Editing Carnatic music (section)

===Instrumentation===
{{See also|Indian musical instruments}}
The ''[[tanpura]]'' is the traditional [[Drone (music)|drone]] instrument used in concerts. However, tanpuras are increasingly being replaced by [[Sruti box|''śruti'' box]]es, and now more commonly, the [[electronic tanpura]]. The drone itself is an integral part of performances and furnishes stability – the equivalent of [[harmony]] in Western music.<ref name="Rosenthal1931">{{cite journal  | last = Rosenthal|first = E.|title = Tyagaraja: A Great South Indian Composer| journal = Musical Quarterly |volume = XVII |pages = 14–24 |year = 1931  | doi = 10.1093/mq/XVII.1.14}}</ref>

In a vocal recital, a concert team may have one or more vocalists as the principal performer(s). Instruments, such as the [[Saraswati veena]] and/or [[venu]] flute, can be occasionally found as an accompaniment, but usually, a vocalist is supported by a violin player (who sits on his/her left). The rhythm accompanist is usually a [[mridangam]] player (who sits on the other side, facing the violin player). However, other percussion instruments such as the [[ghatam]], [[kanjira]] and [[morsing]] frequently also accompany the main percussion instrument and play in an almost [[contrapuntal]] fashion along with the beats.

The objective of the accompanying instruments is far more than following the melody and keeping the beats. The accompaniments form an integral part of every composition presented, and they closely follow and augment the melodic phrases outlined by the lead singer. The vocalist and the violinist take turns while elaborating or while exhibiting creativity in sections like [[raga]], [[niraval]] and [[kalpanaswaram]].

Unlike [[Hindustani music]] concerts, where an accompanying [[tabla]] player can keep beats without following the musical phrases at times, in Carnatic music, the accompanists have to follow the intricacies of the composition since there are percussion elements such as eduppu in several compositions.

Some concerts feature a good bit of interaction with the lead musicians and accompanists exchanging notes, and accompanying musicians predicting the lead musician's musical phrases.