CARNATIC

Music & Dance

Carnatic Music as a form of art evolved organically from a variety of devotionally rich musical sources. It is rich in repertoire supported by musicological literature in many languages including Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Carnatic Music has an exponentially large number of rhythmic and scalar combinations and the varieties of Gamakas (ornaments) are intricate and important in distinguishing one raga (melodic scale) from another. Aside from vocal the string/wind instruments used are Saraswati Veena, Violin, Chitraveena, Flute, Nagaswaram and the percussion instruments used are Mridangam, Ghatam, Kanjira, Thavil, Mohrsing etc.

The Carnatic dance tradition represents three main forms of dance which are Bharatanatyam (from Tamil Nadu), Kuchipudi (from Andha Pradhesh) and Kathakali (from Kerala). All these performing styles were fully developed by the 16th to 17th century and their origins can be traced to the ancient Sanskrit text, Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni.

PRSSV World Music and Dance Examinations offers accredited exams in all the Carnatic subjects. The Carnatic syllabuses focus on the elements used to train students of music and dance. Thus, in the earlier grades there is a great emphasis on Shruti, Tala and Laya providing a strong foundation in basics and in higher grades emphasis is given on compositions in different languages, performance, improvisation and the varieties of intricate Gamakas.

Music and Dance of the Indian Sub-continent

The Indian system of music encompasses many classical, folk, contemporary and popular traditions of music and dance that reflect the diversity found across the many countries that make up the Indian sub-continent. These countries, also referred to as South Asia, are India, Pakistan Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Their rich collection of classical, folk, contemporary and popular styles of singing, the playing of instruments and dancing are subsumed under the term Sangeet.

The Sangeet traditions most commonly associated with the Southern part of India are referred to as Carnatic (Karnatak), and those associated with the Northern part of India are referred to as Hindustani.

Subjects

Vocals

Violin

Mridangam

Venu

Veena

Bharatanatyam

Syllabuses

Graded Syllabuses Entry Level - Level 3

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Certificate in Performance - Level 4

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Certificate in Teaching - Level 4

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Diploma in Performance - Level 5

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Diploma in Teaching - Level 5

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