Complete specification

Clay made percussion musical instrument-Ghadam

Field of the invention

Musical instrument for Carnatic or Hindustanic songs or in classical music performance. Musical system is made out of clay. It is a modification of south Indian mud pot called "Kudam" which are used for household purposes.

Objective of the invention

* To popularize the traditional pottery musical instruments

* Modifying the pot to produce fine music that otrengthens the melody of classical music in spite of many electric or electronic instruments

* To produce a low cost classical music instrument

* To meet the growing demand for pottery type classical instruments and to preserve traditional craft are the main objectives,

Background

Ghatam is one of the oldest Carnatic instrument used in the percussion side. It is nothing more than a large clay pot. In the prehistoric periods, the man first started to use clay to design the various products he needed for house and workship. In this endeavor, the ancient people used small pots to produce sounds of their desire by taping the mouth and wall of the clay pot. As the pot is beaten on the mouth and on the wall the air present inside the pot delivers a beautiful sound. This is turned according to music. In Carnatic music "seven suram" are used. For each "suram" the music is different. The clay pot can be easily made to suit each suram.

It makes rhythmic sounds with different wavelength according the quality of the raw clay used and thickness of the wall of the instrument. Beating the instrument with finger gives different notes in music. It is tuned according to the notes of carnatic music. Ghadam is played along with other instruments like Mirudangam, Natheswaram and other traditional musical instruments. Ghadam Vithuvans are only few in numbers.

Ghadam is a hollow pot with broad base, a short neck and a narrow mouth. The Ghadam on tapping or playing with hands gives a specific of tunes according to carnatic musical notes. On tapping, the sound enters the hollow chamber and breathes out through the mouth with rhythmic tones.

Description of art.

Ghadam is a hollow pot like structure with a mouth, short neck and enlarged belly. The mouth diameter is in the range 9-10 cm. The thickness of the wall of the Ghadam range between 0.5cm to 0.8 cm. The color of the Ghadam is in red and in black color. The instruments mouth is tightly pressed with the stomach of the musician and only the belly part is projected front. The playing person sits on the floor and holding the Ghadam in his lap and starts tapping the Ghadam using the fingers of both the hands. Musical notes are recorded and tuned with other musicians or public. Carnatic music seven surams or musical notes are used. For each musical note the music varies. To suit each suram,a different sound producing Ghadam has to be prepare for making the Ghadam specific for each suram, the clay processing, firing and clay mixing and thickness of pot are different.

Summary of the invention

The ghatam is a percussion instrument, used in the Carnatic music of South India. It is an earthenware pot; the artist uses the fingers, thumbs, palms, and heels of the hands to strike the outer surface of the ghatam. An airy low-pitch bass sound, called gumki, is created by tapping the mouth of the pot with an open hand. The Carnatic musicians often uses the Ghatam together with the Mridangam in the form of Sawal-Jawab (question-answer play). Ghadam is made up of a mixture of clay, iron dust or other metallic components. For playing it, the finger technique of the Tabla is usually used, but the Ghatam can also be used for improvising. In the present invention, ordinary earthenware pot system is redesigned modified and developed as a percussion instrument for classical music performances. It is an eco-friendly, non-toxic, less expensive, degradable product made up of locally available clay material.

Detailed description of the invention

Introduction

Ghadam in Sanskrit means pot. In Tamil, it is called "Kudam". It is interesting to note that the making of the Ghatam utilizes all of the five elements, quite detailed in the Indian culture: earth, water, fire, air and space. Ghadam is played from ancient time. The ancient technology of making Ghadam is getting diminished in this era of metal string and electronic musical instruments. However for all Hindustani music, Ghadam is used. The accidental sound heared while handling pot might have induced the concept of developing clay music instrument. Ghadam is a earthenware. It is made by mixing different types of clay, iron powder or brass shards powders and traditional binding materials. The clay is a mixture of different types of soil which has soil particles of different mesh size. The processing of clay before making a Ghadam is unique. The processed clay is made into a pot-like (Kudam) structure in potters' wheels. After that it
was differently to get red or black color.

Structure of Ghadam

Ghadam is a traditional clay” kudam” or pot with a difference in thicknes and dimensions. It has a narrow mouth 10 cm, a short neck 11 cm and a bulbous belly. The thickness of the wall of this Ghadam is 0.5cm to 0.8 cm. According to the thickness of the wall and type of firing the Ghadam products tunes with different wavelength on beating with hands. Ghadam is operated by fingers and palm. The beat on the outer surface gets enched and fine tuned inside the belly part and comes out of the mouth as a beautiful music which is like a metallic ringing sound. It is used in all south Indian Carnatic and Folk music consort, temple functions etc.

