Advance Strokes in the Mridangam

Many other strokes are also taught as the training becomes more advanced, which are generally used as aesthetic embellishments while playing. These notes include gumki (or gamakam), and chaapu. The combination of these finger strokes produces complex mathematical patterns that have both aesthetic and theoretical appeal. Increasingly complex calculations (kanakku) and metres (nadais) may be employed when the mridangam is played.

• Ta: A sharp flat note played with the index finger in the middle of the black portion on the right side of the mridangam.
• Gumukki: Bass tone produced by playing on the inner layer of the lower end of the left hand side. Sound is produced only when there is a special applied paste.
• Full Chapu: It is a vibrating tone played with the small finger on the right hand side, between the black patch and the outer layer. The sound is tuned to the tonic of the tambura.
• Ara Chapu: A note similar to Chapu, but is an octave higher, and is played with the side of the hand and less of the pinky.
• Dheem: A vibrational tone version of Thi

Classically, training is by dharmic apprenticeship and includes both the yoga of drum construction and an emphasis on the internal discipline of voicing mridangam tone and rhythm both syllabically and linguistically, in accordance with Rigveda, more than on mere performance.

The Famous Players

Over the years and especially during the early 20th century, great maestros of mridangam also arose, inevitably defining "schools" of mridangam with distinct playing styles. Examples include the Puddukottai school and the Thanjavur school. The virtuosos Palani Subramaniam Pillai, Palghat Mani Iyer, C.S. Murugabhupathy and Late Sri Mahadevu Radha Krishna Raju contributed so much to the art that they are often referred to as the Mridangam Trinity.

There is also another style i.e., the blending of Saakotai Rangu Iyengar's and Kumbakonam Azhaganambi Pillai's taught to hundreds of disciples by the legendary Late Sri Kumbakonam Narayanaswamy Iyer and late Sri Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer.

Past players

• Palghat Mani Iyer
• Palani Subramaniam Pillai
• T. K. Murthy
• Palghat R. Raghu
• Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair
• Vellore G. Ramabhadran
• T. V. Gopalakrishnan
• Mavelikkara Krishnankutty Nair
• Madurai.T.Srinivasan(Seenakutti)
• Ramanathapuram C S Murugabhoopathy
• Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai

Current players

• Karaikudi Mani
• Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman
• Thiruvarur Bakthavathsalam
• Trichy Sankaran
• Guruvayur Dorai
• Mannargudi Easwaran
• Srimushnam V. Raja Rao
• Trivandrum V. Surendran
• Trichur C. Narendran
• Mannarkoil J Balaji
• Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma
• A. V. Anand
• H. S. Sudhindra
• Erickavu N. Sunil
• Madurai T. Srinivasan
• Patri Satish Kumar
• Arjun Kumar
• Namilakonda Venu Gopal
• T. S. Chandrashekar
• Renuka Prasad
• B. C. Manjunath
• B. R. Srinivas
• Bangalore R. Ramanath
• Ranjani Venkatesh
• N. Vasudev
• S. V. Balakrishna
• B. S. Prashanth
• T. R. Sundaresan
• Neyveli R. Narayan
• B. Ganapathiraman
• B. Sivaraman
• Arjun Ganesh
• Delhi Sairam
• Guru Raghavendra
• L. Subramanyam
• Akshay Anand
• Sudhir Khollam

Method of Construction

The mridangam is a double-sided drum whose body is usually made using a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood about an inch thick. The two mouths or apertures of the drum are covered with a goatskin and laced to each other with leather straps around the circumference of drum. These straps are put into a state of high tension to stretch out the circular membranes on either side of the hull, allowing them to resonate when struck. These two membranes are dissimilar in width to allow for the production of both bass and treble sounds from the same drum.

The bass aperture is known as the thoppi or eda bhaaga and the smaller aperture is known as the valanthalai or bala bhaaga. The smaller membrane, when struck, produces higher pitched sounds with a metallic timbre. The wider aperture produces lower pitched sounds. The goat skin covering the smaller aperture is anointed in the center with a black disk made of rice flour, ferric oxide powder and starch. This black tuning paste is known as the satham or karanai and gives the mridangam its distinct metallic timbre.

The New lessons of Mridangam

 some of other sounds are used in mridangam mainly for using ending of the solo or carnatic.
Mridangam understand only in high practice practice is the main thing that do in the mridangam.And also understand the sounds that produce by instrument.We know about the sounds that produce different places in mridangam.This is mainly performed by hand

The ancient History of mridangnam

In ancient Hindu sculpture, painting, and mythology, the mridangam is often depicted as the instrument of choice for a number of deities including Ganesha (the remover of obstacles) and Nandi, who is the vehicle and follower of Shiva. Nandi is said to have played the mridangam during Shiva's primordial tandava dance, causing a divine rhythm to resound across the heavens. The mridangam is thus also known as "Deva Vaadyam," or "Divine Instrument".

Over the years, the mridangam evolved to be made of different kinds of wood due to its increased durability, and today, its body is constructed from wood of the jackfruit tree. It is widely believed that the tabla, the mridangam's Hindustani musical counterpart, was first constructed by splitting a mridangam in half. With the development of the mridangam came the evolution of the tala (rhythmic) system. The system of talas (or taalams) in Carnatic music may be the most complex percussive rhythm system of any form of classical music .^{[citation needed]}

Mridangam has a large role in Newa music. One of the earliest Nepal Bhasa manuscripts on music is a treatise on this instrument called Mridanga anukaranam

Mridangam Introduction

Mridangam

Mridangam is a Indian classical instrument.That is mainly used in classical carnatic music in india.
This Mridangam contain four type of sound that produce mainly

  Tha                       Thi                             Thom                       Num



this is the basic lesson to start the mridangam study.
mridangam is a perfect in sound and highly attractive sounds

Tha

Thi

Thom

Num