This is an article by Subhadra Vijaykumar. She comes from a family with rich musical traditions. She holds a first class diploma in Carnatic violin from the prestigious Bharatiya Music and Arts Society’s Music College in Mumbai, India. She is presently under the guidance of internationally renowned soloist and maestro, Professor T. N. Krishnan. She has performed in major venues across, Toronto, the far East, and England. With over ten years of teaching experience, Ms. Vijaykumar now teaches at the Mississauga campus of The Royal Conservatory of Music.
The European violin has been Indianized in many ways during the past 200 years to produce South Indian classical music.
The Indian classical violinist’s playing posture is different from that of his Western counterpart. The Western violinist stands with his feet at a right angle and holds the violin between the left collarbone and chin, the instrument at a perpendicular slant to the body. The left hand provides the other support to the instrument.
The South Indian violinist sits cross-legged on the floor and balances the instrument between his chest and the ankle bone of his right foot, on which rests the scroll of the violin. This posture facilitates the free movement of the left hand along the fingerboard, particularly in producing the gamakas (graces) integral to the Carnatic mode. It also necessitated appropriate changes in bowing technique, the changes being duly made.
In the Western system, the four strings are tuned in the order E A D G from right to left, each five tones apart. However, in the Carnatic system, the tuning is not absolute but relative. Beginning with the fourth string (the E string being the first string) the tuning is as follows: tonic, dominant, tonic octave higher, dominant octave higher (the tonic being variable in Carnatic music).
Carnatic music system revolves around vocal music. Therefore, any instrument with unique qualities can best complement vocal music. The violin, because of its unique qualities, has earned its place as an accompanying instrument and also as a solo instrument. The instrument can be tuned to any pitch that the vocalist chooses. The bow lends continuity to the instrument, a necessary ingredient for vocal music.
The tonal quality and the volume that it produces enable it to blend with the human voice. The area of operation is small, thus making it possible to play any speed to match the vocalist with ease. Its range includes 3 octaves, which is the normal range for a good vocalist. It can produce all subtle nuances, graces (gamakas), modulations, and all the microtones (srutis) which characterize our music. It can paint any musical phrase evoked by any other instrument.
The phenomenal potentialities of the instrument enable it to approximate the human voice very closely. In other words, it can kindle the bhava that the voice produces with the same intensity. So it has inspired and helped the vocalist and other instrumentalists. All these qualities have earned the violin the place it deserves and enjoys.
It must be noted that these are additional merits in comparison to other instruments, so over the years, apart from being an accompanying instrument, the violin has emerged as a solo instrument in the hands of virtuosos in no less measure than when compared to any other solo instrument.
History of the Indianization of the Violin
About two hundred years ago, during the British rule over India, the Violin first made its entry into the annals of South Indian classical music, that is, Carnatic music, chiefly through three persons. They were: Varahappa Iyer, Baluswami Dikshitar, and Vadivelu.
Varahappa Iyer, a minister of the Tanjavur Maratha court in Southern India, was a highly placed official, well-versed in English, who had an in-depth knowledge of music. On his visit to the British governor’s residence in Madras, he had the opportunity to see the various Western instruments in his collection. His close friendship with the Governor enabled him to try them out. Although he was initially awestruck at the range (spanning 7 octaves) of the piano, he instinctively realized that it was the violin that was eminently adaptable to our system of music. A brief period of practice increased his familiarity with the instrument to the extent that the governor gifted it to him. With time, he became proficient enough to provide accompaniment to vocal music. In recognition of his meritorious service, a lane in Tanjavur has been named after him.
Baluswami Dikshitar (1786-1859), son of Ramaswami Dikshitar and brother of Muthuswami Dikshitar, lived at Manali. The Dikshitar family was patronized by Manali Muthukrishna Mudaliar (Dubash – interpreter to the British governor, Pigot). Mudaliar introduced Baluswami Dikshitar to Western music at the performance of the European band attached to the East India Company. Dikshitar learned to play the Western violin for 3 years. Later, he began trying out Carnatic music on the violin and so developed his skills and playing technique that he was appointed State Vidwan of Ettayapuram in 1824.
