Treatise on Carnatic Music/Vidya Bhavani Suresh. Chennai, Skanda Pub., 2007, 384 p.

    Contents: I. Introduction: 1. Getting started. 2. The learning process. 3. Sruti (Pitch). 4. Concert. 5. More on Carnatic Music. 6. The grammar of Carnatic Music. II. Tala: 7. Understanding Adi Tala. 8. 35 Tala Structure. 9. More on Tala Types. 10. Roopaka and Chaapu Talas. 11. Total number of Talas. III. Raga Theory: 12. 12 note structure. 13. More on musical notes. 14. Finer variations of notes -- the 22 Srutis. IV. Melakarta and Janya Raga (The concept): 15. Melakarta Raga. 16. Janya Raga. 17. How many Ragas possible? 18. Arrangement of 72 Melakartas. 19. The Katapayadi Formula-(Naming of Melakarta Ragas). V. Some important Melakartas: 20. Kalyani and its neighbouring Ragas-(Understanding Vivadi). 21. Shankarabaranam and its neighbours. 22. Some more Shuddha Madhyama Melakartas. 23. Some more Prati Madhyama Melakartas. VI. Some categories of Janyas: 24. Five note wonders - Audava Ragas. 25. Role of notes in mood creation--(Discussion in the backdrop of Audava Ragas). 26. Vakra and Bhashanga Ragas- (Anandabhairavi, Kambodi, Bhairavi..). 27. The Zigzag structure-Vakra. 28. The extra note-Bhashanga. 29. Oft-heard Janyas of Shankarabaranam. VII. Accompanying instruments: 30. Colour photographs of the Veena making process, a speciality of Thanjavur. 31. Violin and Mridangam. 32. Veena and Flute. VIII. Some thoughts on music - (A set of Essays): 33. Introduction. 34. What is Folk Music? 35. The soul and the details. 36. Being an artiste in a changing era. 37. Parenting of a budding artiste. 38. The text of the song. 39. Is popular music a threat? 40. An open approach. 41. Do we see or hear music? 

    "The term Carnatic Music sounds familiar to many, yet, for most people, the familiarity stops there. The terms Raga and Thala are known but not what they exactly stand for. This is exactly where this title comes handy. 

    This book introduces the reader to all aspects of Carnatic Music in an extremely easy-to-understand style with numerous examples. The book takes the reader step-by-step through all concepts, giving sufficient comfort level to grasp each idea in its entirety." 

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