Indian Classical (finished)

Indian Classical (finished)

1. Structure

   • Four Main Section
     • The Alap
       • Sitar introduces notes for chosen raga--Improvising freely
       • No beat or pulse
       • Only accompaniment--Tambura drone
       • soft dynamics
     • The Jhor
       • Music speeds up
       • still only tambura and sitar playing
       • music becomes more rhythmic
       • improvised melody on sitar takes steady beat
     • The Jhala
       • Loads faster
         • more exciting
       • players improvise around the melody
     • the Gat or Bandish
       • Tabla player comes in
       • group plays a pre-composed piece
       • GAT-if its instruments only
         • BANDISH-if there is also a song
       • add improvised ideas
         • pass them around in a 'call and response/questions and answer' style
     • no gaps between sections
   • Tihai
     • a shprt phrase played three times across a beat, finishing on the sam (first beat) to signify end of a section
     • chakkradar tihai
       • three times three repetitions of phrases acts as a coda at the end of sections

2. Insturumentation

   • Sitar
     • long necked stringed instrument
       • seven stringed sitar--Five strings plucked for melody, two strings to create drone
     • 'sympathetic' strings
       • vibrate when main strings are played
       • thick, shimmery sound
       • also found on a sarod and esraj
     • frets
       • adjusted to different positions for different pieces
     • pull strings
       • bend or distort notes
     • Meend
       • formed from sliding a finger along a string as its being plucked
         • Portamento
       • sliding glissando sound
     • Melody instrument
     • tan--a fast, scalic passage on a sitar
     • mictrotonal--an interval less than a semitone
   • Tambura
     • can also be called tanpura
     • similar to sitar
       • only has four strings
     • used as backing instrument
     • creates harmony
       • often described as a drone
         • quite repatative
       • simple rhythmic pattern
       • based on only two notes from the raga
         • throughout piece
         • usually 'sa' and 'pa'
         • as shown in example, in raga vibhasa it used 'sa' and 'dha'
         • usually the tonic and dominant notes
   • Tabla
     • pair of drums
     • smaller right hand drum--tabla
       • can also be called a dayan
       • larger, left hand lower drum is called the bayan
     • Tabla provides the rhythm section
       • rhythm played called a tala
         • uses a set number of beats (called matras)
         • first beat--called the sam
           • all the performers in a group play together on every sam
           • whole piece always ends on a sam
         • every tala is split into groups called vibhags
           • act as bars in classical raga
             • except there are different number of beats in each vibhags
               • one or two vibhags will have a different sound to the rest
                 • called vibhags khali
                   • for contrast, vibhags khali is played on a smaller drum
                     • producing different sound
       • they can also preform more complicated rhythms
         • varying sound with different finger positions
           • can also speak beats (using syllables like dhin or ta)
       • sometimes audience joins in with tala
         • clap the beginning of each vibhag
           • do a quiet clap for the vibhags khali, called a wave
       • creates rhythmic circles
         • features of rhythm include
           • fragmented
           • complex
           • irregular patterns
       • often has a competitive dialogue with the melody instruent
         • counter rhythm
   • Other instruments
     • the sarod
       • smaller, fretless sitar
         • metal finger board
     • the sarangi
       • small, bowed instruments-no frets
     • the bansuri
       • or venu
         • a flute made of bamboo
     • shehnai
       • doubled reeded instrument
     • harmonium
       • keyboard instrument
         • powered with air pump by hand bellows
     • singers
       • can preform and change the piece
     • esraj
       • similar to a sarangi but with frets
       • a bowed stringed instrument with frets

3. Melody

   • improvised on a sitar
     • sitar player chooses a raga
       • improvises melody from the notes of chosen raga
   • sitar can be replaced by a singer in some raga's
     • vocal techniques used
       • melisma (melismatic writing)
         • more than one note per syllable/ vowel sound
       • ornaments
       • rapid tans
         • scale-like passages

4. General

   • Raga's
     • hundreds of different ragas
       • every single raga is suited to...
         • a different time of day
         • a different season
         • spirituality
           • important section of most Indian classical music
             • eg: Karanatic kiriti
               • lyrics praising a particular Hindu Deity
         • ragas are meant to create an atmosphere linking to the time or season its based on
         • called a rasa
           • mood or emotion associated with a particular raga
     • a raga is a set of notes
       • usually between 5-8
       • these are combined with a particular mood
         • called a rasa
       • intervals between notes on a raga scale can vary
       • a sargam--consists of naming the notes of the raga
     • passed down aurally
       • through generations
       • never written down
     • every raga has a set of ASCENDING and DESCENDING notes
       • the notes ascending can be different to those descending
       • some ragas can have rules for individual notes
         • eg: to play quickly
           • have them decorated
           • have the notes playing tivra
             • slightly sharp
           • have the notes played komal
             • slightly sharp
       • names of notes are
         • sa, ri, ga, pa, dha and ni
         • don't use a full set of notes
     • not tonal, there are not chords. raga's only make up the notes being played

