[instrumental music]
[humming]
Lavanyaa: I think music is a companion
to many of us across the globe,
and everyone can relate to music.
We listen to music when we are happy.
We listen to music when we are sad.
Music is used to enhance
what we are trying to communicate.
[instrumental music and humming]
I started learning music
because I understood that dance and music and poems
are inseparable.
And then, I was able to realize
that music actually enhanced my communication.
I was able to emote better on stage
when I was able to connect the movement
with the music that I practiced.
I instruct Indian classical dance
and Indian classical music.
I started learning dance,
when I was two-and-a-half years old,
from my grandmother and from my mom.
And I started learning music,
probably, when I was five- to six-year-old
I grew up back in India
and I was born into a family of artists,
so most of the time I was back in the green room,
listening to the concerts and watching the dance festivals.
And it's-- it was more like an epiphany for me
when I saw everything come together.
When I saw that there was a live orchestra
accompanying the dancer,
the dancer was able to convey
what he or she wanted to communicate.
It was like a magic which was happening.
? Bhaja Viswanatham Viswam Bharam ?
So, Carnatic music,
literature says that Carnatic music
originated way back.
This can be 2,000, 5,000 years back.
All the stories in the Indian mythology,
including Ramayana and Mahabharata,
which are the magnum opus of our literature,
through Carnatic music,
the stories are conveyed in a way that is interesting,
and that is relatable by people of all ages.
And from those stories,
the poets have started writing their own composition,
praising the deity or the Lord of their choice,
and they communicate via music.
And that is why it is best used with dance,
as well, because the dance form, Bharatanatyam, that I practice,
is storytelling,
and only the music gives life to that storytelling.
So, for Carnatic music, the musicians are accompanied
by a percussion instrument for the rhythm,
[drumming]
and they're also accompanied by wind or a string instrument.
[playing string instrument]
[plucking string instrument]
So, this wind or the string instrument
mimics the voice
of the person who is rendering the music.
The raga and the tala
goes hand-in-hand when you're singing.
The tala is the rhythm, and the raga is the melody.
There is a lot of mentioning in the Indian classical text
that one particular raga can be associated with raining.
One particular raga can be associated with being happy.
One particular raga associates itself with being sorrow.
Being a dancer,
you are able to actually bring out the rasa inside the raga,
which is the emotion of the raga.
So when you sing, of course, you use your voice
to bring out the essence of the raga, but when you dance,
you use your facial expressions more
and you use more hand gestures
and bringing out and you use movements.
So, everything is put together
and it is an easier way
to understand what the composition communicates.
I think the most important experience
that I've got from my culture
is the rich literature
and the values which are embedded in the literature
and how our ancestors have formulated the literature
in order to better lead a happy life.
When kids start learning about different music,
they are directly and indirectly learning about different culture
and they learn to accept those culture
and you can create
a diverse and an inclusive community
using music as a tool.