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Use tanpura tuning from Sambamoorthy (and YouTube)
 
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<h2>IMPORTED REVISION FROM WIKISPACES</h2>
'''Indian music''' uses pitch in many distinctive ways.
This is an imported revision from Wikispaces. The revision metadata is included below for reference:<br>
There are two main traditions, Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic (South Indian).<ref name="clarke2024rags" /><ref name="kiran1997appreciating" />
: This revision was by author [[User:hstraub|hstraub]] and made on <tt>2015-12-20 04:18:43 UTC</tt>.<br>
: The original revision id was <tt>570536861</tt>.<br>
: The revision comment was: <tt></tt><br>
The revision contents are below, presented both in the original Wikispaces Wikitext format, and in HTML exactly as Wikispaces rendered it.<br>
<h4>Original Wikitext content:</h4>
<div style="width:100%; max-height:400pt; overflow:auto; background-color:#f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #eaecf0; padding:0em"><pre style="margin:0px;border:none;background:none;word-wrap:break-word;white-space: pre-wrap ! important" class="old-revision-html">Indian music is one of the major microtonal traditions of the world (along with the [[Arabic, Turkish, Persian|Middle Eastern]] family of traditions).


The unit of measurement in the Indian system is the **shruti** (sometimes spelled šruti, sruti or shruthi), which corresponds roughly to a quarter-tone. There are 22 shrutis per octave, 13 per fifth and 9 per fourth. A size of 4 shruti for the major whole tone follows from that. The step sizes of the heptatonic scales ([[shadja grama]], [[madhyama grama]]) are given as sequences of 4, 3, and 2 shruti.
== Sargam notation ==
The seven notes (svara) of the major scale are called Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni.
Notes can be natural (shuddh), sharp (tivra), or flat (komal).
This gives, to begin with, a twelve note framework.
However, notes can be 'very flat' (ati komal), indicating a microtonal inflection.
See [[#clarke2024rags|''Rāgs Around the Clock'']] for a fuller discussion of notation in Hindustani music.
There is a comparison table of Hindustani and Carnatic notation in [[#kiran1997appreciating|''Appreciating Carnatic Music'']].


There is no single standardized non-ambiguous definition of the exact sizes of all shruti intervals.
== Ornamentation ==
An explanation about the shruti system and one traditional derivation of the 22 shrutis is available [[@http://www.carnaticcorner.com/articles/22_srutis.htm|here]].
Ornamentation in Indian music is very striking and characteristic of the music.
Another example of a compilation of the shrutis, with explicit values of the intervals, can be found [[A shruti list|here]].
See [[#clarke2024rags|''Rāgs Around the Clock'']] for a detailed discussion and audio examples.


The system has been approximated by [[22edo]], though the traditional tuning system is unequal.
Meend are glides between different notes.<ref name="clarke2024rags" />
The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shruti_%28music%29|Wikipedia entry on shrutis]] gives a quite accurate approximation of the shruti system as a 22-note subset of [[53edo]] . (See also a discussion on the [[http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/tuning/message/104549|Yahoo tuning list]].)
You can see meend graphically in the pitch contours shown at [https://autrimncpa.wordpress.com Music in Motion].
Some derivations in the light of modern temperament theory: [[Magic22 as srutis|Magic22 and Shrutar22 as srutis]]


==Other links==  
Andolan is a gentle oscillation in pitch within a given note.<ref name="clarke2024rags" />
[[http://tonalsoft.com/monzo/indian/indian.htm|Article on indian tuning in Joe Monzo's tuning encyclopedia]]
 
[[http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html|Patrick Moutal's Indian Music Page]]
In Hindustani music a gamaka is a 'shake' in pitch around a series of notes
[[http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/%7Emrahaim/|Hindustani Music Resources]] - downloads and links, compiled by Matt Rahaim
(in Carnatic terminology gamaka is the general term for an ornament).<ref name="clarke2024rags" />
http://www.musicresearch.in - an indian music research portal
 
[[http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/|www.chandrakantha.com - Indian classical music]]- portal on indian music, with detailed [[http://chandrakantha.com/raga_raag/|descriptions of a number of north indian rags]]
== The tanpura ==
[[Http://22shruti.com|http://22shruti.com]]</pre></div>
The tanpura is a long necked fretless lute which provides a harmonic-rich drone.<ref name="clarke2024rags" />
<h4>Original HTML content:</h4>
 
