Concert

Going to a Music concert is one of the joyful moments for music lovers.For an individual, the significance in attending a concert anchors on many factors like his favorite artist, venue of the concert, theme, occasion and so on.It is a fact that attending a live concert in an auditorium or other music venue has got many interesting and educative points for appreciation.

Many music Rasikas who want to appreciate music in a real sense, attend the concert with open mind , whoever be the artist or accompaniment. Of course, they will collect all information about artists beforehand. This will give him a variety of musical input he is thriving for. The main advantage of attending live Musical concert is that the audience can witness the artists in their full capacity who show their talent in manaodarma which is the vital factor, as there is no time restriction in rendering musical pieces.

Since the main aim for a Rasika is to appreciate Music, he will arrive at the venue in advance and occupy seat in such a way that he can see all the artists clearly.

It is interesting to enjoy the artists way of communication among themselves during the concert by their body language and gestures.

Some of the areas in which a Carnatic Music Concert can be enjoyed and appreciated are:
* Song Selection- whether it is thematic or the way it matches with occasion.
* Major Ragam handled for extensive Raga Alapanai and Swara Prasthara.
* Seating arrangements of the artists on the stage.
* Language of the songs selected.
* Whether the songs are popular or Apoorva and their composers.
* Whether the Ragas are popular or Apoorva
* The first song, Major Raga and song to which Thani Avarthana takes place, end pieces or Thukkadas , the last song.
* Number of songs.
* The Guru of the artists.
* Clarity of pronunciation.
* Attire of the artists.
* Stage lighting and sound arrangements.
* Time of the day of the concert.
* Going through review in news papers and periodicals.

Concert Platform

Normally, all Music Concerts are held on a stage which is raised a little bit above the floor level. There will be enough space to accommodate the main artist and the accompanying artists.If it is a vocal Carnatic Concert, the main artist occupies the middle position and Violin and Mrudangam artists occupies the position of either side of the main artist facing each other. Violin and Mrudangam artists occupy either left or right side of the main artist depending on whether the Mrudangam artist is left handed or right handed.

Thambura artist occupies the position just behind the main artist. Some singer prefers to have two Thamburas. In this case the Thambura players will be sitting behind the main artist on either side.This is the general seating arrangement of the artists on the stage for a Carnatic Music Concert.

There are concerts where many more accompaniments such as Ghadam, Kanjeera, Konnakol,Morsing etc. ,accompany the main Vocal artist.These artists occupy the position behind the main artist.Konnakol is an art of performing the percussion syllables vocally in the concert.

Some Vocal artists prefer to have another vocalist- preferably his student- for Vocal support. The supporting artist sings only the songs along with the main artist and may not participate in Manodarma portion of the concert.

If the main artist is a Violin player, then the Mrudangam player occupies left or right side and other accompaniments as described above.Normally, there will be no violin accompaniment in Violin concert. There are concerts where there will be two or three main Violin artists.

For Veena and Flute concert there will be Mrudangam and/or Gadam and/ or Kanjeera and/or Morsing accompaniments.

For Nadaswaram concert, Thavil, the percussion instrument, is the accompaniment and there may be two Thavils in some concerts, the artists sitting on either side of the main artist(s) facing each other. The Sruthi or Drone instrument is the "Oththu " which is similar to Nadaswaram but a little smaller in size.The artist playing this instrument sits behind the main artist(s). Sruthi will be provided by this Artist throughout the concert.The Talam is maintained by the artist playing a specially made Cymbal , sitting behind the main artist(s). This artist plays the Cymbal producing continuous ringing tone for the beat and damped tone for the wave of the Talam. There will be no tone for the finger counts.

The above descriptions are normally seen in Carnatic music concert stage adhering to tradition or Sampradaya and of course, there are exemptions and deviations.

In the group singing or fusion music concerts or in Carnatic music orchestras, the seating arrangements are decided by the group leader.