Roles of the notes.

Notes come together to form a Raga. A raga should have at least 5 notes. This is what we have learned about the roles of notes in a Raga. Apart from this, a note can play very different kinds of roles in a Raga. They can be pointed down as-

Omitted Note-A Raga many a times can be without a Note. For example, if a Raga has 6 Notes in it, then one note is omitted. Many a times, Raga may get its mood completely changed just by omitting a single note. In conventional terminology, it is called as Varjya Swar.

King Note- Conventionally, this is called as Vadi Swar. It is used for making a hault. It is the note which is most dominantly used in a Raga. Many a times, it happens that two Raga may have same notes but they can be easily distinguished because they have different King Notes which results in absolutely different mood.

Minister Note- Traditionally, it is called as Samvadi Swar. It is also dominantly used in a Raga, but less than the king note.

Guest note- Some times, a particular note is used very little, just as if it takes a guest entry. Such note can entirely transform the ambience just by its presence for a second. This note should not be used casually, but very very rarely.    

More about Raga-

What is a Raga?

Rules for a Raga

Types of Sound

Sound produced is in Indian Classical Music terminology is called as Naad. Sound can be of many times. There are many ways of classifying the sound produced.

1.     Whether the sound is musically useful or not?

All of us know that we can encounter sound anywhere- in the market place, alongside a river, in the chirping of birds, in an automobile garage or even in a music class. What we need for music is the sound which carries some musical quality. If sound does not have any musical quality, it is musically useless. Music has its interest in sound having musical qualities. If these qualities are not present in sound, we will simply call it noise.

2.     Whether the sound is produced out of impact or not?

Now, this is quite an interesting classification. It classifies sound on the basis of the reason which has resulted in the production of that sound. In traditional terminology, it is called as Ahat Naad and Anahat Naad. The sound which is produced by any type of impact is called as Ahat Naad. And the other which is produced out of nothing is called as Anahat Naad. Impact may be of any time. It may be friction as in stringed instruments which are played with bow, impact  as in case of drums, wind energy producing sound as in case of strings with reed.

                        In general, all our music consists of Ahat Naad. The other type is something related with spirituality. It can also be termed as Cosmic Sound. It is considered that by meditating on music, we can get a glimpse of that Soundless Sound.

A Glance at Basics-

What is a Raga?

 Introduction to Indian Classical Music

Schools in Indian Classical Music

One of the most attracting things about Indian Classical music is the different Schools or traditions that exist in Indian Classical Music, which are commonly known as Gharana. A Gharana has its origin in its founder. In early days, there were masters of Indian Classical Music, who had developed their unique style and many students used to live at their houses to capture this style. This resulted in the Schools. Each and every artist from a school carries in his singing the key feature of that School. Many a times, artists even add their own features to this singing style and thus enriching the Gharana.

                        In India there have been many famous Gharana or schools which have spread their fame across the globe. Some Gharana have their roots fixed hundreds of years ago. We can identify the School of a performer from his singing if we have a little bit of practice. Sometimes, artists were condemned for not following the style of their Schools and sometimes they were praised a lot for thinking off beat and enriching the Gharana. One of the most interesting things is that there have not been any conflicts or at max, just some minor conflicts among these schools. Most of the times, they praise each other, try to acquire good things from each other, try to share their knowledge.

          These Schools have stretched the scope of Indian Classical Music many folds and as a result any person can find music for him in this tradition of Indian Classical Music.

Basics-

What is an Octave?

What is a Raga?

                         

Ways to elaborate a Raga

Ways to elaborate a Raga

A raga can be elaborated in a number of ways. These ways are changing with the flow of time due to many factors which can be listed as-

1.The rulings of various emperors

     2.The changing mindsets of people

     3.Changing likes and dislikes of the masses.

4.    Rise and changes taking place in the technology.

At first, traditionally, the Ragas were elaborated with the help of Dhrupads. These were compositions in which more focus was concentrated on the variations in the Rhythm. Creativity was focused on rhythmatic skills. As the Moghul emperors ruled India, this style was changed into a khayal. Khayal is a composition which is sung in very slow pace and more emphasis is given on exploring the mood of the Raga. Then, the Khayal was replaced by Gat which had quite a faster tempo. This was an outcome of less availability of the time to the masses.

                           Then there was a time when there were 3 minutes records available in the market. With these three minutes records, the singing or performance became compact and very dense. Right now, middle paced compositions, called as Madhyalay Gat are in demand.

         There are many other ways to elaborate a Raga which are used depending on the mood of the Raga. They can be listed as-

1.    Thumri

2.    Tappa

3.    Dadra

4.    Tarana

5.    Trivat

6.    Kajri

7.    Hori

8.    Dhun

Etc.

Next posts will be discussing each of these terms in detail.

Basics-

Rules for a Raga

What is an Octave?

Hear the unheard- Shruti

As we have seen in the earlier posts, that Indian Classical Music has  seven basic  notes which are subdivided into12 finer notes. But this does not stop here. The musicians in India were much more considered about the flavor of the Raga. As a result, they needed something which was even finer. So the divided these notes in again smaller units, which are called as Shruti.