<div style="width:100%; max-height:400pt; overflow:auto; background-color:#f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #eaecf0; padding:0em"><pre style="margin:0px;border:none;background:none;word-wrap:break-word;width:200%;white-space: pre-wrap ! important" class="old-revision-html">&lt;html&gt;&lt;head&gt;&lt;title&gt;Indian&lt;/title&gt;&lt;/head&gt;&lt;body&gt;Indian music is one of the major microtonal traditions of the world (along with the &lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/Arabic%2C%20Turkish%2C%20Persian"&gt;Middle Eastern&lt;/a&gt; family of traditions).&lt;br /&gt;
The tanpura typically has four strings.
&lt;br /&gt;
In the most common tuning, the middle two strings are tuned to the tonic (Sa),
The unit of measurement in the Indian system is the &lt;strong&gt;shruti&lt;/strong&gt; (sometimes spelled šruti, sruti or shruthi), which corresponds roughly to a quarter-tone. There are 22 shrutis per octave, 13 per fifth and 9 per fourth. A size of 4 shruti for the major whole tone follows from that. The step sizes of the heptatonic scales (&lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/shadja%20grama"&gt;shadja grama&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/madhyama%20grama"&gt;madhyama grama&lt;/a&gt;) are given as sequences of 4, 3, and 2 shruti.&lt;br /&gt;
and the first and fourth strings are tuned to the fifth (Pa) and tonic (Sa) in the octave below.<ref name="sambamoorthy1957drones" />
&lt;br /&gt;
In ragas without a fifth (Pa), the first string is tuned to another note instead, most commonly the fourth (Ma) or seventh (Ni).<ref name="clarke2024rags" />
There is no single standardized non-ambiguous definition of the exact sizes of all shruti intervals.&lt;br /&gt;
 
An explanation about the shruti system and one traditional derivation of the 22 shrutis is available &lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.carnaticcorner.com/articles/22_srutis.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
Sambamoorthy's [[#sambamoorthy1957drones|book on drones]] discusses the tanpura and other instruments used to provide drones.
Another example of a compilation of the shrutis, with explicit values of the intervals, can be found &lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/A%20shruti%20list"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
 
&lt;br /&gt;
== The harmonium ==
The system has been approximated by &lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/22edo"&gt;22edo&lt;/a&gt;, though the traditional tuning system is unequal.&lt;br /&gt;
The harmonium is a portable reed organ.
The &lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shruti_%28music%29" rel="nofollow"&gt;Wikipedia entry on shrutis&lt;/a&gt; gives a quite accurate approximation of the shruti system as a 22-note subset of &lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/53edo"&gt;53edo&lt;/a&gt; . (See also a discussion on the &lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/tuning/message/104549" rel="nofollow"&gt;Yahoo tuning list&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;br /&gt;
It was introduced into Indian music in the 19th century.
Some derivations in the light of modern temperament theory: &lt;a class="wiki_link" href="/Magic22%20as%20srutis"&gt;Magic22 and Shrutar22 as srutis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Its use proved controversial, leading to a ban from All India Radio (AIR) from 1940-1971.<ref name="rahaim2011bane" />
&lt;br /&gt;
The AIR seminar on the harmonium gives many arguments for and against the harmonium.<ref name="air1971harmonium" />
&lt;!-- ws:start:WikiTextHeadingRule:0:&amp;lt;h2&amp;gt; --&gt;&lt;h2 id="toc0"&gt;&lt;a name="x-Other links"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- ws:end:WikiTextHeadingRule:0 --&gt;Other links&lt;/h2&gt;
The use of equal temperament on the harmonium was one consideration; others included the inability to play meend and gamakas.
&lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://tonalsoft.com/monzo/indian/indian.htm" rel="nofollow"&gt;Article on indian tuning in Joe Monzo's tuning encyclopedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
 
&lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html" rel="nofollow"&gt;Patrick Moutal's Indian Music Page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
== Shruti ==
&lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/%7Emrahaim/" rel="nofollow"&gt;Hindustani Music Resources&lt;/a&gt; - downloads and links, compiled by Matt Rahaim&lt;br /&gt;
In modern practice, shruti refer to microtonal inflections in general.<ref name="clarke2024rags" /><ref name="meer2010construction" />
&lt;!-- ws:start:WikiTextUrlRule:35:http://www.musicresearch.in --&gt;&lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.musicresearch.in" rel="nofollow"&gt;http://www.musicresearch.in&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- ws:end:WikiTextUrlRule:35 --&gt; - an indian music research portal&lt;br /&gt;
 
&lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.chandrakantha.com - Indian classical music&lt;/a&gt;- portal on indian music, with detailed &lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://chandrakantha.com/raga_raag/" rel="nofollow"&gt;descriptions of a number of north indian rags&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
There is a long history of specific systems of pitches called shruti, going back at least to Bharata's Natyashastra.<ref name="ghosh1961natyashastra" />
&lt;a class="wiki_link_ext" href="Http://22shruti.com" rel="nofollow"&gt;http://22shruti.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/body&gt;&lt;/html&gt;</pre></div>
Bharata discusses a system of 22 notes and describes an experiment involving two vinas.
It is not obvious how to interpret Bharata's discussion in terms of exact pitches, and it has given rise to a long line of analyses and proposed interpretations, with different pitches and numbers of notes.<ref name="levy1982intonation" /><ref name="meer2010construction" /><ref name="sambamoorthy1963south" />
Given the complexity of the issue, it would be unwise to pick one system as ''the'' system of 22 shruti.
The relationship of systems of shruti to musical practice remains contentious.<ref name="levy1982intonation" /><ref name="meer2010construction" />
 
== References ==
<references>
<ref name="clarke2024rags">
<span id="clarke2024rags" />
David Clarke, [https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0313 Rāgs Around the Clock: A Handbook for North Indian Classical Music, with Online Recordings in the Khayāl Style]. Open Book Publishers, 2024.
</ref>
<ref name="kiran1997appreciating">
<span id="kiran1997appreciating" />
Ravi Kiran, [https://archive.org/details/appreciatingcarn0000ravi/ Appreciating Carnatic Music]. Ganesh & Co, 1997.
</ref>
<ref name="sambamoorthy1957drones">
<span id="sambamoorthy1957drones" />
P. Sambamoorthy, [https://archive.org/details/srutivadyasdrone00samb Sruti Vadyas (Drones)]. All India Handicrafts Board, 1957.
</ref>
<ref name="rahaim2011bane">
Matt Rahaim, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41302388 That Ban(e) of Indian Music: Hearing Politics in the Harmonium]. The Journal of Asian Studies 70.3, 2011.
</ref>
<ref name="air1971harmonium">
[https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.09019 AIR's seminar on the Harmonium]. Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1971.
</ref>
<ref name="ghosh1961natyashastra">
Bharata-Muni, [https://archive.org/details/NatyaShastra/natya_shastra_translation_volume_2_-_bharat_muni/page/n57/ The Nāṭyaśāstra], transl. Manomohan Ghosh. The Asiatic Society, 1961.
</ref>
<ref name="levy1982intonation">
Mark Levy, [https://archive.org/details/intonationinnort0000mark Intonation in North Indian Music]. Biblia Impex, 1982.
</ref>
<ref name="meer2010construction">
S. Rao and W. van der Meer, [https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/4133925/76993_286708.pdf The Construction, Reconstruction and Deconstruction of Shruti]. Hindustani music: thirteenth to twentieth centuries, 2010.
</ref>
<ref name="sambamoorthy1963south">
P. Sambamoorthy, [https://archive.org/details/bwb_C0-AUR-484/page/100/ South Indian Music, Book IV]. The Indian Music Publishing House, 1963.
</ref>
</references>
 
== Further reading ==
* G.K. Koduri, S. Gulati, P. Rao and X. Serra, [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Preeti-Rao/publication/263566239_Raga_Recognition_based_on_Pitch_Distribution_Methods/ Rāga Recognition based on Pitch Distribution Methods]. Journal of New Music Research 41.4, 2012.
 
