Indian Music and Western
Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions:
- the North Indian classical music known as Hindustani and
- he South Indian expression known as Carnatic.
Indian classical music is one of the oldest forms of music in the world. It has in diverse areas such as the ancient religious vedic hymns, tribal chants, devotional temple music, and folk music. Indian music is melodic in nature, while Western music which is harmonic.
The fundamental concepts of Music are
the swara (musical note),
raga (a melodic concept, or scale of notes) and
tala (beats timing or rhythm).
SWARAS
The word swara ( notes) is derived
from the Sanskrit word ‘Svar’, which means sound. There are different forms of
sound. But the sound which is soothing to ear and which is musical is known as
swaras or .
Hindustani classical music has 7 major
notes also known as Shudha Swaras.
Sur Long name
Sa Shadaj
Re Rishabh
Ga Gandhar
Ma Madhyam
Pa Pancham
Dha Dhaivat
Ni Nishad
Shudha Swaras
Sa
and Pa swaras are called pure swaras (shudha swaras) and have a fixed
position. They are also known as Achal Swaras.
Swaras other than Achal swaras can be
sung half note above or below their original position. They are known as Vikrit Swaras.
Re,Ga,Dh,Ni can sung half note below and
are known as Komal Swaras.
Thus in total there are 12 swaras – 7 shudh and 5 Vikrit.
Out of 5 Vikrit swaras, 4 are Komal and 1
is Teevra.
RAGA: THE MELODIC CONCEPT
Ragas are frameworks of
keynotes or a set of musical notes put together in a singing pattern - that
denote them.
Technically speaking, a raga is simply a group of notes or swaras.
Thus a raga is basically established by the notes used in its ascent and descent.
When arranged in
ascending order of their notes, the Ragas are in an aroh pattern.
When
the notes are arranged in a descending fashion, they are in an avaroh pattern.
These
primary divisions of Ragas are:
1. Raag Asaravi, 2. Raag Bhairav, 3. Raag Bhairavi, 4. Raag Bilawal
5. Raag Kafi, 6. Raag Kalyan, 7. Raag Khamaj, 8. Raag Marwa
9. Raag Purvi, 10. Raag Todi
Raag
Asaravi is a parent raga, consisting of all the seven musicals notes but
arranged in a different pattern. This raga is usually supposed to be practiced
in the late morning hours. In the ascending order, it has 5 musical notes in a
haphazard manner: ‘Sa’- ‘Re’ - ‘Ma’- ‘Pa’ - ‘Dha’But in its descending order,
it has all the 7 musical notes present in a different order: ‘Na’ - ‘Dha’ -
‘Pa’ - ‘Ma’ - ‘Pa’ - ‘Dha’- ‘Ma’- ‘Pa’ - ‘Ga’ - ‘Re’ - ‘Sa’.
What is a tala in Indian music?
TALA: The sense of rytham
“The
measurement of these speeds is tala.
It is a metric cycle with a specific number of beats—from 3 to 128—that recur in the same pattern throughout a musical performance.
Simply stated, a tala is the beat given for timing notes an orders in a musical composition. It is cyclical, and gives the musician the rhythm and in a tempo.
Laya
“Rhythm is laya. The word laya is derived from the root lai to move. So, laya means movement.
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eed variations of this manifestation of movements fall under the categories:
- Vilambita or slow,
- Madhyama or medium and
- Drutam or fast.”
Kāla
“Kāla(kaala) is Time. Time
is maintained by units and subunits. In music, time measure is relative and not
an absolute measure as timed by seconds and minutes.
Jāti
“Jāti(jathi) means a class or group. The Jati of a tala is determined by its laghu. The five Jatis , namely varieties of
- laghu ,
- Tisra
- Chatusra
- Khanda
- Mishra
- and Sankeerna
Graha
“Graha means position. And in this context, also called eduppu, the particular
position where the song begins. And when it begins at the very start, it is
called samam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F-gXUUL3_g
Yati
“Yatis are various rhythmic patterns ‘that occur in the
words or swara passages of songs.
Difference between Indian and Western
Music Note
|
Form |
Indian music, in its classical form, is broadly classified
into two major traditions: the North Indian music and the South Indian music.
The North Indian classical stream is known as Hindustani, while the South Indian classical music is called
Carnatic. Both are collectively referred to as Indian music, but there are
some slight differences in ornamentation, scale creations, and articulation. |
Western music, on the contrary, is the genre of art music
that celebrates the life of Europe, the United States, and other societies
established by European immigrants |
Melody/Harmony
|
The raga and tala are the two fundamental elements
of the Indian classical music. The raga is a melodic framework that
is a combination of swaras, while tala is the basis of rhythm which keeps the
time cycle. The Indian music is based on melody or single notes played in a
specific order. |
The Western music, on the contrary, is based on
harmony that uses tonic progression and counterpoint abundantly. Western
music has a standardized written notation meaning you have to play exactly as
it is written. |
Pitch
|
–while the Indian Classical music uses
a much more complex system of scales, with parent scales and descendant
families that sound very different from each other. Indian Classical music,
on the other hand, does not follow an equi-tempered division of notes;
instead uses different pitch ratio for the notes in different scales.
|
Western music uses major and minor scales and equal
temperament notes, In the Western music, there are only two sets of pitch
ratios between the notes, one for the major scales and the other for the
minor scales. |
Notes
|
There are seven basic notes and five variations which are
arranged in an order of increasing pitch to form a scale or a gamut, termed
as “saptaka” (sapta means seven) in Indian Classical music, |
an “octave” in the Western music. |
|
|
Indian music divides the saptaka into twenty two intervals
which are known as “srutis” with seven natural notes (shuddha swar) and five
sharp/flat notes (vikrit swar |
As a comparison, there are semitones in Western music,
twelve of them to an octave. While saptaka is the word used to refer to a set of seven notes, another
one “sthayi”, is also current. This corresponds to ‘register’ in Western
music. |
Scale
|
The tonic note of “Sa” is an adjustable note that can be
placed anywhere and there is no fixed rule for where Sa should be
particularly placed. Once the Sa is chosen, the basic Indian scale – Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni |
corresponds with the Western C major scale – Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti – with seven whole notes in the scale and
a complete octave of twelve notes. A raga scale can begin on any pitch, the
tonic roughly corresponding to C in Western scales. But unlike Western C, it
does not necessarily have to be specific frequency and all other notes are generated in
reference to the constant tonic. |
|
|
n Indian Classical music, an octave is divided into twelve
notes and there is no fixed rule regarding where your octave can start. The
starting point is “Sa” which can be placed anywhere and once the Sa is
chosen, the basic Indian scale – Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni – |
corresponds with the Western C major scale – Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti – with seven whole notes in the scale and
a complete octave of twelve notes. |
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