Smt. Suguna Purushothaman gave a very educative lecture demonstration on “Teaching and Practice of Dwitala Avadhanam” at The Music Academy, Chennai on 23rd Dec 2009. The very fact that Smt. Suguna made her students (K. Gayatri, Sharanya Krishnan and Nandini Sharma) perform most of the exercises was very encouraging to see. They assisted her ably in the demonstrations. This led Shri Pappu Venugopala Rao to remark – “We have so many Sugunas on stage!”. Kudos to K. Gayatri who did most of the demonstrations based in the more complex talams. Here are some excerpts from the session based on the notes I took. DWITALA AVADHANAM Avadhanam is the ability to do many things at the same time. There are many people who have done avadhAnam and have been called “avadhAnI”s. Dwitala avadhanam refers to putting two different talams simultaneously with both the hands for one song. Smt. Suguna Purushothaman learnt this art from Shri Thinniyam Venkatarama Iyer. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE DOING DWITALA AVADHANAM HOW TO DEVELOP THE ABILITY TO DO DWITALA AVADHANAM Dwitala avadhanam can be performed by anyone with proper practice. 1)    There are basic exercises for laya while learning basic lessons of Carnatic music. These should be practised putting talam in both hands. This will help strengthen the talam/laya sense. 2)    Swaravali/ Sarali varisai should be practised starting with samam of the talam in one hand and at the same time starting after 0.25 beat from samam of the talam being put in the other hand. This should be repeated for a start after 0.50 and 0.75 beat from samam also in the other hand. 3)    Sapta tala alankarams should be sung in different kalams (speeds) while maintaining the same talam. Then they should be sung with two different talams in the two hands. The following alankarams were demonstrated: 4)    One can also try interchanging the talams being put on both hands i.e., if talam A was being put by the left hand and talam B by the right hand, one can also try singing the same exercise with talam B now being put by the left hand and talam A by the right hand. Smt. Suguna said that Shri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, while hearing her demonstrate the technique when she was young, asked her if she can interchange the talams and demonstrate. She was able to do it easily as she had already tried the same in her practice sessions. 5)    Varnams can be practised the same way. All adi talam varnams should be sung with tisram done to get a good grip over the talam in tisra gati. 6)    Kritis can also be sung. Sections from the following kritis were sung and demonstrated by Smt Suguna and Kum K. Gayatri: 7)    Kalpana swarams can also be sung. Care should be taken to complete the cycle of the longer taLam while ending the kalpana swarams each time. If we put a shorter talam in one hand, it might take multiple cycles for the same to match one cycle of the longer talam being put in the other hand. We should finish the kalpana swarams at the appropriate place of the longer talam (when the song is set to that talam) Swarams were sung at the phrase “shyAma krishna sOdari” of shankari shankuru (sAvEri) by Kum K. Gayatri 8)    Kritis with eDuppu different from samam can be sung The kriti himAdri sutE (kalyANi) was demonstrated with Rupaka Chapu in one hand and Adi Talam Tisra Gati in the other 9)    Pallavis can also be sung in a similar way 10) Tillanas can also be sung in a similar way A line from the tillAnA “tArAdipAnana” (kApi) was sung (Lakshmisa Talam in one hand and Tisra Rupakam Kanda Gati in the other) 11) Tiruppugazh can also be sung in a similar way CONCLUDING REMARKS Shri Pappu Venugopala Rao spoke highly about Smt. Suguna Purushothaman and her students. He also made the following remarks: