Carnatic Basics: Swaravali Varisaigal

The last post covered the first exercise of playing the arohanam and avarohanam of Mayamalavagowla. This post goes over the remaining swaravali varisaigal.

For these exercises play every notes for the duration of 1 beat unless specified otherwise.

Some exercises require sliding across multiple notes (even the full scale). The sound of the note will start to die out when sliding multiple notes at slow speeds. But with practice the sustain will improve.  The focus of these exercises is two fold - to be able to play patterns and to familiarise your fingers with the raga scale.

Exercise 2:

Play the following notes by picking each note. Use D as the note for Sa.

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

This exercise should be done over all of the positions from the previous post.


Same exercise, sliding two notes:

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

The notes that should be played with slide is shown by underlining them. The notation S R means pick S for one beat and slide to R in the next beat.

Same exercise, but sliding multiple notes:

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

Exercise 3:

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

Exercise 4:

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

How exercises 2-4 should sound:

Exercise 5:

In this exercise the notes P and M are held for a duration of 2 beats as indicated by "P ," and "M ,"

Picked	Slide
S R G M | P , | S R || S R G M | P D | N S' || S'  N D P | M , | S' N || S' N D P | M G | R S ||	S R G M | P , | S R || S R G M | P D | N S' || S'  N D P | M , | S' N || S' N D P | M G | R S ||

Exercise 6: 

Slide 2 requires sliding across the entire scale. When you practice the notes will start to die out as you slide and the last note may be audible only feebly. But thats ok, practicing will improve the smoothness of your slides and eventually even long slides will be audible.

Picked	Slide 1	Slide 2
S R G M | P D | S R || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M G | S' N || S' N D P | M G | R S ||	S R G M | P D | S R || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M G | S' N || S' N D P | M G | R S ||	S R G M | P D | S R || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M G | S' N || S' N D P | M G | R S ||

Exercise 7:

Picked	Slide
S R G M | P D | N , || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M G | R , || S' N D P | M G | R S ||	S R G M | P D | N , || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M G | R , || S' N D P | M G | R S ||

Exercise 8:

Picked	Slide 1	Slide 2
S R G M | P M G R || S R G M | P D N S' || S' N D P | M P D N || S' N D P | M G R S ||	S R G M | P M G R || S R G M | P D N S' || S' N D P | M P D N || S' N D P | M G R S ||	S R G M | P M G R || S R G M | P D N S' || S' N D P | M P D N || S' N D P | M G R S ||

Exercise 9:

Picked	Slide 1
S R G M | P M | D P || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M P | G M || S' N D P | M G | R S ||	S R G M | P M | D P || S R G M | P D | N S' || S' N D P | M P | G M || S' N D P | M G | R S ||

Exercise 10:

Picked	Slide
S R G M | P , | G M || P , , , | P , | , , || G M P D | N D | P M || G M P G | M G | R S ||	S R G M | P , | G M || P , , , | P , | , , || G M P D | N D | P M || G M P G | M G | R S ||

Exercise 11:

Picked	Slide
S' , N D | N , | D P || D , P M | P , | P , || G M P D | N D | P M || G M P G | M G | R S ||	S' , N D | N , | D P || D , P M | P , | P , || G M P D | N D | P M || G M P G | M G | R S ||

Exercise 12:

Picked	Slide
S' S N D | N N | D P || D D P M | P , | P , || G M P D | N D | P M || G M P G | M G | R S ||	S' S N D | N N | D P || D D P M | P , | P , || G M P D | N D | P M || G M P G | M G | R S ||

Exercise 13:

Picked	Slide
S R G R | G , | G M || P M P , | D P | D , || M P D P| D N | D P || M P D P | M G | R S ||	S R G R | G , | G M || P M P , | D P | D , || M P D P | D N | D P || M P D P | M G | R S ||