I am not trained in the technicalities of music. I do not
know the ragas, I can’t play any instrument, nor do I have any singing skills.
I do have a sense of rhythm but that doesn’t not go beyond the easy 4/4 or 3/3
ones. I cannot technically identify the
complex micro rhythms of tala yet I can feel them. I am a music lover, music
has lived with me for so many years, helped me grow, developed my aesthetics,
made me mature, imbibed empathy in me, gave me spiritual joy, took me into
raptures of physical pleasure and so on. The list goes on and on. Music has
defined and redefined me in so many ways that I cannot express all that in
words. Yet when it comes to express emotion about music it is so hard to write
anything.
A bit of History …
The roots Indian classical music can be found in
the Vedic literature, thoughts and Philosophy. Even before the
ancient Natyashastra (the classic Sanskrit text on performance arts
by Bharata Muni) was written much of the basic tenets of this musical form
have been formalized. The oldest form still existing today
is Dhrupad. Before dhrupad, there were probably other different
genres of music, including “Sam Gana” or Vedic chants, but presently no body has
any idea about the structure of those musical forms. It could be completely
different than what we listen today. Other older forms are “Jati Gana” and
“Prabandh Sangeet” but like Sama Gana, presently hardly anything is known about
these categories. Been (Venna) was one of the main instrument in
those days, at least since the birth of dhrupad. Been should not
be confused with its present day form, look and feel of Veena, which is
probably a 15th Century instrument. Carnatic music developed significantly
during the Bhakti movement. From around the 12th Century, changes between Hindustani
and Carnatic music began to occur due to Persian and Mughal influences in the
north while Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in the south of
India see the development of the Carnatic Sangeet. Moderately a new form of
Hindustani music (Music of the North) appeared in early to mid 1700 century in
Gowalior court under the patronage of king Muhammad Shah Rangile. This form is
known as Kheyal. As the name suggests, form and elements of the music was
highly influenced by Persian culture (Khyeal in Persian means
Imagination). Development of Instruments like sitar and rabab, also hold their
lineage from Persian tradition. Presently Hindustani music adopted several
other lighter forms also, like thumri, tarana, kajri, and many others. However,
till this day, there are some significant differences between Carnatic (music
of the South) vs Hindustani (music of the north).
Hindustani
|
Carnatic
|
|
Origins
|
North
|
South
|
Vedic tradition
|
Bhakti tradition
|
|
Raga
|
6 principal ragas known as bandish and 10 modes or thaats.
|
Scales of 7 notes containing semitones
and 72 modes or melankara.
|
Style
|
Gharanas singing style.
|
More vocal style even when played by instrument.
|
Words
|
Formal and not clearly articulated.
|
Words important in order to express emotion.
|
Improvisation
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Specific format as to how improvisation takes place.
|
Improvisation is less restricted.
|
Tempo
|
Slow with long note values increasing in intensity.
|
Faster tempo that remains more constant with shorter note values.
|
Ornamentation
|
Ornamentation is used to enhance the emotion.
|
There is an oscillation between the notes to create a spiritual and
more intellectual performance.
|
Instruments
|
Tabla, sarangi, sitar, santoor, and clarinet.
|
Veena, mridangam, mandolin, and jalatarangam.
|
However, western classical music history is
more recent, can be extended around 1550 CE, a little further beyond the
classical age. Music during those days, were more on polyphony, mass music for
churches. (1450-1600) Renaissance Period: is when the
thinking about music started changing. The music became more complex, sometimes
more grand and secular, often played by small group of musicians known as
consorts. Probably, the most complicated
form of western music appeared was during Baroque age (1600–1750 CE), a major
change over the musical thought process took over, where there was obsession
with decorations and added frills to just about everything and music was no
exception. Complicated instruments like harpsichord, organ and lute family of
instruments, and several complicated wind instruments shaped the musical
tradition. Subsequently Western Classical Music forged its own path, gained in
prestige and morphed into multiple forms of both instrumental and vocal. Depending on the location of the European
country, their musical identity also got severely influenced by the musical
culture of the adjacent countries. Say in the case of eastern European
countries, they were influenced by Arabian and Persian music.
What is common in both the cases is that the origin of the
complex music is faith based. The
difference is the approach to the faith, in West the religion is much more
organized, involving masses, pulling them to church in regular fashion. Whereas
in India, religion is very individualistic, it is your own faith and can be
pursued at your home in your own way.
