Learn Mridangam
When your child learns mridangam, she learns a percussion instrument. The mridangam has its origins in South India. In fact it is supposed to be the South Indian counterpart of the North Indian tabla. South Indian Carnatic music is considered to be incomplete without a mridangam.
The development of the mridangam resulted in the origination of the musical notes or talams. It is believed that Lord Shiva's bull Nandi played the mridangam during the Lord's dance. Hence this instrument is also called the "Instrument of the Gods". The mridangam forms an integral part of Carnatic concerts played both in India and abroad.
The name mridangam is derived from two words - mrid meaning clay and and meaning body. Early mridangams were made of clay. However, the present day mridangams are made of a hollow piece of wood from the jackfruit tree for more durability. The mridangam is a two-sided drum. Both the sides are sealed with goat skin leather and are connected by leather straps around the circumference. These leather straps are kept under high tension. The two sides are of different widths so that the same instrument is capable of producing both bass and trebles. The bigger aperture produces the bass sounds when struck and is known as "thoppi" or "eda bhaaga". The smaller aperture produces sounds of higher pitch with a metallic timbre. This aperture is called the "valanthalai" or "bala bhaaga". The metallic timbre is produced because of a coating of rice flour, ferric oxide powder and starch on the sealed surface of the smaller aperture. Just before the mridangam is used, the surface of the sealed wider aperture is made moist. A paste of rice flour and water is applied to the center to produce the low notes. The tension in the leather straps is adjusted to tune the instruments.
Since the mridangam uses a single resonator, the tension of the left and right sides of mridangam are inseparable unlike the tabla. The single resonator also produces an acoustic coupling between the two heads.
Tips to Learn Mridangam
To play the mridangam, one has to maintain a balance between the powerful and delicate techniques via fingering. Two main strokes "thom" and "tha" are played using the left hand. The middle ring and small fingers of the left hand are held together to produce the stroke "thom". A variation of the "thom" note is the "gumki" note. This is played using the lower palm along with the middle and fore fingers of the left hand. The stroke "tha"is produced by using all four fingers (excluding the thumb) of the left hand together. The stroke "thi" is produced using the middle ring and small fingers of the right hand at the centre of the mridangam.
When playing the mridangam, it is placed parallel to the floor. A right handed artist usually plays the smaller and bigger membranes with his right and left hands respectively. The right leg is slightly extended to rest the mridangam on the right foot and ankle. The left leg is bent inwards and rests against the body of the artist.
Well known artists like Palani Subramaniam Pillai, Palghat Mani Iyer and Palghat R. Raghu have contributed greatly to the art of playing the mridangam. They are often known as the Mridangam Trinity. Some other eminent maestros include T K Murthy, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran and Karaikudi Mani.