                         In very simple word, Shruti is defined as, what can be heard is a Shruti. So, human ear I think must be able to differentiate with some practice, these 22 notes. In other words, this is the maximum resolution of the human ear. Initially, we have seen that Saa and Pa are sung in only one variant. But, both of them have 3 Shruti. It means, Saa can be sung in 3 different notes.

                         Knowing and distinguishing Shruti requires very tremendous musical training and also,a very practiced ear. It was said that in earlier days, expert listeners would go to the show of an performer. If the Shruti was sung perfectly, they would seat otherwise leave. Shruti, though much unexplored today, is the most subtle and most important part of Indian Classical Music.

Some Basics-

Notes and Rhythm

Which are the 12 notes

Rules for a Raga

Raga- the rules

Though we define a Raga as a Collection of notes which has ability to entertain, there are some rules which a Raga must follow. These rules are not without any reason. To entertain people, the basic requirement is that there should be a dialogue between the different notes. How emotions are produced? Emotions are produced when two notes communicate. A single note can never produce emotion. It needs some another note to have a dialogue with. So, these rules take care that this dialogue.

1.    Raga should have a minimum of 5 notes.

It is desired that a Raga must have atleast 5 notes. Otherwise it becomes quite difficult to maintain the dialogue and to create the moods using only five notes. There is an exception to this rule. A Raga named Bhavani has only 4 notes.

2.    The first note, i.e. Saa cannot be omitted in a Raag

Saa  is the foundational note or Swar. The meaning of term Shadja means the one who has given birth to other six notes. So, it is not allowed to omit this foundational note.

3.    There are two Swar or notes which are most dominantly used in the Raga. They are called as Vadi and Samvadi. This rule says that these two notes should not lie in in the same half of the octave.

               These are three vary basic rules for building a Raga. The deeper ones will be discovered with the time…..

A glance at the Basics-

What is a Raga?

Raga- The entertainer

Swar or the Notes form the most basic unit of Indian Classical Music. Now, these notes come together. Just as particles come together to form a living being, these notes also come together to form a very lively group of notes, called as a Raag. Just as someone puts life in these molecules, the artist has to put life in the Raags.

                      In old scriptures, a Raaga has been described in a very simple way- Who entertains is a Raaga. In other words, Raaga is just a collection of notes which has an ability to entertain people. In Indian Classsical Music, there are hundreds of Raags and the creative artists are again adding up to the list. Each Raaga has a flavor, a mood. The artist tries his best to explore this mood. He takes along with him all the listeners. Each raga is like a person. The more you dive within him, the more deeply you will know him, the more you will love him. There are some basic rules that a Raaga must satisfy. We will have a look at them in the next post.

Some Basic Information-

Indian Classical Music- A Brief Intro

Notes And Rhythm

What is an Octave? 

Octave in Indian Classical Music

Octave or saptak in Indian Classical Music is a collection of 7 notes. It is called octave because the seventh note is repeated. This octave though basically consists of 7 notes, it is further classified into finer notes. The seven basic notes are-

Saa (सा, षड्ज)

Re(रे, रिषभ)

Ga(ग, गंधार)

Ma(म, मध्यम)

Pa(प, पंचम)

Dha(ध, धैवत)

Ni(नि, निषाद)

These notes can again be sung or played in variable forms, i.e. flat or sharp.

Saa and Re are called as fixed notes as they are sung in a unique way. No flat or sharp variant is available. Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can be sung also in a flat note. This will be denoted respectively as-

Re Ga Dha Ni

Ma can be sung also in a sharp variant and it is denoted as Ma.

These 12 Swara or Notes form the basic octave of Indian Classical Music.

Notes and Rhythm- Two pillars of Classical Music

The two pillars, on which Indian Classical Music rests, are Notes i.e. what is traditionally called as Swara and Rhythm i.e. what we call as Taal. Indian Classical Music has been performed in various forms and they can be generally classified as performance accompanied by rhythm or performance without the rhythm. The general pattern which is followed these days is, at first, a little preface or introductory part is performed without the use of Indian Drums, commonly known as Tabla. This part generally propagates the mood of Raaga which the artist is performing. After this mood building part is over, a fixed composition is played in a particular rhythmatic cycle. These cycles have a fixed number of beats. Each Raaga has a flavor which is to be explored and which is to be put forward in front of the listeners. The next post will be discussing Notes in detail. 

Indian Classical Music- A door to the Infinity....

Each and every continent, each and every country, and also each and every region of these countries have their own forms of art; their own music, their own crafts, their own cuisines. The spiritual awareness of the people is reflected well in these arts..in these lifestyles.

              As each and every country has, India also has a very special type of art developed in the land. One of these arts is Hindustani Classical Music. A very strange thing to note is that all the eminent artists were spiritually very sound. They were devotees of music. They meditated on music for 16- 20 hours a day. Outcome of this tremendous effort was, Indian Classical Music.

                      Indian Classical Music Tutor is an effort. An effort to sow this seed of immense diving…..diving within ourselves. For this diving, a little bit knowledge, terminology is needed. It can be put up like this- You need gloves, swim suit and oxygen cylinder to dive within….I am giving you that only. You will have to dive on your own. So, here will be a daily post about basics of Indian Classical Music. This Tutor will take care of off adding the things here, on this webpage, so that the journey is not stagnant.

     So, have a happy diving!