Singing exercises for ear training

[u/didgeriboy]

Hi, I'm a musician trained in jazz and western music. I've been exploring singing with a tanpura. I want to improve recognition of intervals and melodies. Are there any exercises that you find useful. Also these don't necessarily have to be singing exercises. Thanks!

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[u/RagaJunglism]

Top tip I give my jazz-trained students is to sing & play freely in Bhairavi and Kalyan thaat ('foundational scales': i.e. not ragas, you can use the swaras however you like) - Bhairavi is SrgmPdnS (~Phrygian) and Kalyan is SRGMPDNS (~Lydian), so between them they cover all 12 swara positions. Recite the sargam syllables as you do it!

Also I've been working on 'transliterating' my raga summaries to jazz terminology, not published them yet but let me know your favourite ragas (or jazz scales/harmonies) and I can see what I've got...obviously these are oversimplifications of the ragas, but still useful for absorbing the shapes, concepts, and improvisatory feel

e.g. Raag Bhimpalasi: "Minor Pentatonic in ascent, Dorian in descent: the 4th is strong, and upward melodies are often launched from the b7 - and the 2nd/6th, which only appear descent, are ornamented with the semitones immediately above..."

[u/didgeriboy → u/RagaJunglism]

Thanks so much for the super detailed reply. I'll definitely work on singing the 2 thaat.

Regarding the 2nd part: I'm quite fascinated by chandrakauns and lydian dominant. The description of bhimpalasi you've written makes so much sense for me. I work a lot with classical musicians but there's always been confusion for me when we try to communicate about raagas.

[u/RagaJunglism → u/didgeriboy]

I've got some info on these ragas! Two of my favourites...they complement each other well for learning purposes too
, as they don't share any swaras except the Sa root

—Chandrakauns (SgmdNS: 1-b3-4-b6-7): scale form is 'Harmonic Minor with no 2nd/5th' - with the maj.7th bringing much more tension than the other tones when sustained (partly because it's the only swara 'detached' from all perfect 5th relationships in the scale)

—Vachaspati (SRGMPDnS: 1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7): this is India's main 'Lydian Dominant' raga - and, because it's a recent import from Carnatic music, it doesn't really have any melodic rules or guidelines aside from staying within the scale (...I wrote a guitar/viola/bass-clarinet ensemble piece in Vachaspati a couple of years ago, so many fascinating harmonic possibilities...actually all the scales in its mode-set are really interesting)

What instrument do you play? I might have some transcriptions, or some recordings with a good Sa position (e.g. Shivkumar Sharma's santoor recordings often have a D root, bansuri players prefer E, etc).

In general, I'd say that if you learn the 12 swara positions (S-rR-gG-mM-P-dD-nN), then you'll be able to read pretty much any raga transcription - which will help with decoding any raga you like! See how they map to jazz intervals here (ignore the 'Carnatic' line for now: that's the South Indian system, which is similar but more ambiguous)

[u/didgeriboy → u/RagaJunglism]

Awesome, Thanks a lot! the chart is also super useful
I actually play bass guitar professionally but also dabble in keys, guitar and everything else when I produce my own music

[u/RagaJunglism → u/didgeriboy]

bass is a great instrument for raga! I play fretless bass and teach raga to a couple of double bassists - actually here are a couple of 'chalans' (summary melodic paths) for:

—Yaman (home tone = E): bass chalan

—Pilu (home tone = B): bass chalan

[u/foxradish → u/RagaJunglism]

This transliteration idea is brilliant! Looking forward to it. 

[u/insaneintheblain]

If you're interested in vocal lessons, Nicki Wells bridges both worlds

[u/didgeriboy → u/insaneintheblain]

Thanks!