Let’s Learn…
Hansadhwani
On this page, Bansuri Bliss Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger teaches Hansadhwani, one of the most popular ragas from India.
Hansadhwani is a common evening melody that is especially popular with flute players due to its relatively easy fingering. Hansadhwani has a pentatonic (5-note) scale, and all the notes use fully covered holes (i.e. no flat or half notes), making it a great raga for a beginner to learn.
Dr. Kerry Kriger and tabla maestro Saawan Kakkeri leading a class in Hyderabad, India.
First Things First…
Scale (Arohi & Avarohi)
SRGPNS – Arohi (Ascending Scale)
SNPGRS – Avarohi (Descending Scale)
The first thing we need to know about any raga is its scale. You must memorize the scale, and practice it over and over and over.
Download the fingering chart below…
Bansuri Bliss
Hansadhwani Lesson #1
One of my students, George, came by for his second flute lesson. He had only been playing flute for 6 months and had learned a bit from watching YouTube flute lessons. I knew he enjoyed listening to Hansadhwani, so I taught him the lesson that you can listen to below.
This was George’s second lesson (his first in Hansadhwani), and I did not tell him the scale or what we were playing until after we had played alap for ten full minutes. That he picked it up so quickly is a testament to the power and importance of taking private lessons so you get immediate, applicable feedback to your playing! You can download the PDF of the written music below as well. Enjoy the music!
Recorded in Berkeley, California April 27th, 2015.
Download The PDF OF The Written Music
This is the part where it gets really good, because you are probably used to seeing typewritten Indian music that looks like SRGPNS’NPGRGS and thinking that actually conveys the intricacies of the music, or that Indian music has always been written like that. No no no.
The vast majority of the typewritten Indian classical music existing online is thoroughly degraded and is not an acceptable way to learn or convey Indian music. The authors mean well, but typewriters were not created for Indian classical music and most teachers of Indian music have neither the technology nor the technological knowledge to produce digitized Indian music notation that looks like it should.
Furthermore, most websites provide the scale of the raga, the time of day it is played and the vadi/samvadi. Perhaps also a short clip of the raga being performed. Then you are left to figure the rest out on your own. What you really need though (aside from a guru to teach you the raga and correct your playing) is actual written music for the raga.
So with no further ado, here is a PDF of the Hansadhwani lesson I taught George in 2015:
Listen And Download
Hansadhwani Alap and Gamaks
June 14th 2020 Bansuri Bliss Members Lesson
Enjoy this lesson with Bansuri Bliss Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger as he teaches Hansadhwani to Bansuri Bliss Members. Recorded live from Barra da Tijuca, Brazil.
The lesson was inspired by (and answers) the following questions…
Q:
“Hi Kerry, one very general question I have is how can I improve the beauty of improvisation, creating nice melodies in alaap? Should I hear a lot of ragas all day?”
— Marcelo Bacco, Chile
Q:
“My playing keeps sounding too western. You have already helped me with this, by encouraging me to do long blows, rather than tonguing notes. And the other thing I’m doing is listening to even more ICM each day, mostly bansuri players but also sitar, etc. Is it normal for people from western backgrounds to find it harder to sound less western and more Indian when we play bansuri? What was your experience?”
— Chas Newkey-Burden, UK
Dr. Kerry Kriger enjoying a flute melody and the surroundings at Itacoatiara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 2020.
Click Play And Enjoy Some Mellow Music…
Hansadhwani Alap
Bansuri Bliss Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger performs a short alap in Hansadhwani to start off an hour long lesson. The full lesson is available inside the Bansuri Bliss Academy, which is accessible to all bansuri Bliss members and holds an abundance of lessons to help bansuri players play beautiful ragas.
Recorded August 1, 2019 in Charlottesville, VA
“Dear Kerry, Namaste. You are doing a splendid job to spread the Indian Music. “
– Geet Anand, India
Dr. Kerry Kriger enjoying a flute melody and the surroundings at Itacoatiara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 2020.
Hansadhwani & The Fundamentals of Indian Classical Music
Bansuri Bliss Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger teaches the evening raga Hansadhwani to a group of Bansuri Bliss Members, and covers many of the fundamentals of Indian classical music, including:
– How to read and write Indian music
– The Hansadhwani scale
– The 12 possible swaras and the 22 shrutis
– Ornamentation (including gamak and murki)
– Jor
– Teental and how to count rhythm
– The difference between tabla bols that start with dh (e.g. dhin) and those that start with t (e.g. tin).
– The structure of melodic compositions in north Indian classical music
– The three registers on a flute
If it is true that…
Your Goal Is To Play Amazing Hansadhwani
Go deeper in your Hansadhwani learning by becoming a Bansuri Bliss Member. You will gain access to the full Hansadhwani course, in which you will learn a Hansadhwani composition, and also improvisations such as alap, taans and jhala. Perfect for beginning as well as advanced bansuri players.
A Lot More Hansadhwani Awaits You
Ramakanth Katti and Dr. Kerry Kriger playing bansuri in Hyderabad, early 2019.
We Hope You Enjoyed The Hansadhwani!
A couple Hansadhwani facts before we go…
Hansadhwani is sometimes spelled Hamsadhwani or Hansdhun.
Hansadhwani originated from Carnatic music (south Indian classical) and is popular in southern India as well.
We are almost guaranteed to add more Hansadhwani to this page, so please do check back in the near future!
