Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001 www.kksongs.org
Conclusion
Hare Krsna! At the end of this guide, there are few
points I would like to mention.
Melody is arguably more complex than rhythm. With
rhythm, a specific tala will remain as that tala. Of course, one will make
their own style of a rhythm, but kaherva tala will remain kaherva tala, not
dadra tala or anything else. With melody, while renditions of a particular
melody might be there, melodies can be sung in eleven swars (in Western
terminology, in the key of eleven possible notes). Plus, while there are
roughly three hundred sixty rhythmic cycles existent, there are thousands of
ragas, which yield a rich treasure of melody that can always be fresh. With
this truth, it becomes very difficult to teach harmonium.
Therefore, I have never taught harmonium, as my
classes are primarily group based. Therefore, I began writing this guide in
July 2004. Constantly thinking of new ways to teach and present this material
on the web lead to enumerable changes in the syllabus. Finally, after having a
private independent student take instruction from me, I gained a better
perspective on what the guide really needed: practice. I could teach all the
theory that I wanted, however, if they cannot use that in the real setting,
then what is the use of what I taught? I limited the theory to whatever was
needed in order to be successful in harmonium. With this practical experience
of teaching, I’ve been able to redo the course and present a practical approach
to harmonium, three and a half years later.
Of course, I did not teach how to derive melodies.
That only comes through practice with understanding and recognizing the musical
scales, thāts, and musical modal forms, rāgas. Studying these and
practicing these will allow you to mature in your playing techniques. Good
practice can be done through looking through the fourteen songs presented here,
and practice them in other swars for the Sa. In addition, the KKSongs Notations
for Vaisnava Songs (http://www.kksongs.org/vsongs)
contain the Bhatkhande notation and style for many more bhajans. Practice and
accompanying when you have the chance is the only way to succeed.
With best wishes in musical and spiritual endeavors,
Hari Bol!
Krsna Dhenu
Webmaster of KKSongs.org