This difference in approach to the religion, is what I think has
reflected in the evolution of music. When multiple, voices jointly pray to God,
in order for the prayers to be musically powerful to the ears and create high
sense of beauty and aesthetics amongst the worshippers, you need to have them
sing in harmony. On the other hand, in India, a lone individual, in his own
seclusion, travelling through time or life at moments of devotion may pray to
God in most melodious way known to him. To appeal to his God and to his own
sense of high beauty and aesthetics. He doesn’t need another individual to sing
in harmony with him as he is not wanting to be separate from God asking for
God’s judgment. His sole goal of his existence is, as an individual, is to
merge with God.
homophony vs.
polyphony / melody vs. harmony
Western music is harmony and polyphony based.
Harmony is when two notes of certain frequency gap are played simultaneously.
Generally, to create harmony, one note and its proceeding third Major / Minor
note is played, for example (without going into the details of what constitutes
a major and minor scale), D and F# will create a harmony in major scale. If
there are more than two notes are used, say D, F# and A is played together, it
is called a polyphony. Harmony and polyphony are the central to Western music
both Classical and popular. The whole structure of a composition piece is
created around it , without them, this
music will be incomplete. The magic lies
to a great extent in polyphonic composition, where counterpoint, harmony, and
the texture created using multiple voices is critical. Melody exists in western
classical music too, but from a broad perspective, is not the singular or
defining focus of most of the works.
However, the garnish that completely
distinguishes Indian Classical (both Hindustani and Carnatic) music from most
of the other genres of music, including Western classical is the usage of
Meend. Meend is the glide from one frequency to other one (like glide from Re
to Ga). This glide gives an exclusive identity to Indian music (both popular
and classical). That is why; Piano (a dominant instrument for Western Classical
Music), which only allows generating discrete notes cannot play Ragas, the
backbone of Indian classical music. Indian classical music is primarily
homophonic, which means its focus is on melodies created using a sequence of
notes. The magic that is primarily experienced is with the different melodies
constructed within the framework of the Raagas. The Glide is like a single drop
of water poignantly hanging in a moment of time or smoothly transforming itself
from one form to other. It can smoothly glide through time; on the other hand, western
classical music is like a waterfall, with multiple streams of water moving at
varying pace, all gushing together in one direction, coordinated to flow in a
harmony. For harmony, you need organization, for organization you need a shared
goal which is the direction of the flow.
Symphony Vs Raga and
Perfection Vs Improvisation...
Symphony, a western classical music construct, is
a composed piece by a particular composer. The composer writes it down on
paper, defining everything from the notes to number and type of musician who
will play the music and how they will play. For the musicians it will be a
performance. It requires enormous practice and perfection to synchronize with
all the musicians playing together. Generally, in a symphony there are more
than 200 musicians, they watch one person, conductor, who gives the instruction
of when to play, how to play and stop in order to synchronize. This is an unreservedly
an extremely difficult job for any not professionally trained musicians. It is practice
of perfection, towards perfection. Additionally, for a concerto, lead musician
has to remember all the notes for the composition, which may go beyond an hour.
One mistake can ruin the whole synchronization of the music.
Ragas, on the other hand, are free flowing.
Less than 4% part of the total presentation is composed, which is
called bandhish (term used in Hindustani classical music, Carnatic will be
have something similar) or the song. Everything else comes from the
improvisation of musician. Same raga, by same musician could be very different
in space and time, depending on the mood of musician and his/her response to
the present environment. It is quite hard to imagine, that within few notes
(for some raga, number of notes can be as few as 3, like Malashri) a musician
plays non repetitive musical phrases for hours, seeking only the strictest
fidelity to the mood of a raga. Indian classical music has two foundational elements, raga
and tala (a cycle of beats centered around ‘Sam’ that repeats
itself. Western Classical Music doesn’t use such complex beat cycles).
The raga forms the fabric of a melodic structure, while
the tala measures the time cycle, cadence. The raga gives
an artist a palette to build the melody from sounds, while
the tala provides them with a creative framework for rhythmic
improvisation using time (Indian Classical Music makes extensive use of
quarter-tones & microtones, usually referred to as
‘Shruti’. Western Classical Music has a few microtonal pioneers and
has largely been restricted to using semitones).
On one hand the endeavor, in western classical
music, is to display in modern framework, a long ago created frozen work of art
as perfectly as possible, on the other hand, in Indian classical music, it is
the creative process and creative work itself both are developed live in front
of the audience. There is much more freedom, much more flexibility, all one
needs to do is to keep the spirit of the music (as framed by a Raga), the very
essence. In the modern rendition of a piece of western classical music one can
argue that there is some element of individual interpretation (even though it
has to be predefined) by the Musical conductor but by all means and purpose it
is a team effort. It is because of these it is hard for the western classical
music to adopt the freewheeling nature of Indian classical music. It’s like
turning around an ocean liner versus a dolphin, jumping, dancing around one the
waters of the ocean.
