Musical forms

The kinds of piece you meet in Carnatic music, from training exercises to improvised items. The forms module explains how they fit together.

Learning pieces

Gitam — A plain, short song used early in learning, with no melodic variations.
Swarajati — A form with a main theme, an optional second section and one or more concluding sections, used in training and in dance.
Varnam — A structured composition that packs the main features of a raga into one short piece. Foundational in learning, and often the opening item of a concert.

Kriti — The main composition form of the Carnatic concert: a devotional song in sections, with a fixed tune that performers may elaborate on.
Kirtana — A devotional song in which the words lead and the tune is usually simple and repeated.
Ragamalika — A composition whose sections are set in different ragas, one after another.

Padam — A slow, expressive song on love and longing, used in dance and concerts.
Javali — A lighter, faster relative of the padam on a romantic theme, used in dance recitals and as a lighter concert item.

Tillana — A lively rhythmic piece built on syllables, often near the end of a concert and in dance recitals.

Alapana — A slow, free exploration of a raga with no fixed beat.
Tanam — A rhythmic exploration of a raga with a flowing pulse, using syllables such as a-nam-tam.
Pallavi (improvised item) — A single line of a composition set to a tala, explored with niraval, kalpanaswara and changes of speed.
Niraval — Improvising new melodies on a single line of a composition, repeating its words and rhythm.
Kalpanaswara — Improvised sequences of note names (Sa, Ri, Ga and so on) sung to the beat of the tala.
Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi — A major concert item: alapana, then tanam, then a pallavi explored in the tala.
Tani avartanam — The percussion solo of a concert, in which the drummers play patterns in the tala without the melody.

Kutcheri (concert structure) — The Carnatic concert: a sequence of items led by a main performer with accompanists and a drone.