Vadivelu (1810-1845), the youngest of the Tanjavur quartet (all of whom were students of Muthuswami Dikshitar) was a composer and a vocalist. He was the Asthana Vidwan at Travencore, during Swati Tirunal’s (1813-1837) reign. The Maharaja encouraged Vadivelu to take up playing the violin. Suitably impressed, he presented an ivory violin to Vadivelu in 1834. Vadivelu is credited with introducing short passages on the violin for classical dance performances.
Indian musical instruments were classified into 5 classes, of which Tara, or string instrument, played with the bow is of relevance. In those days, though bowed instruments like Ek Tar, Dilruba, and Esraj were prevalent, only instruments like Flute, Sarangi, Vil-yazh, and Veena were used in South India to provide support to the voice. The timbre, potentiality of the violin, and its ability to blend with the voice gave the instrument an edge over all other instruments as the most ideal accompanying instrument.
After the introduction of the violin by Baluswami Dikshitar and others, the efforts of the next generation of violinists, like Tanjavur Sivaramakrishna Iyer, Annaswamy Sastri (grandson of Shamma Sastri), Fiddle Subbarayar etc. helped the role of the violin to grow further. Gradually the violin took precedence over all others as the main melodic accompanying instrument to vocal music and has come to stay.
If you are wondering as to what caused my brief hibernation from bloggerdom, here is the post bringing reasons to light. There have been some wonderful things over the past 2 months including the long awaited release of the OohLalala Album by Dr. A R Rahman. Two splendid concerts at the City Centre promoting the album which lead to a much needed musical get together. I couldnt have wished for things to have turned out better. Please listen to this song, your comments are much appreciated. Edhuvum - V3 The concert videos can be found in Youtube in this link. Youtube Link Coming to the real reason behind my delayed post, Its only fair that I reveal that this would be my last post for quite sometime from my home country, India. I am leaving to the United States and more specifically to The Ohio State University, Columbus. I am leaving behind everything that I have known and everything that I care for, right here, and take this step to full-fill a great many things. Will keep you all posted about my experiences.
A quick jargon buster - AR or Augmented Reality is what you get when you mix virtual objects with real objects and envirnoments. Its a fine line between virtual reality and reality itself. Check this video out which demonstrates AR and whats the best part? You can try it out here at this site
And here are my attempts at demonstrating the same. It works!!! Its definitely worth it to show off to non-techies and watch their jaws drop... Serious Fun.
I have sought to maintain some vestige of regularity which is crucial in maintaining a blog as well as to keep the readers come back again and again for regularly updated content.
This blog is maturing and has been getting a steady number of visitors. So I would like to take this opportunity to up-the-ante and increase my once-a-month frequency and take it as a task to blog every two weeks; starting from this very post.
I have also recieved some criticism to improve the content by introducing a personal factor in all the posts and reduce the impassiveness that comes from merely informing. I know the importance of heeding constructive criticism such as these and would try my best to offer some much wanted personality to the posts.
So, like the title of the post suggests, what next?
There have been lots of interesting things for me to blog about and I would like to list them all.
-- > This blog is now being monitored by google analytics and it can be spotted at the bottom of each page. What does this mean? Nothing much, except that google gives me the power to analyse the visitors, their browsers, OS, java capability, flash version; right upto the place from which they accessed my page. More on this amazing industry ready tool later. Check it out at www.google.com/analyitcs
-- > I have finished one of the best book series in 'Ramayana' by Ashok K Banker. I am unworthy of writing a review, blog or any such about it and thanks to karthrags for pointing me to such an awe-inspriring 21st retelling of the epic tale. Note : I am not a religious person, nor am I a spiritualist as of now, rather a rationalist; And the best thing about this 6 book series was the amazing story in itself almost drawing a parallel to the breakneck speed of harry potter and epic proportions and rich detail of Lord of the Rings; And yet relying completely on the barebone storyline written by Valmiki. Do not miss reading this book, if you are an Indian, for it transcends religion entirely.
-- > I decided that it is high time to contribute to the open source community and decided to join a Open Source project called Tux4Kids. More on this later.
-- > Definitely a subject for the next post, Virtua Tennis 3.
-- > Ubuntu 9.04 released. I got the package. Have installed it on my laptop. How is it? More on this later.
If I were to cite any more interesting stuff thats going to be the subject of my posts, then the whole point of the blog, which is to encourage the excitement that random thoughts beget, is lost. Hence, I sign off.
