11/12/2021, 11:28 Why do Indian musicians tune their instruments in front of the audience?

icians tune their instruments in front of the audience? | Darbar Arts Culture and Heritage Trust

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General, New to Indian Music

Why do Indian musicians tune Article Categories

their instruments in front of the All (/articles)

audience? Carnatic
(/articles/carnatic)
Author: Jameela Siddiqi
Dance (/articles/dance)
One famous story of an Indian musician tuning before his audience
has now taken a permanent place in the annals of West-meets- Devotional

Indian-music history: The year was 1971, the event was George (/articles/devotional)

Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh and the musician was none other Dhrupad
than Pandit Ravi Shankar, who proceeded to tune his sitar on stage
(/articles/dhrupad)
only to be completely taken aback by the thunderous applause
Folk (/articles/folk)

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11/12/2021, 11:28 Why do Indian musicians tune their instruments in front of the audience? | Darbar Arts Culture and Heritage Trust
which followed. Thankfully, a video recording exists of the maestro General (/articles/general)
tactfully putting his new audience straight - linked at the end of this
Ghazal (/articles/ghazal)
article.
Hindustani
Since musicians of all traditions have to tune their instruments
(/articles/hindustani)
(albeit behind the scenes) the question often arises why Indian
musicians take so much time to tune up, and also find it necessary Interviews

do so on stage in full view of their audience. But technical (/articles/interviews)

perfection is only half the reason for tuning. What the musician is New to Indian Music
really doing is tuning into the souls of listeners – preparing them
(/articles/new-to-indian-
and in return hoping to get inspiration as to how to proceed.
music)

The musician also uses this time for some intense relaxation to Percussion
allow an inspired choice. Although there may already be a tentative (/articles/percussion)
idea of the category from which to draw the raag (melodic
structure), and it may be limited by the prahar (time of day or Wellbeing

night), but the final choice is usually always made in these final few (/articles/wellbeing)

minutes before a performance.

The performance of the first raag often suggests to the musician 



share
what the second item should be. It may be drawn directly from the
first piece or it may be a complete contrast. Again, this is entirely


dependent on audience interaction. If the first raag has resulted in a
somewhat solemn mood descending on the auditorium, then the
musician may decide to lift that mood by embarking on something
sprightlier for the second piece.

It goes without saying that an Indian classical musician need

immense knowledge and a vast repertoire – all stored in the
memory, ready for instant recall – in order to have the largest
possible 'palette' from which to choose the most appropriate
'colours'. This tradition is not without some difficulty where Western
media are concerned. Although it is now widely known that Indian
classical music is largely an improvised art, it was not always
entirely understood how a musician could not have prepared (and
rehearsed) a particular raag in advance of the performance.

Until very recently, Western-style programme notes often

demanded full details of the pieces that were going to be played
and had some difficulty accepting the idea that the musician in

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11/12/2021, 11:28 Why do Indian musicians tune their instruments in front of the audience? | Darbar Arts Culture and Heritage Trust
question would 'just make it up' as the concert proceeded. Indian
musicians seldom have an idea of what they're going to be playing,
until they are in that situation and can feel what would be
appropriate at a particular moment in time, in a specific space. For
this reason, every live performance is absolutely unique and never
to be repeated.

Listen to the music | Pandit Ravi Shankar at the 1971 Concert for
Bangladesh ("If you appreciate the tuning so much, I hope you will
enjoy the playing more..."):

Ravi Shankar Warm Up Concert for Bangladesh

Jameela Siddiqi is an author, linguist, and BBC cultural

commentator, specialising in postcolonial fiction and the devotional
music of South Asia. 

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