Nature, Spirituality
& Real World Scenarios …
Indian classical music has a closer, intimate
association with nature than Western Classical Music. Ragas have specific
times of day or seasons of the year associated with them, while most of Western
Classical Music doesn’t have any such characteristic. The roots of Indian
classical music are the Vedic thought which epitomizes individualism and its
spirituality. The intuitive belief in the idea of Brahamana and all the forces
of universe are linked has deeply influenced very structure of Indian music,
the formation of the essence of ragas. In Western Classical Music, the roots
are more non-spiritualistic real world scenarios and events, in factors like
individual episodic experiences, significant historical events in human
history, entertainment, occasions with dance celebrations, and so on.
Vocals or Instrumentation..
In both Indian and Western classical music
Vocals are used, but the way they’re treated in relation to other instruments
is different. When vocals are used in Indian Classical Music, all the rest
of the instruments are mere ‘accompaniments’ — there are Tanpooras that act
like drones, harmonium that follows the tonality of the voice by providing
chords, etc. Tanpoora and Harmonium creates the background color of the canvas
of music, thus creating a texture, on which the singer (the artist) with his
palette of colors (ragas) improvise spontaneously and create paintings (music).
In other word the voices forms the basis of the structure and the artwork.
Western Classical Music, when vocals are used,
the instrumentation still carries a lot of weight in the overall composition,
it is just another addition, to all the other instruments, that are playing the
structure of the composition. The term ‘voice’ is hence used in a generic
way and doesn’t always mean human voice. A ‘voice’ can be any theme played by
an instrument. So, one can have a four-voice fugue being played on the piano
using two hands, where each hand is playing one of four voices at any given
time.
It is always the surrender of the individual to
the team in the western tradition, and the team in turn work to enhance the
long ago written down composition of a past great musician. Unlike, Indian
belief of that Brahma exists within every individual it is about man vs
superman in western tradition. The superman being the Musician whose composed
music is being played by the man (musician).
A series of events
sliced by framework vs everything is connected and are relative to each other....
Western music is scale based (frameworks) with
the frequency of each note being absolute. Although, it is said to be equal
tempered, minute differences still exits. Hence, progression in C scale do not
sound exactly same as that in C# scale. For a western classical composition,
composers fix a scale before composing. Thus the notation follows equal
tempered frequencies within an octave, which is divided into 12 notes (C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B). Probably
this the reason in a Piano , which is the central instrument for Western
Classical music we find that within one octave there are exactly 12 keys.
Indian classical music (is not equally
tempered) is more dependent on relative distance between two notes. Whatever
the scale may be, relative distance between notes (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni)
will be exactly same always. In a scale, only frequency of one sa and pa
(sometimes ma or ni is also used) is fixed, other notes are played on the basis
of these reference notes. They do not have absolute frequency. Thus it’s
notation system is complicated and some times vary depending on the style of
music that is being played. In practice of Khayal (Hindustani Classic- sub
category of Indian Classical Music) , one octave is generally divided into 22
notes, called micro tones, or Shruti. Unfortunately nowadays, many of
the Hindustani practitioners use only 12 notes, and avoid the usage of
complex shruti, which is fairly good way of diluting the Hindustani music.
Shruti is more finely defined in dhrupad (in case of Sadharani
Geeti particularly), where each note can be divided into seven
audible shrutis. Number of notes in this kind of division become 84 within
a single octave, which is far beyond any kind of imagination in Western or any
other form of music.
While both of them (music systems) arose from different
traditions and are harbinger of different philosophies, outlook to life. Yet
there is one common bond between them, which is of aesthetics, the worship of
beauty. Wrapped in raptures of ethereal
beauty both form of music gives us intense pleasure and complete deep
satisfaction of mind and soul. While there is some liberty of self-expression
and creativity in striving towards perfection in representing the superstructure
of melodies created by a genius, however it is always about praise. In taking a
lower pedestal, looking up, praising and thanking the genius for giving us (individuals
of limited personality) his great work.
This to me, of Western Classical Music- Us versus Him, this separation
is while appreciating the beauty of the work do not touch me. Too me what touches my soul is an artist with
his/her own skill creating variations of melodic flourish and ornamentation all
along endeavoring with his/her heart and soul to merge himself/herself to God.
In the process inviting us, the audience to join the creative process and drown
ourselves in the ecstasies of music to
unite with God. This is the central law of existence, unification of us (the
artist, audience, the nature and everybody) with God and not cut ourselves
adrift from God. This is fullest of self-expression, from heart to heart, from
soul to soul and true beauty. Indian classical music brings this to me and for
this only I listen , I enjoy I thrive in the spontaneous feeling .
