Sādhana · Carnatic vocal
Carnatic vocal classes in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
For children from five and adults beginning at any age. Taught in the traditional order, by ear, one phrase at a time — at our institute, online, or at your community clubhouse.
Three ways to learn
Come to us, or we’ll come to you.
At the institute
Jubilee Hills
Small batches at our studio in Jubilee Hills. Weekday evenings and weekend mornings.
See institute batchesOnline
Anywhere in the world
Live one-to-one and small-group classes over video, at times that work for the US, the UK and the Gulf.
See online classesAt your community
Clubhouse batches
We come to your gated community and teach at your clubhouse. Six interested families is usually enough — we speak to your association together.
Bring Raaga to your community
The path
From your first Sa to your own manodharma.
Carnatic music has a published order, and it has had one for centuries. Here is exactly where a student begins, what comes next, and what each stage sounds like when it is done properly.
Sarali Varisai
सरळि वरिसैthe first exercisesSing the seven swaras in order, in three speeds, in tune.
Beginner~10 weeks
Janta Varisai
जण्ट वरिसैpaired notesHold two notes cleanly together and keep your place in the tala.
Beginner~8 weeks
Alankāram
अलंकारम्patterns across the seven talasSing the same phrase in seven rhythmic cycles without losing count.
Beginner~10 weeks
Gītam
गीतम्your first real songsSing a complete composition with words, from memory.
Beginner~8 weeks
Swarajati
स्वरजतिsongs with structureMove between swaras and lyrics inside one piece.
Intermediate~8 weeks
Varṇam
वर्णम्the athlete’s stageSing a varnam in two speeds. This is where a voice becomes a trained voice.
Intermediate~50 weeks
Kṛti
कृतिthe concert repertoireSing Tyagaraja, Dikshitar and Syama Sastri — the music a kutcheri is made of.
Advanced~40 weeks
Manodharma
मनोधर्मyour own imaginationImprovise. Alapana, kalpana swaram, niraval — the music becomes yours.
Advancedongoing
Stage order follows the Carnatic Vocal grade syllabus of the Tamil Nadu Dr. J Jayalalithaa Music and Fine Arts University. Durations are indicative and vary with practice.
Open now
Current batches.
Batches for the coming term are being finalised. Tell us the days and times that suit you — we open new batches around our students, and in your community we can usually start once six families are interested.
Why Raaga
What you get here that you won’t get elsewhere.
We come to your community.
Reach six families in your gated community and we teach at your clubhouse — no drop-offs, no traffic, no Sunday morning lost.
A syllabus you can actually see.
Sarali Varisai to Manodharma, published in full with the time each stage takes, so you always know where your child stands.
Small enough that no one hides at the back.
Batches are capped at six, and every student sings alone in every class.
You stay with one teacher.
Not a rotating panel. You learn in a line, the way this music has always been taught.
No prerequisite — not language, not talent, not age.
Compositions are in Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil, and we teach the meaning line by line. Beginners at five and beginners at fifty start the same way.
A stage, every term.
Open Baithak mornings, Sangama workshops and our annual Sangeeta Sandhya. A student who has performed once practises differently forever.
Before you ask
Questions parents actually ask.
Five is a comfortable starting age — old enough to sit for half an hour and match a pitch. We have started children at four when they were ready, and we teach adults who are beginning for the first time in their fifties. There is no upper limit and no late.
No. Almost none of our beginners do. The first year is entirely swaras — Sa Ri Ga Ma — which are syllables, not a language. When compositions begin, we teach the meaning line by line before a single word is sung. Children who speak only English learn this music perfectly well.
No. Adults usually progress through the early exercises faster than children because they understand structure and can practise deliberately. What adults need is permission to sound like a beginner for a few months. We teach adult batches separately so nobody is sitting beside an eight-year-old.
Six at most. In Carnatic music every student has to sing alone in front of the teacher in every class, and that stops being possible beyond about six people. If a batch fills, we open another rather than stretch it.
Honestly: about two to three years of steady weekly practice. The first six to twelve months build the foundation — varisais, alankarams, first geethams. Varnams take the better part of a year on their own. Anyone promising a kriti in three months is skipping the part that makes the voice.
For one-to-one and small groups, very nearly. What works less well online is a large batch, because the teacher cannot hear individual voices over a shared connection. That is why online batches are kept smaller. Many of our students outside Hyderabad have never had another option, and they progress.
Yes — it is how we prefer to teach. Six interested families is usually enough to make a batch work. Beyond that it needs your residents’ association to approve the use of the clubhouse, which we are happy to speak to them about together. Message us with the name of your community and we will tell you what is already running nearby.
Fees depend on which of the three modes you choose and on the batch — a clubhouse batch, an institute batch and a one-to-one online class are all priced differently. Message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you straight away, with no obligation.
Not to begin. A free shruti app on a phone is genuinely fine for the first year, and that is what most of our students use. If the learning continues, an electronic shruti box is a modest and worthwhile purchase — we will tell you when it is time rather than at the start.
Tell us in advance and we will fit in a make-up where the timetable allows. Carnatic music is cumulative — each week builds directly on the last — so consistent attendance matters more here than in most things a child is enrolled in.
Prārambha · Begin the journey
Book a free trial class.
Tell us a little about who is learning and where, and we’ll call to arrange a time. Four questions, about thirty seconds.
We ask for your name and number, not your child’s. Nothing is shared with anyone, and you can ask us to delete your enquiry at any time — see our privacy notice.
नादब्रह्म — Sound is the divine.