Today is May 5th and the Windows 7 RC has been made available to the public for free download. Most importantly, it works without licensing till march 2010(Actually till june 2010 but it starts nagging you from march) so feel free to try it to your hearts content.
All has been said about the performance of Windows 7 and its time for you to check it out with this link
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx
Guys like me who couldnt wait, got it through the torrents a week back. It released on April 24th. And this is of course due to curiousity and for educational purposes.
Do check in back and I would post the links to blogs explaining various aspects of Windows 7 from installation to unique features...
Kindly wait up for further posts on the RC from myself. Have Web Technology Semester exam tomorrow :)
Warning : Spoilers might be present....
Portal is definitely one of the most innovative games I have played on the PC. Valve has shown its class yet again by making it enjoyable and instilling so much character and likeability even when the only character that is in constant interaction with your lead character is the GlaDOS (An AI/Computer voice). The voice is not the soothingly seducting or the stiffly informative ones that we have come to expect from such games. Infact, the voice tries to suffer from the intonation errors such as those present in Microsoft Sam. Here is where Valve shows its brilliance by bringing in wit and humour as you try to find out the real motive of the tests that you are undergoing and that of the AI (which you find out is not particularly keen for your survival). The game is quite short and can be completed in 6 hours by a casual/regular gamer. The puzzles are quite FANTASTIC!!! The story unfolds quite well providing the motivation behind solving the puzzles which provide ample entertainment on its own.
The last puzzle brings in a twist and brings a very racy end to the game. The final boss battle is quite memorable in a way that it could be among the only few times that you would keep laughing till you reach the end credits. It seriously is an experience thats worth going over quite a few times to just listen to the AI try and apply reverse psychology.
And after all this, the credit song sung by the computer. Check it out yourselves with these videos....
The credit song above... Here is the teaser trailer and some gameplay footage... Paragraph. A hilarious machinima video made in Portal...
Linux has officially arrived... True, it has been around for more than a decade... But it has now transcended the geek barrier and entered mainstream...
This is the news officially doing the rounds for a couple of years now but something has really fell into place for me to claim this.
Hence for those of you who are into geek stuff (by geeky I mean experimenting with partition tables, multiple-OS booting, sometimes command line scripting and not hacking google), you can safely skip this blog entry and I ll try putting one up that ll satisfy you guys (here too, by guys I mean both guys and gals). Others do continue reading, as I try to make it as simple as possible to try and experience a new world out there. A world that has no boundries, no limitations (I know this sounds like the Matrix dialogue but kindly adjust :) )...
Warning : All those who are into computer science or Information Technology or some related study and still havent got a clue of what am talking about, LAP THIS BLOG UP... Running Linux could make you learn more of CS than your Entire Bachelors Degree could... Quote me later if this line becomes famous :) and credit ANNA UNIV for making me say it...
For one, my windows using family (my father, brother and 9 year old sister) has switched over to linux. Yeah it is indeed my doing, but they are happy with what they are using. After all, their requirements were plain and clear; They needed a machine to browse the net & orkut (brother's case), to use an office mail account (dad) and occasionally paint (sis).
All this was up and running using Ubuntu 8.10 directly out of the box which has firefox for net, evolution for the mail and gimp for some colour work.
There are quite a few things that prevents people from trying out Linux and I am specifically addressing the one where people have a morbid fear of setting up linux which involves 'crazy partitioning' stuff. And after all the nerve-wracking steps (& possibly ones that involve massive data loss if not done properly), they might be disappointed by what it has to offer.
So, Here are a few ways to get Linux up and running and yet leaving your Windows PC virtually untouched (and by this I mean, It would still be left intact if I decide to move away from Linux and never touch it with a ten foot pole).
1) Goto http://wubi-installer.org/
This is probably the simplest. Its as easy as installing a Windows App. You need not worry about data loss or partitioning and the best part is you could uninstall Linux if it fails to impress.
Just download the small installer. Run it. Choose the type of Linux, the installation size (preferably more than 8GB) and set the username and password. This would result in an ISO image of Linux being downloaded. You could cancel it and run it again (it would resume download). Once done, it would boot into linux and run a installation there. Don't worry, almost all of it is automated and you would have a new linux machine dual-booting in almost no time.
