Indian Classical Music

Indian Classical Music

The origin of Indian music is said to be rooted in the Vedas. It is said that God Himself is musical sound, the sound which pervades the whole universe which is called as Nada-Brahma. The origins of Indian music are therefore considered divine. It is said that the musician has to cultivate an attitude of self-abandonment, in order to fuse with the Supreme Reality, Brahma.

Brahma is said to be the author of the four Vedas, of which the SamaVeda was chanted in definite musical patterns. Vedic hymns were sung in plain melody, using only 3 notes.

It took a long time for music to come to the form found in present-day India. The most important advance in music was made between the 14th and 18th centuries. During this period, the music sung in the north came in contact with Persian music and assimilated it, through the Pathans and the Mughals. It is then that two schools of music resulted, the Hindustani and the Carnatic. Hindustani music adopted a scale of Shudha Swara Saptaka (octave of natural notes) and Carnatic music retained the traditional octave. During this period, different styles of classical compositions such as Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khayal, etc. were contributed to Hindustani music, along with many exquisite hymns, bhajans, kirtans, etc.

The Tradition of Music
The music of India is a pervasive influence in Indian life. It pervades the big and small events of Indian life, from child birth to death, religious rites and seasonal festivals. Originally, not all developments of music were reduced to writing. To keep their traditional integrity, they were imparted orally from teacher to pupil -- the Guru-Shishya tradition. In the past, there used to be a system of Gurukul Ashram where teachers imparted knowledge to deserving students.

Swara - The note

The most basic unit of music is the swara (or note) which simply indicates the position occupied by a particular sound in the audible spectrum. This is also referred to as the Pitch of the sound. Actually, the spectral position is better described as swara-sthana (the position of a note). Inherently, certain sounds 'go together' and certain others do not. This property was realized by man thousands of years ago and is indicated by the term harmony.

Pitch is the musical name for the scientific term Frequency. It denotes the sound of a particular frequency. Since, all musical sounds (of a given pitch) actually constitute a combination of several frequencies, Pitch is more accurately, the predominant frequency of a sound. Given two sounds of two frequencies, the way we hear them comparatively has more to do with the ratio of their frequencies, rather than their difference i.e. we deal with geometric progressions. For e.g. two frequencies which are exact multiples of two (i.e. ration of 2:1) have the highest consonance i.e. they make a pleasing sound together. In fact, in any natural sound, we not only get a fundamental (or dominant) frequency, say x, but also frequencies which are integer multiples, 2x, 3x, 4x etc, usually with decreasing intensity. This series of integer multiple frequencies are called overtones or harmonics (from which words like harmony and harmonium come). Also, the predominant frequency and its second harmonic (i.e. 2x ) are said to be an octave away from each other. Similarly a ratio of 10 is called a decade. The human audible range is usually given as 20Hz to 20,000 Hz, though with age it becomes difficult to hear the highest frequencies. Here, 20Hz and 40Hz are an octave away. 20Hz and 200Hz have a difference of a decade. 20Hz to 200Hz is called the bass decade (or just bass, pronounced base), 200Hz to 2000Hz is the middle decade and 2KHz to 20KHz is the upper decade. The middle decade is the most important part of the spectrum as for as human audibility goes.

