If you go to south India and visit a mridangam class in session, you will hear the teacher as well as the students chanting some kind of rhythmic verses every now and then. Through this chanting, the teacher and the students conceptualize as well as communicate rhythmic pattern to one another. This chanting is the instructional medium of south Indian percussion. It is called konnakkol. Konnakkol is more than an instructional medium. You will also hear it in concerts once in a while, most likely in a percussion ensemble. But konnakkol finds its true purpose in the class room.

The traditional music of South India commonly known as Carnatic Music has a highly evolved system of percussion. Mridangam is the master percussion instrument of Carnatic music. The art of playing all other percussion instruments has been derived from the conceptual system that is born out of playing the mridangam. This conceptual system has its own language called konnakkol, which is nothing but vocal articulation in rhythmic patterns. Though it is born out of mridangam playing, konnakkol can be thought of as a percussion system in its own right.

A brief history

What is the origin of this unique system of mouth percussion? This is my guess. It is natural for The musicians to mimic the sound of drums vocally. It is a quick and effective way of communicating rhythm phrases to fellow musicians without actually playing any drums. The musicians of Carnatic music went a step ahead. They tried to formalize this vocal mimicking of drumming. This evolved into a rich language of percussion which, more than anything else, turned out to be a convenient and powerful tool in the class room. An educational tool can revolutionize a body of knowledge. This is what happened with mridangam in particular and Carnatic percussion in general. The richness of Carnatic percussion can be completely attributed to konnakkol.

As it gained popularity, Konnakkol rose to the status of an art form in itself. Today Konnakkol Performance as an art form has almost vanished, but its role in the educational system of South Indian Percussion remains as fundamental as it was centuries ago.

As there are different schools of percussion in south indian music, there are different styles of Konnakkol too. But the differences between different styles are superficial.

Why Konnakkol Now?

As a language for communicating rhythm, konnakkol offers many things

• musicians can share rhythm concepts with one another in a quick and efficient manner. This is not restricted to percussionists. Other instrumentalists as well as singers use this language to talk rhythm among themselves. This language provides a common platform for all musicians.
• konnakkol provides a method for formalizing and bringing uniformity to the training system
• In the olden days, when there was no audio recording available, rhythm knowledge was recorded and transmitted only through konnakkol.
• Konnakkol emphasizes the abstract nature of drumming. The power of rhythm doesn't depend so much on the sound of drums as it does on the rhythmic pattern itself.
• Music is said to be a universal language. This is especially true with percussion. But there is still a lack of communication between percussionists from different parts of the world. Konnakkol has the potential to capture rhythm concepts from across the globe.

For more information check out konnakkol resources.