the 1st, 2nd & 6th finger holes are closed. Hard blowing required

Da (D1)

Only the 1st-4th finger holes are closed. The 5th is partially opened

Da (D2)

Only the 1st-4th finger holes are closed

Ni (N2) = <N1>

The 1st, 2nd & 3rd finger holes are closed 

Ni (N3) = <N2>

The 1st & 2nd finger holes are closed. The 3rd is partially closed