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The instrument itself is deceptively simple in design, often leading to the assumption that Carnatic music is relatively easy to produce on it. The most arduous challenge not known to most enthusiasts and connoisseurs is that the fingering is extremely complicated. It takes immense practise and sound knowledge of vocal music to produce the vocal form of Carnatic music on the flute. Practise is very important on the flute because, the way the holes are covered and grazed require good finger work on the part of the flautist to produce audibly fluid music. Some of the best Carnatic flautists from the past and today are revered because of the immense hard work they have to put in to excel in their music. Needless to say, even the most gifted flautist is not exempted from dedicated practise.
Of course, this finger work has evolved very much from its origins in the past. Much of the technical issues will be discussed in a separate discussion. For the benefit of enthusiasts and connoisseurs, the evolution from playing flat notes to playing sharp notes and to oscillatory notes (gamakas) evolved over tens of centuries through time with the later most, only surfacing in the dawn of the 20th century. The number of fingering holes also evolved from 6 to 7 and to 8 holes (excluding the blowing hole) during the era of the flute wizard, T. R. Mahalingam. To begin appreciating the music of the modern Carnatic flute, T. R. Mahalingam should be the first one to be discussed, for his contributions to the art of Carnatic flute playing elevated the status of the flute to thrive as a solo instrument that is in-par with a vocal Carnatic music concert.
A few decades before the arrival of Flute Mali as he was called, the flute achieved a classical status in the hands of Sharaba Shastri, the blind musical genius who played classical ragas and established the flute as a classical instrument. His foremost student, Palladam Sanjeeva Rao propagated the instrument in the concert circuits with satisfactory applause. While the instrument achieved a classical status in concerts, it was still not applauded for it lacked the vocal nuances that predominate the characteristics of Carnatic music.
It took a genius like Flute Mali to experiment the vocal nuances on the flute being initially a vocal student himself. The muse of course came from the nadeswaram (double reed trumpets made from a metal bell on the mouth and a sturdy wooden trunk with bored holes for fingering). In those days, nadeswaram artistes were revered very much for their almost limitless capacity to elaborate ragas in temple processions and daily prayers. Even vocal musicians often accompany or pay a listening ear to observe the way nadeswaram artistes elaborate ragas. Their ability to produce Carnatic music very much parallel with the vocal form inspired Flute Mali to study their techniques seriously eventually adapting the "cross-fingering technique" from the nadeswaram in playing the Carnatic flute. His close association with the world-renowned nadeswaram legend T. N. Rajarathnam Pillai further created avenues for musical exchanges both in the literary and technical realms of playing Carnatic music on their respective instruments. It is also important to note that T. N. Rajarathnam Pillai was also a competent vocalist who learned under the violin genius Thirukodikaaval Krishna Iyer in his younger days as a music student.
The adaptation of nadeswaram techniques on the flute changed the status of the instrument forever. It remained just like the nadeswaram pre-dominantly as a solo instrument in the concert circuits. Because of its capacity to imitate the vocal grit of a vocalist extremely well, it remains till today a challenge to be an accompanying instruments to vocalists as it would easily infringe into the territory of the average vocal performer in the hands of a competent flautist. There are however few exceptions like K. V. Narayanaswamy, Maharajapuram Santhanam and Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna who have performed with competent flautists due to their extremely gifted and unique singing ability. However, many leading vocalists turn away from the Carnatic flute as an accompanying instrument; not taking unnecessary risks. Moreover, the concert going public is expectant of a solo recital over an accompanying recital of the flute due to the popularization of the instrument as a solo item by the current numero uno of Carnatic flute, Dr. N. Ramani and his guru Flute Mali all over the world.
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