-1indian music

the main purpose of music within indian culture is one of a religious

nature. indian musicians use their music to praise the gods. i think this aspect
within the their traditions deserves respect as it has the tendency to make
everyone much more relaxed. stereotypical indian music will show many
distinct features in sound. the main melody is known as the rag or raga and it
will use a distinct scale similar to western culture but unique. the rhythmic part
of the music is called the tal.

generally within traditional indian music, a piece will be broken into

four sections: alap, jor, jhala and gat. the sections run through in that order
and as it changes between each section more notes are used within the rag.
in other words more of the scale becomes open and possibly another octave
in the later sections. also, in the last section the tal become more dominant
with the use of tabla.

the table is a pair of drums (baya and daya), they are played using
different parts of your hands striking different parts of the drums. this gives the
percussive instrument much more tonality and provides more texture when
used. the tabla is one of the most well know indian instruments along with
sitar. the sitar is very much like a guitar as it is a stringed instrument played by
plucking. it is very unique however as it has a set of sympathetic strings
behind the seven main ones which provide a nice drone sound. the main
strings are also allot more dependant on bending the pitch within the music
tradition. another common instrument is the bansuri which is a flute like
instrument. it is made from bamboo wood. the bansuri is a melodic instrument
much like the sitar however more stable as there is no note bending. other
indian instruments include the tanpura, the sarangi, the violin (played
downwards unlike in western cultures) and the shenai which is much like an
oboe.

the voice is sometimes used in traditional indian pieces. however the

voice tends to simply illustrate their praise to their gods. modern times have
seen this used outside of the tradition and also outside of religious conformity.
this is done through western influenced music known as 'bangra'. bangra
takes various aspects of indian traditional music and remakes it for pop
culture in more western countries.