Saptaka - The Octave
A note is a sound of a definite pitch. It is also sometimes called a tone. The Indian name for a Note is Swara (or svara). An Octave refers to a range of notes, with the highest one being two times in frequency compared to the first. Traditionally, in both Indian and western music, music is thought to be made of seven notes. The note after that, i.e. the eighth note would be double in frequency compared to the first. That is the reason for the name Octave (Okt- the root meaning eight in Indo-European). The Indian name for the range of frequencies forming one octave is Saptak i.e. made up of seven notes. Other names for saptak are Sthayi (Sanskrit) or Mandala (dravidian).
Just a note and its overtones can't be used to create music. We need a series of notes. The series of notes have to be such that when used with each other, a pleasant experience results. This series of notes is called a scale, or more correctly, a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme is called a scale. Traditionally, the Octave is made up of, or divided into, 7 basic notes, the Indian name being Sapta Swara (sapta - seven, swara-note). They are denoted as Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. After Ni comes Sa', this time, double in pitch compared to the first Sa i.e. an octave higher. Usually three octaves are recognized. The middle octave, most used, is called Madhya Saptaka. The lower octave is called Mandra Saptaka and the higher one Taara Saptaka. So, for e.g.., if the basic reference note Sa is at 240Hz, Mandra saptak would be 120-240 Hz, Madhya Saptak would be 240-480 Hz and Taara Saptak would be 480-960 Hz.

Number Name Called Symbol
1 Shadja or Shadjama Sa S
2 Rishabha Re/Ri R
3 Gandhara Ga G
4 Madhyama Ma m
5 Panchama Pa P
6 Dhaivatha Dha D
7 Nishada Ni N

Shruti & Saptaka
The Indian musical scale is said to have evolved from 3 notes to a scale of 7 primary notes, on the basis of 22 intervals. A scale is divided into 22 shrutis or intervals, and these are the basis of the musical notes. The 7 notes of the scale are known to musicians as Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni. These 7 notes of the scale do not have equal intervals between them. A Saptak is a group of 7 notes, divided by the shrutis or intervals as follows –

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

The first and fifth notes (Sa and Pa) do not alter their positions on this interval. The other 5 notes can change their positions in the interval, leading to different ragas.


Raga - The Soul of Classical Music
A raga is identified by specific tonal material consisting of a particular combination of musical phrases that gives it its distinctive melodic character which is very pleasing to the ear. The number of tones it possesses is fixed; these pitches can often be presented in the form of ascending and descending scales. Many ragas are associated with certain standard musical phrases. It is this trait that most closely ties the raga concept to the ancient Samaveda. Many of these standard phrases are so well known that the informed listener is able to tell immediately which raga is being performed. Regardless of whether the raga performance is vocal or instrumental, a drone (a sustained tone of fixed pitch) is invariably heard in the background. The drone instrument is usually the tambura, which has a long neck and four strings tuned to the basic tones of the raga. Each raga creates an atmosphere which is associated with feelings and sentiments. Any random combination of notes cannot be called a Raga.

Raga is the basis of classical music. A raga is based on the principle of a combination of notes selected out the 22 note intervals of the octave. A performer with sufficient training and knowledge alone can create the desired emotions, through the combination of shrutis and notes.

The raga forms the backbone of Indian music, and the laws laid down for the ragas have to be carefully observed to preserve and safeguard their integrity.

The following points are required in the construction of a Raga –

1. Thaats or sequence of swaras or notes,
2. Jaatis or classification
3. Vadi , Samvadi and Vivaadi , the sonent, consonent and dissonant notes
4. Aroha and Avaroha , the ascent and descent of the notes
5. notes that are clustered in a specific way
6. Shruti, the tone or pich (specific frequency)
7. Speed.

Tala - Rythmical Grouping of Beats
There is a perfect balance in the universe. This balance is the essence of Tala and therefore Tala is in classical music is an important factor. The Tala is the theory of time measure. It has the same principle in Hindustani and Carnatic music, though the names and styles differ. The musical time is divided into simple and complicated meters. When accompanying the dance, vocal and instrumental music, the Tala maintains the balance which is the most essential function of music. Tala is independent of the music it accompanies: it has its own divisions. It moves in bars, and each beat in it is divided into the smallest fraction.

Rhythm has three aspects: Tala, Laya and Matra. Tala is a complete cycle of Metrical phrase composed of a fixed number of beats. There are over a 100 Talas, but only 30 Talas are known and only about 10-12 are used.

The Laya is the tempo, which keeps uniformity of time span and it has 3 divisions -- Vilambit, Madhya and Drut.