Sadhakam: Swara Gnanam Trainer

Sadhakam is an ear training app for Carnatic music. It provides an easy way to improve your Swara Gnanam. The goal of the app is to train you to instantly tell any swaram you hear, to learn to easily distinguish different swara sthanams. Whether you are a student or an experienced carnatic musician or rasika, you'll find this app an unique learning aid.

With Sādhakam, you'll exercise all swarasthanams thoroughly. These interactive exercises train you to hear and identify swarasthanas gradually, with increasing complexity. The exercises are crafted with pure and precise carnatic swara sthanams.

Each exercise will play a swaram or sequence to you. You shall hear and identify the correct swarasthanam among the choices presented. Once you answer, the app will tell you whether you are right or wrong, and what the correct answer is. As you practice more and more, you'll start recognizing swarams automatically. This way you can improve your swara gnanam whether you are a beginner student or an experienced musician or just a fan of carnatic music.

Mastering the 16 basic swarasthanas is fundamental for both vocalists and instrumentalists. It is even a prerequisite for manodharma sangeetham and to attain perfection in gamakam. Sādhakam helps you to achieve that in two ways:

1. It provides right set of exercises drilling different swarasthanas and combinations

2. It is interactive and lets you practice independently

The exercises are usually short. Each exercise can be done in a few minutes. So, you can practice anywhere, any time, whenever you have a few minutes to spare. You can repeat any exercise any number of times, and proceed to the next one when you feel confident. You can also explore the exercises and start working on the one that interests you at the moment depending on your mood or skill level. The app keeps track of your score and ratings.

The app plays swarams based on shruti/kattai/mane of your choice. We suggest you to sing along with the app. Ability to sing any swarasthana at will is also a fundamental skill. This app makes it easy to practice and learn that skill.

Each exercise introduces a new concept or swaram, or revises previous concepts. If you get low score in an exercise, it means you are just beginning to learn the underlying swaram/concept. Keep observing the correct answers shown in the app and redo the exercise. You will see improvements in your score as your brain internalizes the swaram and pattern. When you see consistent high scores in a particular exercise, you would have sufficiently mastered the lesson that exercise was trying to teach you.

Each swaram is worked out in several exercises in different contexts: in arohanam, avarohanam, along with a neighbouring swaram or a distant swaram, using Sa as reference, using Pa as reference, etc. As you practice more exercises, the characteristics of the swarasthanams are etched deeply in your mind. The app also shows your progress on each swarasthana based on all the exercises you've practiced. You can use this to improve upon specific swarasthanams. For instance, you may recognize Suddha Rishabam (Ri1) in arohanam when coming from Shadjam (Sa). But you may confuse it with Chatusruti Rishabam (Ri2) when in avarohanam or while descending from a distance swaram like Thara Sthayi Sa. Or, you may normally recognize a swarasthanam in madhya sthayi, but you miss it when it comes to mandra sthayi or thara sthayi. By practicing exercises where you have difficulty in recognizing a particular swarasthana, you improve your gyānam of that swaram, which reflects as the skill level for that specific swarasthanam in the app.

NOTE

* First 2 levels with 7 exercises are free. This covers variations of Ri Ga from Sa, and Dha Ni higher Sa from Pa.

* If you find the app is helping you to improve, you can unlock all the exercises with a subscription or a one time purchase.

* There are no ads even in the free version.

Kuyil

Apps Crafted for Carnatic