Indian music

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

Sargam notation

Both Indian traditions use a solfege system based on a heptatonic (7-tone) framework: Sa, Re (Ri in the south), Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha (Da in the south), and Ni.

Scales themselves are taken from a twelve-tone framework in both traditions, but the naming practices are a bit different. In North India, notes can be natural (shuddh), sharp (tivra), or flat (komal). The natural notes form a major scale (0 2 4 5 7 9 11). Sa and Pa are never sharp or flat; Ma can be sharp or natural; Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can be flat or natural.

In South India, things are a bit more complex, and it is best illustrated with a table. Sa and Pa have only one version, Ma has two, and Re, Ga, Dha, and Ni have three each. On the surface, it would appear to make a 16-tone framework, but some names refer to the same pitch category, much like enharmonics in Western music. The names are also more fanciful in Carnatic music.

Degree	Hindustani name	Carnatic name	Western example (S = A)
0	Sa	Sa	A
1	Komal Re	Shuddha Ri	B♭
2	Shuddh Re	Chatusruti Ri	B
		Shuddha Ga	C♭
3	Komal Ga	Shatsruti Ri	B♯
		Sadharana Ga	C
4	Shuddh Ga	Antara Ga	C♯
5	Shuddh Ma	Shuddha Ma	D
6	Tivra Ma	Prati Ma	D♯
7	Pa	Pa	E
8	Komal Dha	Shuddha Da	F
9	Shuddh Dha	Chatusruti Da	F♯
		Shuddha Ni	G♭
10	Komal Ni	Shatsruti Da	F𝄪
		Kaisiki Ni	G
11	Shuddh Ni	Kakali Ni	G♯

However, in Hindustani music, 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. In Carnatic music things are a bit different; speed and pitch profile of of ornaments, vibratos, and slides generally matter more than exact pitch in a raga.

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. 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.

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, and it includes various kinds such as:

• Vibratos (both small, within a pitch class, and large, between pitch classes and possibly as wide as a minor third)
• Slides
• Quick grace notes (lower grace notes like A–G♯–A or G♯–A more common than upper ones like A–B♭–A or B♭–A)
• Turns (like F♯–E–D♯–E, the first three being grace notes)
• More complex ones like tones sliding into vibratos (like A sliding up to a vibrato between E and F).

Instruments

Tanpura

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Tanpura

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

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. In ragas without a fifth (Pa), the first string is tuned to another note instead, most commonly the fourth (Ma) or seventh (Ni).

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

Harmonium

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Indian 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. The AIR seminar on the harmonium gives many arguments for and against the harmonium. The use of equal temperament on the harmonium was one consideration; others included the inability to play meend and gamakas.

Shruti

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Shruti (music)

In modern practice, shruti refer to microtonal inflections in general. However, there is a long history of specific systems of pitches called shruti, going back at least to Bharata's Natyashastra, in which he 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. 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.

While there is no single standardized definition of the exact sizes of all shruti intervals, a particularly widely recognized scheme is a 22-tone subset of 5-limit JI.

Contemporary microtonalists nonetheless continue to creatively develop tunings for it, with various degrees of authenticity. This includes the attempt to reframe it under regular temperament theory. Gene Ward Smith has considered Magic[22] and Srutal[22] as possible tunings, the name of the latter temperament being inspired by none else than the 22 shruti system, and Joseph Monzo has argued for the utility of schismic tunings.

Further reading

• G.K. Koduri, S. Gulati, P. Rao and X. Serra, Rāga Recognition based on Pitch Distribution Methods. Journal of New Music Research 41.4, 2012.

External links

• Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive of South Asian Traditional Music and Arts – archive of recordings and images
• Music in Motion – recordings synced with videos showing pitch contours
• www.chandrakantha.com - Indian classical music – portal on Indian music, with detailed descriptions of a number of North Indian rags
• MusicResearchLibrary – an Indian music research portal