the music of india. basics of melody, scale, meter and rhythm melodies scales meters rhythms

The Music of India

Basics of Melody, Scale, Meter and Rhythm

• Melodies• Scales• Meters• Rhythms

www.musictheory.net

Some Terms to Know

• Khyal is the major vocal style of Hindustani music• Laya(a) is the tempo of the performance• Alap(anam) raga improvisation in free rhythm• Raga(a)(m) is a scale and its associated musical

characteristics• Tal(a)(m) is the meter• Sawal-Jawab is the call-and-response rhythmic

challenges between soloist and accompanist in Hindustani music

Medium and Fast Gats in Raga Yaman

• The raga, or scale, is built on the notes C-d-e-F#-g-a-b

• The rhythm, or tala, is built on patterns of 4+4+4+4

• The instruments used are the sitar and the tabla


Sitar


Tabla


• The sitar begins by brushing across the open strings• With one hand the player maintains a drone (P5)• The other hand plays the melody


• Alap begins• Explores the scale of the

raga• Gat-Tora

• A mixture of pre-composed tala rhythms and improvisation

• Jhala• Increasingly elaborate

melodic explorations• Jhala starts with rapid

strokes on the drone strings inserted between melody tones

• Tempo increases• Dramatic conclusion

Early Music Theory

• The Vedas• Rig-Veda is a collection of poems that tell the stories

of creation and of the Indian gods• The preservation and transmission of the Rig-Veda

became the responsibility of the Brahmins, the top ranking member of society

• Three types of accents in the poetry• Pitches based on relative length of syllables rather

than on a pattern of accents• These stories were eventually preserved in sung

chants, not written down until recently

Early Music Theory

• When these texts and chants were re-arranged as hymns they were set to a special collection of tunes called the Samagana.

• These in turn became the basis for secular musical compositions

• The oldest treatise on the arts, the Natyasastra, links music as an adjunct to drama

• The purpose of music (or artistic experience in general) is arouse the emotions in specific ways

• Consequently, each raga and tala are designed to illicit specific moods and emotions

Music Theory

• Ornamentation is integral to Indian melody and not incidental

• The sruti are the twenty-two divisions of the scale

• (The Western scale has twelve at most)

North and South: The Hindustani and Karnatak Systems

• Hindustan: the northern region of India with a distinct musical tradition

• Karnatak/Carnatic: referring to South Indian music

North and South: Common Raga Traits

• Both systems represents ragas as more than just pitches in a scale

• Certain pitches are emphasized

• Some pitches are forbidden going up or down

• Some ragas must double back on itself before continuing in the same direction

North and South: Differences

• The differences are primarily in performance styles

• North Indian music tends to be smoother, more sensuous in quality

• South Indian music tends to be more formal and structured

Hindu/Muslim Attitudes• To become the shagird

(pupil) of an ustad (master) is to become an apprentice in a closed guild

• The musical traditions are jealously guarded by gharanas, ancient families, who teach it only to talented sons or especially dedicated and loyal men from outside the family

• Many in India still believe this is the only proper way to learn music

• Others believe it has hampered the development of Hindustani music

Hindu/Muslim Attitudes

• Hindus view music as part of religious rituals and the musician is highly regarded

• Muslims historically have feared music because they felt it could draw out our baser instincts; musicians are consequently lower-class citizens

• To battle this northern musicians make a clear distinction between “art music,” and lower, popular music

Kriti by Tyanganraja, Banturiti

• The raga is built on the notes c-e-f#-g-b

• The tala, is built on patterns of 4+2+2

• The instruments used are the mridangam, the violin and a vocalist


Mridangam


Violin


• A brief alapanam• Singer begins the kriti• Common talam, adi

• Eight beats• Indicated by a clap on

the samam (first beat)• Two other claps on beat

5 & 7• The three beats

following are indiciated by tapping the fingers of the right hand


• Eduppu• The performer must

return to the eduppu whenever finishing a passage of niraval or svarakalpana

• Occurs in this example between beats 2 and 3

• (Hint: listen for the return of the first word “Banturiti,” in the pallavi and every 5 seconds afterwards


• Alapanam (Introduction)• An improvisation

performed before the kriti that demonstrates the musician’s abilities to interpret the raga

• Kriti• Pallavi• Anupallavi• Carnam

Ghazal, Bat Karane Mujhe Mushkil

• The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of a chain of related couplets

• Each contains a self-contained idea

• Often culminates in a kind of “punchline” couplet that brings exclamations of appreciation from the audience

• An interesting and successful blend of Indian and Western traditions, with roots in Islamic culture and romantic Urdu poetry


• The music alternates two sections, as do many types of Indian melodies

• The first provides music for a refrain and the first verse of each stanza in a lower range

• The second, in a higher range, provides music for a second verse


• The scale is raga Pahari• The tala is based on 4+4• The instruments include

a vocalist, a tabla, a tambura and a harmonium


Tambura


• Brief intro by tambura• Free rhythm rendition of

refrain opening• Repeat of refrain

opening with tala (rhythm) and tabla (drums)

• Alternating couplets

(Harmonium)

South India: Sarasiruha

Saraswati

The goddess of Music and Learning


• A concert is made up of a series of as many as 12-14 performance segments each in a different raga and based upon a different composition

• “Sarasiruha” is a song by the 19th Century composer Puliyur Doraisamy Ayyar

• Performer is Ramachandra Iyer playing a veena


• Veena: a seven-stringed, plucked lute with ornate body, inlaid deer horn or ivory, carved from jackwood

• Natural or papier-mache gourd is attached to the upper neck as a resonator

• Brass frets are set chromatically


• One of the marvels of this tradition is that instruments and musicians can be added to each functional layer

• Melody• Drone• Rhythm


• The drone, or sruti, marks the tonal center—the center of gravity—for the melody and its raga

• In karnataka music the notes used for the drone are the tonal center and the perfect fifth above it

• The dissonant tones tend to “pull” toward tones that blend with the drone


• The veena begins alone (without the drum) in a free-flowing melodic improv called atapana

• No sense of beat or time cycles

• Pauses filled in with drones

• Slides, pulls and tremolos

• Intervals, scales, and colours very different from the Western tradition


• At 5:42 the kriti begins (composition)

• New element added: tala• Heard by the striking of

the drone• The tala in this case is

the Adi4 + 2 + 2

• Once entered, will continue until the end


• Musical Structure: Improvisation

• Kalpita sangeeta: precomposed music

• Manodharma sangeeta: improvised music

• Four major types of improv in karnataka

• Alpana• Tanam• Niraval• Svara kalpana


The Kriti• All compositions in

karnatka music are songs, melodies with words

• Three main sections• Pallavi (“the sprouting,”

“blossoming”• Anupallavi (“after the

sprouting, blossoming”• Charanam (“verse” or

“foot”)• Chitta svaram or Svara

sahityam (Optional)

the music of india. basics of melody, scale, meter and rhythm melodies scales meters rhythms

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