2) This solution involves setting up a virtual machine and one that could have you running Linux as a Windowed application inside Windows itself.
Even I prefer this method, as it allows me to have different distros running at the same time. I could choose the distro to run at different instances and still work with other windows applications at the same time. But make sure you have enough diskspace and enough RAM for all this !!! Dont stretch your system.....
Download Virtual Box here http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
-> Download a Linux ISO of your choice from the net (preferably Ubuntu or Linux Mint if you are a new Linux User)
-> Install Virtual Box, Run it, Click on 'New', Press 'Next', Give a name to your virtual machine
-> Set the type of Operating System as Linux and choose the appropriate distro name if available there
-> Set the RAM size you would want to allocate to the virtual machine. Essentially give only at most half the RAM thats available in your system
-> Then create a new virtual Harddisk and specify size.
-> Access the settings, and in CDROM, try inserting the ISO. This would let you setup Linux at first Boot.
-> You are ready to play with linux now without affecting your system.
Best part is, you can just delete the virtual system and be done with it if you dont need it or something irrecoverable has been done.
This kind of installation also helps you perform kernel changes and make changes to code and ensure it still works without breaking down your existing system. As a virtual system, even if it does break down, does not affect any hardware directly.
Hope this post helps instill a sense of adventure in people who want to indulge in new experiences but with some safety fallbacks.
 This is fedora running in a window inside Windows Vista
 This is not Linux and is OpenSolaris. But its running in a virtual machine inside Windows
 Again OpenSolaris...
Disclaimer : This is not my solution... I found this at a Blogsite myself and I give credit to the Author there... Remember to post doubts as comments to this blog... I shall answer them...
http://windowshelponline.blogspot.com/2008/04/mcafee-sdat-extract-anti-virus-scan.html
But since I cant expect my regular blog readers to go in search of a remedy when in dire need of a way to remove some dastardly viruses from their computers when all other means have failed, I have decided to post the link as well as the means by which some serious VIRUS KILLING can be done.
Remember, this can serve as a last resort to save your computer from some horrible infection if it can still boot into 'SAFE MODE'. If that fails, then I am afraid this particular solution does not help.
Here is the Solution:
You can use McAfee Sdat to scan your computer for virus. Here are step to perform sdat scan:
1. Download the latest sdat from McAfee site.
It is present with a filename starting with sdat.
For Ex: sdat5541.exe
Note: The number can vary according to the version...
Now boot into 'SAFE MODE with Command Prompt'.... This can be done by pressing 'F8' repeatedly just before the OS boots (the loading bar starts running). If you miss it once, keep trying it unless you get a screen that presents various options such as 'SAFE MODE', 'SAFE MODE with Networking', etc and selecting the choice mentioned at the start of this para...
When successful with this attempt, the OS will boot with 'safe mode' displayed at the four corners of the screen (Atleast with Windows xp, this is the case)
Now when command prompt is present, (some command line experience is needed... if not,) just follow the given steps...
> cd \
> C:
(assuming C: is where the sdatxxxx.exe file is stored)
>cd scan
(assuming sdat has been put into a folder called scan)
2. Extract sdat to forder say C:\Scan using this command
sdatXXX.exe /E
Where XXX is number of Sdat file. This is extract file like Scan.exe, McTool.exe, clean.dat etc
3. Run this command :
Scan.exe /ADL /CLEAN /DEL /HTML C:\Scan\Report.html
Above command will scan all local drives (ADL), try to clean infected files (CLEAN), delete file if clean fail (DEL) and make html report (HTML).
Note: The options given below are for advanced users... Do not Despair if you cant understand them
For more Scan.exe option try /? help. Below is the output of C:\sdat>Scan.exe /?
McAfee VirusScan for Win32 v5.20.0
Copyright (c) 1992-2007 McAfee, Inc. All rights reserved.
(408) 988-3832 LICENSED COPY - Jun 5 2007
Scan engine v5.2.00 for Win32.
Virus data file v5267 created Apr 04 2008
Scanning for 386611 viruses, trojans and variants.
Usage: Scan [object1] [object2...] [option1] [option2...]
/? Display this help screen.
/AD Scan all drives (not removable media).
/ADL Scan all local drives (not removable media).
