Porting Konnakkol into the Western music matrix

Practical musicians are often looking for methods that can help them to understand and internalize the music they are performing or studying. Over the past ten years, I have successfully taught my students at the Yong Siew Toh
Conservatory of Music (NUS) to analyse and memorize music using a system that borrows many ideas and concepts from carnatic music of South Indian.
The sollukattu (or rhythm words) of that tradition reflect an almost intuitive way of making rhythmic sounds and creating phrases that prove extremely practical for music of all genres (including western art music, western new music, and jazz).
This presentation will feature examples from western art music and show how “code” from the ancient South Indian art of konnakkol (reciting improvised or composed rhythmic pieces) can be “ported” into the operating system of a different genre. It was discovered that this method facilitated the development in students of steadier “internal rhythm” and feeling for rhythm; and better memory for rhythmic structures.