[1] Anāhata Nāda refers to the naturally occurring sounds (literally not struck).
Example: Violin,veena etc... 3.Vayuja - us born when air is passed through narrow pipe like instruments.
A rāgam prescribes a set of rules for building a melody - very similar to the Western concept of mode.
The ārōhanam and avarōhanam of a melakartā ragam are strictly ascending and descending scales.
One of the 72 parent rāgams first created by Venkatamakhin which did not have strict rules of ascending / descending scales, did not insist on inclusion of all 7 swaras nor disallow vakra prayogas (zig zag notes in scale).
A chakra consists of a group of 6 Melakartā rāgams, which differ from each other only in the Dhaivatham and Nishadham.
Sāhitya vinyāsam / Niraval or Neraval is the repeated singing of one or two lines of a song, with improvised exposition in each repetition.
It is an improvisation of the rāgam, by singing the swarams, namely Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.
It is done with rhythm based syllables like tha, nam, thom and na.
Rāgam Tānam Pallavi is a rendition of Carnatic music which lends to total improvisation, in different forms.
Ugābhōga (in Kannada) or Viruttam (in Tamil) is a devotional verse or phrase sung (without talam) in an imprompt choice of rāgam or rāgamālika usually before a song.
Manōdharma is the concept of imprompt or spontaneous improvisation, which is one of the important aspects of Carnatic music.
There are many types of improvisations, like Rāga Ālāpane, Tāna, Sāhityavinyāsa, Ugābhōga and Kalpanāsvara.
Sa, Ri, Ga and Ma notes in a scale are referred are poorvaanga, while Pa, Dha and Ni are referred as uttaraanga Gamaka is the term used for variations of the swarams in a scale.
Swarams are said to be vakram in a rāgam, if either the Ārōhanam, Avarōhanam or both, do not follow a strictly ascending or descending order.
The different jathis are tisra (three beats in lagu), chathusra (four), khanda (five), misra (seven) and sankeerna (nine).
Typical classification of layā includes Vilambitha (delayed or slow), Madhyama (medium) and Dhuritha (fast).
Kāla refers to the change of tempo during a rendition of song, typically doubling up the speed.
Irandaam kaalam fits in twice the number of aksharaas (notes) into the same beat, thus doubling the tempo.
Learning Carnatic music involves most of the following exercises, mostly in the order listed below.
Dāṭu varase are exercises used to learn the swarams in zig-zag fashion, so that more control of the notes and different combinations are achieved.
These exercises are groups or patterns of swarams, each of which are set to seven main tālams, so that rhythm aspect is also learnt together with different rāgams.
Varnam is a type of composition which is suited for vocal exercises of a wide variety of Carnatic music aspects, including slow and fast tempo of singing, both lyrics and swarams.
In modern carnatic concerts, it is usually sung as a first song and is supposed to help warm-up.
A concert consists mainly of Keerthanams with zero or one of Varnam, Rāgam Thānam Pallavi and Thillānā included in appropriate order.
Thillānā is a composition consisting of rhythm syllables, like Dheem, thom, tarana and thaani in first two stanzas, followed by a one or two line lyric.
Anupallavi is an optional verse that follows the pallavi in a composition, especially keerthanams or kritis.
Chittaswarams are set swaram phrases (solfa passages), in a composition, usually a kriti, appended to enrich its beauty.
Tani avartanam refers to the extended solo that is played by the percussionists in a concert.
Avadhana Pallavi is a classical form of performing a composition set to two different talas.