/ADN Scan all network drives.
/AFC= Set the Size of the Internal Cache Used When Decompressi
ng Archive Files.
/ALL Scan all files regardless of filename extension.
/ALLOLE Treat all files as compound/OLE regardless of extension.
/ANALYZE Turn on heuristic analysis for programs and macros.
/APPEND Append to report file rather than overwriting.
/BOOT Scan boot sector and master boot record only.
/CHECKLIST Scan list of files contained in .
/CLEAN Clean viruses from infected files and system areas.
/CONTACTFILE Display contents of when a virus is found.
/DAM Remove all macros from infected MS Office files.
/DEL Delete infected files.
/DOHSM Scan migrated files (hierarchical storage management).
/EXCLUDE Do not scan files listed in .
/EXTLIST List file extensions scanned by default.
/EXTRA Scan using an extra DAT file.
/FAM Find all macros - not just infected macros.
Used with /DAM will remove all macros.
/FREQUENCY Do not scan after the previous scan.
/HELP Display this help screen.
/HTML Create an HTML report file.
/LOAD Load options from .
/MAILBOX Scan inside plain text mailboxes.
/MANALYZE Turn on macro heuristics.
/MANY Scan many floppy diskettes.
/MIME Scan inside MIME, UUE, XXE and BinHex files.
/MOVE Move infected files into directory, preserving
path.
/NOBACKUP Do not prompt for a backup diskette during a sector
repair.
/NOBOOT Do not scan boot sectors.
/NOBREAK Disable Ctrl-C / Ctrl-Break during scanning.
/NOCOMP Do not scan self extracting executables by default.
/NOD Don't switch into /ALL mode when repairing.
/NODDA No direct disk access.
/NODOC Do not scan MS Office files.
/NOEXPIRE Disable data files expiration date notice.
/NOMEM Do not scan memory for viruses.
/NODECRYPT Don't scan password-protected MS Office documents.
/NOJOKES Do not alert on joke files.
/NORENAME Do not rename infected files that cannot be cleaned.
/PANALYZE Turn on program heuristics.
/PAUSE Pause at end of each screen page.
/PLAD Preserve Last Access Dates on Novell NetWare drives.
/PROGRAM Scan for potentially unwanted applications.
/REPORT Report names of viruses found into .
/RPTALL Include all scanned files in the /REPORT file.
/RPTCOR Include corrupted files in /REPORT file.
/RPTERR Include errors in /REPORT file.
/SILENT Disable all screen output.
/STREAMS Scan inside NTFS streams (NT only).
/SUB Scan subdirectories.
/TIMEOUT Set the maximum time to spend scanning any one file.
/UNZIP Scan inside archive files.
/VIRLIST Display virus list.
/WINMEM Scan all Running Windows Processes.
/WINMEM= Scan the Running Windows Process With Process ID.
This is what I call "RED HOT"... This guy comes into a world class team like AC Milan from a football backwaters like America and keeps performing at the highest level; To give you an indicator as to its level, his current form is granting him place in the squad ahead of Ronaldinho.
Just check out his latest performance with two signature assists.
David Beckham is like Dr Who. Different strip. New location. He just keeps coming back as good, if not better, than before.
Whether at odds with Sir Alex Ferguson or out of favour at Real Madrid or marooned in America, Beckham has never let off-field setbacks interfere with his football.
Now at Italy, his latest goal giving AC Milan a draw against Genoa, he is reincarnated once more as the free-kick king of the San Siro. And in front of England manager Fabio Capello to boot. The guy demands respect.
The video below has a freekick goal. An inimitable piece of genius in more than one dimension.
Windows 7... This is the official name of the next incarnation of Windows. This is the first time they have moved away from the time-based(95/98/2000) or exotic (xp/vista) naming. The explanation, rather crude but does serve the purpose, is that that this is the 7th major release of MS-Windows.
There was a lot of speculation surrounding this operating system right from the time when news had leaked that microsoft is moving quickly toward releasing the next version of its OS to replace the negative aura and clear sense of failure surrounding the name "VISTA". Yeah, It is an agreed fact that people competely neglected this OS, cursing it for its bloatedness and sluggishness. Well, as an user of Vista right from its RTM release to the current SP1, I can state from experience that SP1 has addressed a lot of issues.
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