RAMESH SHARMA
MUSIC FOR EVERYONE –
UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE MUSIC CHAKRA
Mr . L . S . Ramesh , a Post Graduate from the reputed Indian Institute of Technology-I . I . T . Madras has designed an Innovative Carnatic Music chakra ( SriSaraswathi 72 Melakarta chakra ) after more than six years of effort , to help anyone , children to elderly , without any Music knowledge to very easily SEE , LEARN and PLAY the Melakarta Ragas of Carnatic music , Western as well as Hindustani by using this Unique Chakra .
Most peoplefeel Carnatic music and Music in general , is beyond their grasp . I wanted to simplify the entire concept and show all the main ragas as a visual tool seeing which it becomes easy to identify with the entire genre of music . Carnatic music is the mother of all world music
Design of the Music Chakra
The 72 Melakarta ( Main Ragas ) have been neatly depicted in the form of a chakra ( Wheel ) wherein the ragas are clearly shown as ‘ dots on an Octave of the keyboard ’. Playing the dots on your keyboard will bring out the melody of the raga . Each dot represents a swara stana ( Position of a note ). For Example , Mayamalavagaula-Melakarta Number 15 is depicted below :
Side one contains 36 Suddha Madhyama Ragas which are categorized under respective Chakra heads , for example Indu Chakra has 6 Melakarta Ragas Namely Kanakangi , Ratnangi , Ganamurthi , Vanaspathi , Manavathi and Danarupi . Similarly other Chakras Netra , Agni , Veda , Bana and Ruthu chakras with their respective Melakarta ragas are depicted with swara stanas as Dots .
This pattern of dots can be seen and played even by a novice to reveal the particular raga .
Side 2 has the remaining 36 Prathimadhyama Ragas depicted with chakra names Rishi , Vasu Brahma , Disi , Rudhra and Adithya with eac h chakra comprising 6 Melakarta Ragas each . For example Rishi chakra has the Melakartas from 37 to 42 .
It is interesting to observe the following in the Music chakra :
1 ) As an example if we take Melakarta 29 ( Dheerashankarabharanam ) and add 36 to this we get the corresponding Prathimadyama Melakarta raga ( 29 + 36 = 65 ) Mechakalyani which is very similar to Dheerashankarabharanam except for the MA note .
This helps students to quickly grasp the swara stanas and visualize the raga patterns .
2 ) The below table shows a comparative list of
Carnatic , Hindustani and western scales
Carnatic Hindustani Western
Shankarbharanam Melakarta 29
Natabhairavi Melakarta 20 Keeravani Melakarta 21 Gowrimanohari Melakarta 23
Bilawal
Asavari
Kirvani
Patdeep
C Major
C- Natural Minor C- Harmonic Minor C- Melodic Minor
Use of the Music Chakra to help Children with special needs - Autism , Down ' s Syndrome
Children with autism or Downs syndrome are very good at identifying patterns and Music is a language they understand best .
Parents and teachers of special children can learn from this Chakra and teach .
Research has shown how Playing an instrument helps in Brain development . When a person plays an instrument the Left and Right hemispheres of the brain get activated and the motor neurons become more active to help send or receive signals .
Mr . Ramesh conducts Lecture-demo and workshops for Schools , Colleges and corporates on “ Music - What , how and Why to play Music .”
For details website http :// www . faces108 . com E-Mail faces108 @ gmail . com Mobile Mrs . Sridevi 09445360139
Note : Part of the sale proceeds of this Music chakra is used to support orphans through our FACES ( Food , Aid , Clothing , Education , Shelter ) initiative .
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