== External links ==
* [https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz002gcntd Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive of South Asian Traditional Music and Arts] - Archive of recordings and images
* [https://autrimncpa.wordpress.com Music in Motion] - Recordings synced with videos showing pitch contours
* [https://chandrakantha.com/music-and-dance/i-class-music/ www.chandrakantha.com - Indian classical music] - portal on Indian music, with detailed [https://chandrakantha.com/music-and-dance/i-class-music/index-of-rags/ descriptions of a number of North Indian rags]
* [http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/ MusicResearchLibrary] - an Indian music research portal
 
[[Category:Indian music]]

Latest revision as of 19:08, 24 June 2026

Indian music uses pitch in many distinctive ways. There are two main traditions, Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic (South Indian).[1][2]

Sargam notation

The seven notes (svara) of the major scale are called Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni. Notes can be natural (shuddh), sharp (tivra), or flat (komal). This gives, to begin with, a twelve note framework. However, notes can be 'very flat' (ati komal), indicating a microtonal inflection. See Rāgs Around the Clock for a fuller discussion of notation in Hindustani music. There is a comparison table of Hindustani and Carnatic notation in Appreciating Carnatic Music.

Ornamentation

Ornamentation in Indian music is very striking and characteristic of the music. See Rāgs Around the Clock for a detailed discussion and audio examples.

Meend are glides between different notes.[1] You can see meend graphically in the pitch contours shown at Music in Motion.

Andolan is a gentle oscillation in pitch within a given note.[1]

In Hindustani music a gamaka is a 'shake' in pitch around a series of notes (in Carnatic terminology gamaka is the general term for an ornament).[1]

The tanpura

The tanpura is a long necked fretless lute which provides a harmonic-rich drone.[1]

The tanpura typically has four strings. In the most common tuning, the middle two strings are tuned to the tonic (Sa), and the first and fourth strings are tuned to the fifth (Pa) and tonic (Sa) in the octave below.[3] In ragas without a fifth (Pa), the first string is tuned to another note instead, most commonly the fourth (Ma) or seventh (Ni).[1]

Sambamoorthy's book on drones discusses the tanpura and other instruments used to provide drones.

The harmonium

The harmonium is a portable reed organ. It was introduced into Indian music in the 19th century. Its use proved controversial, leading to a ban from All India Radio (AIR) from 1940-1971.[4] The AIR seminar on the harmonium gives many arguments for and against the harmonium.[5] The use of equal temperament on the harmonium was one consideration; others included the inability to play meend and gamakas.

Shruti

In modern practice, shruti refer to microtonal inflections in general.[1][6]

There is a long history of specific systems of pitches called shruti, going back at least to Bharata's Natyashastra.[7] Bharata discusses a system of 22 notes and describes an experiment involving two vinas. It is not obvious how to interpret Bharata's discussion in terms of exact pitches, and it has given rise to a long line of analyses and proposed interpretations, with different pitches and numbers of notes.[8][6][9] Given the complexity of the issue, it would be unwise to pick one system as the system of 22 shruti. The relationship of systems of shruti to musical practice remains contentious.[8][6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 David Clarke, Rāgs Around the Clock: A Handbook for North Indian Classical Music, with Online Recordings in the Khayāl Style. Open Book Publishers, 2024.
  2. ↑ Ravi Kiran, Appreciating Carnatic Music. Ganesh & Co, 1997.
  3. ↑ P. Sambamoorthy, Sruti Vadyas (Drones). All India Handicrafts Board, 1957.
  4. ↑ Matt Rahaim, That Ban(e) of Indian Music: Hearing Politics in the Harmonium. The Journal of Asian Studies 70.3, 2011.
  5. ↑ AIR's seminar on the Harmonium. Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1971.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 S. Rao and W. van der Meer, The Construction, Reconstruction and Deconstruction of Shruti. Hindustani music: thirteenth to twentieth centuries, 2010.
  7. ↑ Bharata-Muni, The Nāṭyaśāstra, transl. Manomohan Ghosh. The Asiatic Society, 1961.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mark Levy, Intonation in North Indian Music. Biblia Impex, 1982.
  9. ↑ P. Sambamoorthy, South Indian Music, Book IV. The Indian Music Publishing House, 1963.

Further reading

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.xen.wiki/index.php?title=Indian_music&oldid=232714"