5. Rag Desh

   • IMPORTANT/GENERAL
     • Rainy Season Raga
     • supposed to be played at NIGHT
       • give the feeling of romance , devotation and longing with origins of courtly love. songs known as 'thumri'
     • ALL THREE based on the raga..
       • SA, RI, MA, PA, NI, SA, NI, DHA, PA, MA, GA, RI, SA
         • the ascending secquence is different to the ascending sequence
         • more notes on the descending sequence
           • and NI is flattened on descending sequence
         • drone notes are based on SA and PA
     • mostly the rag desh pieces are monophonic (single melody line with accompaniment)
       • some polyphonic sections
     • structures
       • TIHAI
         • a short phrase played thre times, across the beat, before finishing on the sam (first beat) to signify the end of a SECTION
       • CHAKKRADAR TIHAI
         • three times three repetitions of phrases are played... acting as a coda at the end of sections or piece
   • 'Priyagitah'
     • recorded in a studio
       • improvised
     • based around the traditional Raga Structure
       • a few differences
         • modern ragas miss out some sections to keep audiences attention
     • structure
       • divides up into three sections on recording
       • 1) the alap
         • 2&3) both gats
           • each gat based on a different tala
           • GAT 1-
             • tabla comes in
               • playing steady rhythem
               • plays the RUPAK tala
                 • 7 beats
             • bansuri plays another improvised melody
               • faster and more dramatic
             • lightly faster
           • GAT 2-
             • a lot faster
             • tabla plays fast and complicated rhythem
               • 12 beat EKTAL tala
               • bansuri plays over top
                 • melody more structres
                   • pre composed with lots of runs
                     • still based on the same Rag Desh
                 • wide range of pitch, tans (fast scalic passages) and slide
                 • piece ends with tihais
         • tambura drone at the beginning
           • played on SA and PA
         • then BANSURI and ESRAJ come in
           • they improvise using notes of the Rag Desh
           • bansuri explores notes of raga
         • slow and flowing
           • pulse to drive it along
   • 'Anoushka Shankar'
     • classically trained pianist, conductor and sitar player
       • daughter of Ravi Shankar
         • world famous indian musicanand sitar player
         • he taught her to play the sitar
     • recorded live at Carnegie Hall
     • composed by Ravi
     • Anoushka plays star and is accompanied by to tabla players
       • also a tambura drone
       • Bikram Ghosh and Tanmoy Bose
     • alap
       • two gats
         • first
           • 10 beat tala called JHAPTAL
         • seccond
           • fatser
           • 16-beat TINTAL tala
           • sitar drone strings are strummed creating and exciting 'jhalla' effect
         • in both sitar is playing a pre-composed melody
         • piece ends with a tihai
       • just the sitar and tambura drone playing
       • Anoushka used several different techniques while playing
         • strums
         • plucks
         • and bends notes
           • made by puling strings to change sound
     • one whole track
       • no gaps between different sections
         • signals are the changes in tempo and tabla coming in
   • 'Mewar re mira'
     • uses a voice to sing the raga
       • recorded in a studio by s.d.dhandhaha and h.dhandhaha
     • or Chiranji Lal Tanwer
       • male snger in both
         • male singer uses a lot of vibrato
           • he scoops notes
             • portamento
           • also uses trills at the end
         • sings melody
           • melisma's, ornaments and rapid tans are also used
             • tans=scalic passages
       • the alap
         • improvises using notes of raga, playing over tambura drone
         • joined by a sarangi and then the voice
           • voice sings portamento and vibrato
         • short alap
         • tempo increases in next section and tabla comes in
           • final section
             • bandish-due to the singer
             • vocal parts become more elaborate
               • trills
               • portamento
             • hand symbals also used towards the end
           • Bhajan
             • a song
               • devotional song in praise of lord Krishna-hindu god
           • KEHERWA tala-8 beats
           • sarod plays a short solo. then sarangi
             • excitement increases in the music--becoming louder and faster
               • verse-chorus pattern
                 • vocal verses are separated with short sarod solos answered by sarangi interludes
         • sarod introduces notes of the raga

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