Two thousands years ago, Indian music
waspurely ritualistic. Music as entertainment
came much later. Another part of Indian music is
folk music. Indian classical music is said to
have evolved out of the mixture of these. It is
presumed that folk music existed long before the
Aryans came to India, the Dravidians having
their own. By mixing ritualistic music with folk
music and other musical expressions of
neighbouring nations. Indian classical music has
become unique in the world.
Indian classical music is principally based
on melody and rhythm, not on harmony or chords
stuctures as with Western art 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 that pervades the whole
universe, i.e. Nadabrahma. The origins of Indian
music are therefore considered divine. Brahma is
said to be the author of the four Vedas, of
which the Sama Veda 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.
The ancient Vedic scriptures mention two
types of sound. One is a vibration of ether, the
purer air near the celestial realm. This sound
is called Anahata Nad or unstruck sound. The
sound of the universe is the vibration like the
music of the spheres that the Greek Pythagoras
described in the 6th century B.C. The other
sound Ahata Nad or struck sound, is the
vibration of air in the lower atmosphere closer
to the earth. It is any sound that we hear,
musical or non-musical.
The very heart of Indian music is raga, a
melodic structure on which to improvise.
Indian music is modal in character, but it
should not be mistaken as modes or scales. A
raga is a precise subtle melodic form with its
own ascending and descending movement using a
full seven note octave, or a series of six or
five notes (or a combination of any of these) in
a rising or falling structure called the Arohana
and Avarohana. The difference in the order of
notes, an omission or emphasis of notes, the
relationship between notes and the use of
microtones distinguish one raga from the other.
The "chalan " (certain note patterns) is the
characteristic of the raga, its principle note
(vadi); the second important note (samavadi);
and its main feature known as "jan" (life) or
"mukhda" (face), or "pakar" (salient feature) a
"riff"of a few notes by which a raga is
immediately recognised.
Construction of a Raga:
1.Thaats or sequence of notes,
2.Jaatis or classification
3."King" and "Queen" relation of the notes,
i.e. Vadi and Samvadi
4.The Ascent and Descent of the raga,
i.e.Aroha and Avaroha
5.Important cluster of notes, i.e. Pakad
6.Pitch
7.Speed.
Every Raga is derived from some Thaat or
Scale, which just an aid to classification.
Ragas are placed in three categories:
1.Odava or pentatonic, employing five
notes,
2.Shadava or hexatonic, employing six
notes,
3.Sampoorna or heptatonic, employing seven
notes,
Every Raga must have at least five notes,
starting at Sa, one principal note, a second
important note and a few helping notes. The
principal note, "KING" is the note on which the
raga is built. It is emphasized in various ways,
such as stopping for some time on the note, or
stressing it (called nyas in Hindi). The second
important note or the "queen" corresponds to the
"King" as the fourth or fifth note in relation
to it. The ascent and descent of the notes in
every raga is very important. Some ragas in the
same scale differ in ascent and descent. In
every raga, there is an important cluster of
notes by which the raga is identified.
The speed is divided into three parts:
Vilambit (slow), Madhya (Medium) and
Drut(fast).
Another aspect of the ragas is its time of
play - theappropriate of day for its
performance, i.e. the time of the day denotes
which raga is sung.
These are divided into four types:
Time for the Raga
1.Sandhi-prakash ragas or twilight ragas when
the notes re and dha are used, such as Raga
Marwa, Purvi, Shree raag
2.Midday and Midnight ragas which include the
notes ga and Ni(komal).
3.Ragas for the first quarter of the morning
and night which include the notes re, ga, dha
and Ni (komal).
4.For the last quarter of the day and night,
the ragas include the notes SA, ma and pa.
Ascending and Descending Ragas
All the ragas are divided into two
groups:
1.Poorva Ragas and
2.Uttar Ragas.
