Instruments

Carnatic Violins

Carnatic music, known as Karnāṭaka saṃgīta or Karnāṭaka saṅgītam in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka.

Carnatic music rests on two main elements: rāga, the modes or melodic formulæ, and tāḷa, the rhythmic cycles. Today, Carnatic music is presented by musicians in concerts or recordings, either vocally or through instruments.

Carnatic music songs with ten different instruments namely, Flute, Harmonium, Mandolin, Nagaswara, Santoor, Saxophone, Sitar, Shehnai, Veena and Violin are considered as input. Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Linear Predictive Coefficients (LPC) features are used for representing music information.

We have selected a few violins to demonstrate what they sound like when playing Carnatic Music. A violin with a bright E and A string works best for Carnatic. However, any violin in our shop can be used for this musical style.

Ajay Balasubramaniam is a rising junior at Lambert High School and has been playing the violin since four years old. He has been selected for GMEA All-State Orchestra, Emory Junior Chamber Orchestra, MYSO Atlanta and the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. Ajay is also versatile in South Indian (Carnatic) classical violin. He has been playing solo concerts, accompanying local vocal artists on the violin, and performing for two years at the Melharmony Festival. His mother, Jasso Balasurbramaniam, is an accomplished Carnatic violinist and teacher.

I was amazed at your hospitality and the way you kept on giving me different violins to play. Your shop is probably the best violin shop that I have ever visited. I’m grateful to you for giving me such wonderful opportunity to play with your fantastic violins.” -Varadarajan, Carnatic Violinist

Tiny Fine Fiddles

Tiny hands. Tiny fingers. Learning to play the violin can start as early as age two. “Sound is everything,” Suzuki once said. And sound requires a quality violin. We have a collection of hand-made European instruments for the young musician.

Yes, the students in the photos are Anna and Charles Huthmaker