Lesson 2

Elements of Indian Music

Musical System of India

7 basic notes are: Sa ,Re, Ga, Ma Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, in order, replacing Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do.

Two Pillars of Indian Music

Tala Raga

TALA
Known to be the rhythmic time cycle of Indian music Composed of long and short beats that are accented and unaccented. Characterized by the sam, the first beat of the tala. khali empty beat tali accented beat

Different Degrees of Beat

1. Hand claps

2. Hand waves

3. Movement of the fingers

Tala is divided into smaller rhythmic patterns called angas.

Specific Number of Beats

1. Dadra which has only 6 beats - may be played in variety of tempo Ex. Clapping/Waving Arrangement clap, 2, 3, wave, 2, 3

2. Tintal which has 16 beats One of the most famous talas of Hindustani music.

Structure of Tintal
Clap,2,3,4 clap,2,3,4, wave,2,3,4, clap,2,3,4

Raga
An aesthetic melodic form with a peculiar ascending and descending movement. Vadi most important tone Samvadi 2nd most important tone Anuvadi neither emphasized nor deemphasized. Durbal de-emphasized Vivadi excluded

Another distinct characteristic of the Indian melody is the use of twenty-two microtones called shrutis.
The shruti (Sanskrit "thing heard", "sound"; also written as ruti) is the smallest interval of the tuning system in Indian classical music.

Different Mood Expressions of Raga

1. Happiness 2. Sorrow

3. Tranquility

4. Heroism

Drone
Low monotonous sound that is continuously played throughout the composition Provides the tonal anchor to the melody Drone is a repetitive sound that is continuously sung or played

Tambura is a stringed instrument used to play the drone.

Tambura

Summary
One of the reasons why Indian music is difficult to explain to Western listeners is because it is based on a different tonal organization called raga Raga is an aesthetic melodic mode with a peculiar ascending and descending movement which is based on a scale of five to seven tones.