Etiology

The origin of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or synchronized with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Sama Veda, one of the four Vedas, describes music at length explains. The two main streams of Indian classical music viz:

• Hindustani classical music, originally from North India

• Carnatic music, originally from South India

Camatic music is similar to Hindustani music .In this music improvised instruments like Kottuvadyam, harmonium, veena, mridangam, kanjira, ghatam and violin are used. In the camatic music of south India, Ghadam is a percussion instrument. It is a traditional Indian instrument and is mentioned in the Ramayana.

Designs of Earthenware Ghatam

Ghatam is made up of a variety of clay mixed with metal particles so as to give a good sound. It is used as a musical instrument. For making Ghatam, clay was collected from three different irrigation ponds near Manamadurai and Alwarkurichi. The clay particles are having different color (pale yellow, light black and light red color) The clay and sand collected from different sites were dried in sun and made into a fine powder form and mixed well.. The clay was then mixed in 80:20 (80 percent clay and 20 percent fine river bed sand) and some nanosize metal particles are also mixed to get a homogenous mass. This is known to the potters as "Body". The mixture was charged into ball mills for grinding up to the desired fineness. Water was added in the grinding process carefully. About 30 to 35 percent of water is first added on the basis of the material put into the ball mill and 10 to 15 percent more water was added for proper flow of the ground slip. After the material had been ground to their respective fineness, they were kept in separate tanks in the liquid or slip condition. The liquid clay mix was taken in a separate tank and it was left in it for 3 days to promote fermentation that makes the body soft. The slip was then filtered using filter press. The slip was made stiffer for further use. The filter cakes of clay mass that come out of the filter press has the consistency of thick paste. The clay mass was put into kneading machine or a pug mill. The main function of this machine is to press the clay mass so as to squeeze out the air bubbles enclosed within the mass and to make the consistency of the body homogenous with special regard to the water content. The workability of the clay mass or body was greatly improved by this operation.

After pugging the mixture was left for microbial fermentation for tendering fineness to the clay and to give strength to the processed clay. After that the body was ready for throwing or jollying. In throwing the clay were shaped by hand on a rotating potter's wheel. The clay mass for throwing was stiff enough for article not to lose the shape, under its own weight. Further it was soft enough to yield easily to the pressure of the hand. Throwing was followed by turning. It is a process of shaping to get accuracy of form wanted. After turing the properly shaped Ghadam was obtained.

The Ghadam was shade-dried. After drying, the Ghadam was taken to firing. The Ghadam was fired in country type furnace where it was fired at 650-750˚ C temperature. If the temperature is increased the body of the Ghadam gets well fired and gives a metallic sound. These clay pots are tuned to the tune of the musician.

Playing Ghadam using hand strokes

Ghatam is an earthen pot. Two types of Ghatams are made, (thick walled and thin walled Ghadam). The thick Ghatam has a nicer tone to it than the lighter version. While playing the musicians sat on the floor and keep the instrument on their lap. (Fig.)

For playing it, the players use their wrists, ten fingers, nails, knuckles, their flat and sides of both hands to tap the wall of the instrument. An airy low-pitch bass sound, called gumki, is created by hitting the mouth of the pot with an open hand. The artist sometimes presses the mouth of the pot against their bare belly, which deepens the tone of the bass stroke, and is another way to produce the "gumki" sound.The pot's ringing sound is created by striking it hard. The pot's cavity creates the very low resonance. The pitch is raised or lowered by opening or closing the hole with the musician's belly. Sometimes the Ghatam is covered with a parchment which makes it more like a drum. The finger technique of the Tabla is usually used, but the Ghatam can also be used for improvising.

In the body of the Ghadam, three areas are beaten to get music, viz., middle portion, upper portion and the bottom portion of the instrument. Seven words are given to indicate these three sounds: Tha, Dhi, Thom, Nam (Dhim), Ti, Kun, Na.

• Tha: non-vibrating 4 fingers unit

• Dhi: non-vibrating 3 fingers unit

Different tones can be produced by hitting different areas of the pot with different parts of the hands. The Camatic musicians often use the Ghatam together with the Mridangam in the form of question-answer play.

Claim

Ghadam is a traditional clayware used to produce fine musical sounds. Although this instrument is in use for a long time, the art of making the Ghadam was forgotten, in the period of metal string music instruments and electronic instruments. So to give a revival to the traditional music instrument, a novel technology was adopted to make Ghadam. Use of Ghadam is now very popular in all temple functions, cinema song singers and camatic music artisans. So the inventor have designed novel models of Ghadam and made according to their research and technology development. The proposed Ghadam has not been patented so far in spite of its demand. So we claim the modem Ghadam that we supply as our property for right. Our Ghadam produces all the types of fine music up to 7 kattai.