Carnatic Basics: Jantai Varisaigal

The second set of exercises are jantai varisai. For me, these exercises were the hardest of the lot -  certainly more difficult to play on the guitar than either swaravali or dhattu varisai. Start by trying to play it on 1st speed and move to 2nd only after practicing at 1st speed for a few months.

All jantai exercises have to played with two notes per beat - this is the first speed. Second speed is at 4 notes per beat and so on. In this exercise, whenever a note repeats like S S or R R the second note has to be played in a special way - and on guitar I feel there are three such special ways.

First method: One pick only
Play the first note of the pair plain (pick)
For the second note quickly slide your finger to the previous note of the ragam and back to the first note.

For example, playing S S would involve picking the S then sliding to N and back to S

Second Method: Two picks
Play the first note of the pair plain (pick)
For the second note quickly move (not slide) your finger to the previous note of the ragam, (second) pick and slide back to the first note.

Methods 1-2 are hard to play at higher speeds. So at 2nd or third speed reaching for the previous note in the ragam may not be feasible. So play from the previous semi-tone instead.

Third method: This method also uses two picks and leans on notes outside of the ragam. But its really passing through them and they are hardly heard. This is how jantai is played n the veena.

Play the first note of the pair plain (pick)
For the second note pick the previous semi-tone (may not be a note in the raga, but that is ok) and quickly hammer on to the first note.

Why three methods ? To my ears the second method sounds more like voice when singing Jantai varisai. But the first method is smoother and is like what voice sounds when singing a song. The third is how jantai is played on veena. I like the first two better but all three sound authentic and choosing one (or mixing it up) is really upto individual taste.

The jantai sound is a type of gamaka called spuritham  and I believe it is unique to Carnatic and not heard in other genres. When practicing these exercises it is easy to overdo practice and strain your shoulder muscles. The slide (second note) for jantai come from the shoulder. So take frequent breaks and do not play at higher speeds till you are able to play at 60 or 70 bpm (of course always practice with a metronome).

Exercise 1:

S S R R G G M M | P P D D | N N S' S' ||
S' S' N N D D P P | M M G G | R R S S ||

Here is what is sounds like: (Note S = D)





Exercise 2:

S S R R  G G M M | R R G G | M M P P ||
G G M M P P G G | M M P P | D D N N ||
P P D D N N S' S' | S' S' N N | D D P P ||
N N D D P P M M | D D P P | M M G G ||
P P M M G G R R | M M G G | R R S S ||

Exercise 3:

SS R SS R S R | SS RR | GG MM ||
RR G RR G R G | RR GG | MM PP ||
GG M GG M G M | GG MM | PP DD ||
MM P MM P M P | MM PP | DD NN ||
PP D PP D P D | PP DD | NN S'S' ||
S'S' N S'S' N S' N | S'S' NN | DD PP ||
NN D NN D N D | NN DD | PP MM ||
DD P DD P D P | DD PP | MM GG  ||
PP M PP M P M | PP MM | GG RR ||
MM G MM G M G | MM GG | RR SS||