Indian classical music is one of the oldest as well as complicated music forms in the world which is considered to be originated during the Vedic period. Indian classical music is regarded as pure and was primarily used as a mode to realise God in olden times and hence was performed only in the temples. Around 17th century, music became more open, flexible and accessible to common people. Indian classical music is deeply rooted in Indian culture and tradition and each place has great impact on music.
There are two branches to the traditional Indian classical music; they are Carnatic and Hindustani music. The Carnatic music is complex and is mostly practiced in the Southern part of India with particular form of Ragas and Talas. Carnatic music basically contains 7 Ragas and 72 Talas and is used in a rhythmic pattern. The three saints in Carnatic music are Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shashtri who have composed thousands of Krithis which are still favoured by musicians. Here more emphasis is given to vocal singer, hence the training in this form of music is started from a very early age and a well qualified master is also needed for teaching Carnatic music. These compositions are also taught in all Carnatic singing classes in Pune to train the students who want to excel in this style of music.
Hindustani music unlike Caranatic music is greatly influenced by Persian and Islamic cultures and is more prominent in North India. The heritage of Hindustani music goes back to Sufi age. The melodic pattern is brought in to the music with intelligent use of Ragas known as Aaroha and Avaroha. The main styles of vocal Hindustani classical music are Dhrupad, Khayal and Tarana. At Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, students are given training in these forms of music.
Gandharva Mahavidyalaya is one of the reputed singing classes in Pune. Gandharva Mahavidyalaya established by Pt. V. Patwardhan, the most senior disciple of Pt Vishnu Digambar Patwardhan who wished to spread music to the common people, aims at educating and promoting music like Hindustani and instrument music like Harmonium and Tabla to the common people.
Here special care is given to bring out the best in a very student so that they can perform Hindustani classical music at international levels. Here the students also get the opportunity to perform and participate in well acclaimed concerts which is not available in any other singing classes in Pune. With years of experience and dedication GMV is preferred as one of best singing classes in Pune. GMV also introduces Sugam Sangeet into the various music courses which cover Bhavgeet, Natyageet and more. There is music courses organised for kids who are more than 5 years of age and the course is named as Balgeet.
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Course Objectives
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Course Contents
As the student’s familiarity with Indian classical music progresses, he/she will be exposed to the use of the tanpura in the presentation of music, as also some semi-classical forms of music in this course. Also, there will be a written examination along with the practical oral examination here.
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Swar - In this course, the swar-alankaars become more complicated. The student will be taught alankaars using eight swars, which will include some komal and teevra swars as well.
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Raag - This course equips the student to confidently perform a raag for around eight minutes, with a gat / bandish, preliminary aalap, taan, bol-taan, etc. Along with the eight raags covered in the previous two examinations, he/she will be taught ten more raags in this course. These are Bihag, Kedar, Sarang, Dhani, Tilak Kamod, Bhairav, Tilang, Pilu, Patdeep, and Alhaiya Bilawal. The student will also be taught lakshan-geet, a bhajan and a natya-geet in any three of these raags. He/she should be able to recognise the raag from some basic aalap, and know the theoretical details of all these eighteen raags.
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Taal - Along with the taals learnt in the first two courses, the student will be introduced to Drut Ektaal and Rupak here, which he/she will be expected to show through claps with the hands.
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Theory - Starting from this level, there will be a written examination to test the student’s theoretical grounding. The student will be expected to know definitions of terms like ansh, nyaas, kan-swar, lom-anulom-vilom-pratilom, anuvaadi-vivaadi, shruti, janak raag-janya raag, meend, gamak, etc. The student will also be given information regarding the rules of creating a raag, as well as the different jaati of a raag. This course will teach the student the two notation styles of North Indian classical music, i.e. the Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar method and the Pt. Bhatkhande method. Thus, in the examination, the student will be asked to write the notation of the taals learnt, as well as the chhota khyaal bandish of five of the raags in the present syllabus. Learning about the life and work of Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar is also an important feature of this course. In the written examination, there will also be some questions pertaining to the theory studied in the previous courses.