Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 7 (Raag)

In the previous article on this topic we looked into some basic concepts that can be used to define a Raag. In this article let us further learn some important aspects around Raags.

The 10 Thaats (Raag Taxonomy)
Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was a great scholar of music in the early 20th century. He is probably the first to document the Raags of Hindustani Classical music in a systematic form. Out of the many books, he produced two very important treatises on modern Indian classical music. "Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati" (4-Volumes, It has explanation of 100+ Raags and related theory) and "Kramik  Pustak Malika" (6-Volumes, It has a brief explanation of Raags followed by detailed notations of songs based on a particular Raag. It will easily have 1000+ songs).

Pandit ji devised a system of  ten "Thaats" to classify the raags under it. They are:

1. Bilawal: S R G m P D N S.  Examples of raags in this group: Ahilya Bilawal, Deshkar etc.
2. Kafi: S R g m P D n S. Examples of raags in this group: Dhanashree, Bheempalasi etc.
3. Bhairavi: S r g m P d n S. Examples of raags in this group: Malkauns, Kausi Kanada etc.
4. Kalyan: S R G M P D N S. Examples of raags in this group: Yaman, Bhupali, Kedar etc.
5. Khamaj: S R G m P D n S. Examples of raags in this group: Rageshree, Tilak Kamod etc.
6. Asavari: S R g m P d n S. Examples of raags in this group: Darbari, Jaunpuri etc.
7. Bhairav: S r G m P d N S. Examples of raags in this group: Ramkali, Jogiya etc.
8. Marva: S r G M P D N S. Examples of raags in this group: Marwa, Bhatiyaar etc.
9. Purvi: S r G M P d N S. Examples of raags in this group: Shree, Puriya Dhanashree etc.
10. Todi: S r g M P d N S. Examples of raags in this group: Madhuwanti, Miyan ki Todi etc.

[R, G, m, D, N = shudha swars, M = Teevra madhyam, r, g, d, n = Komal swars]

There are certain rules that have to be fulfilled while defining a thaat. We will not go into those. However, it is important to note that he theorised that all the raags can be said to be "born out of" these ten thaats. Some musicologists do differ with this theory, but the essence is that this system provides a good method of classification of the raags. It is also true that is widely accepted and the de-facto standard in the modern times. When a raag is defined, it is almost mandatory to define the thaat that it belongs to.

It is important to note the following points. A thaat is not to be sung independently. It is a set of notes that can be used to create permutations to create raags under it. Also most of the thaats have a raag with the same name. For example Bilaawal thaat has a raag with the name "Bilaawal", Kalyan has a raag by the name "Kalyaan", Marwa has one too and so on. This sometimes leads to confusion among starters.

Sampooran, Shaudav & Audav (Jaati of a Raag)
One will often hear about Raags in terms of combination of above terms. Like, Asawari belongs to  Audav / Sampooran jaati. The basic concept behind this is the fact that all raags will have atleast 5 notes in its Aaroh and Avroh. So when there are 5 notes in an Aaroh or Avroh it is called "Audav". With six notes it is called "Shaudav". With 7 notes it is called "Sampooran". So Asawari has 5 notes in Aaroh (S R M P d) and 7 notes (n d P M g R S) in Avroh. Note the jaati does not tell us which notes, it tells us the count of notes only.

Raag "Ras" Emotion of a Raag
Probably this aspect gives the most distinguishable aspect to a Raag. Each raag is supposed to elucidate some emotion when rendered. As per theory, the notes playable in the raag are the key to bringing out this emotion. Theory defines the following "Ras":

• Shringaar
• Veer
• Hassya
• Karuna
• Roudra
• Bhayanak
• Bibastha
• Adbhut
• Navras

Time of a Raag
There is a time theory for raags. Based on the Vaadi and the Samvaadi notes in a Raag, a Raag has a specific time of the day when it can be performed. For instance some early morning raags are Bhairavi, Raamkali etc. Late evening raags include Kedar, Desh, Durga etc. I have read and heard interviews of contemporary masters of Indian Classical Music holding different views on this aspect of Raag. Some are very rigid even going to the extent of not singing raags during concerts that do not agree with the time theory of the raag. Some are flexible saying that the theory is not so significant in modern times of performance.

That is all for today. In the next article, I will describe the concepts of "Purvaang" and "Uttaraang", "Raagaang" and "Swar Vistaar". These are important concepts we need to understand, before we take one raag as an example and study it in great detail.

Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 6 (Raag)

In the previous article and ones before that on this topic, I have defined some basic  knowledge of terms and definitions used in Indian Classical Music. In this post and subsequent posts I will try to define what we understand by "Raag" and explain a few concepts around it.

What is a Raag?
It is difficult to define in one or two sentences. In an interview with Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and some westerner, when Ustad Amir Khan was asked this question he replied, "It is a combination of notes...". He gave  this definition because I think this the most simple definition that can be given to anyone not associated or familiar with our kind of music. (As was the case during the interview)
Raag is definitely a combination of notes. But there is much much more that should be said before the definition is complete.

Combination of notes
Each Raag has a defined set of notes that are 'allowed' and 'prohibited' to be used in the Raag. The quotes in the sentence above indicates that no one stops you from going out of the way and break this rule but most probably your composition or rendering will get altered to another Raag than what you set out to present at first or worst sound jarring to the listeners including yourselves.

The Raag notes structure is defined as ascending and descending structures.
The ascending (rising pitch) structure is called 'Aarohi' and the descending (descending pitch) structure is known as 'Avrohi'.

(Symbols: Re, Ga, Dha, Ni are shudh swars. Ma is Teevra. A dot (.) after a note indicates higher octave and a dot (.) before a note indicates the lower octave. Refer to earlier posts explaining the saptak)

If we take Raag Yaman as an example then:
Aarohi: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa.
Avrohi: Sa. Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa

Few things to point out here. This Aarohi starts with Sa and ends with the Sa in the next octave. All the notes are 'Shudh' except the 'Madhyam' which is Teevra. It employs all the 7 notes.

Some questions arise immediately:

Q1.Does the descending structure always have to be the reverse of the ascending structure?
Answer: No.

Q2. Do the "number of notes" have to same in ascending and descending structures?
Answer: No. They can be  different.

Q3. Can two Raags have same Aarohi and Avrohi structures?
Answer: Yes there are Raags that have the same Aarohi & Avrohi structures. Example Raag Bhoopali and Deshkar have the same Aarohi and Avrohi. But both sound totally different. Why? Read on.

'Vaadi', 'Samvaadi' and 'Vivaadi' notes of a Raag

After defining the Aarohi and Avrohi of a Raag, we define the 'Vaadi' and 'Samvaadi' swars.
Vaadi swar is the most emphasized note in the Raag and Samvaadi is the next most emphasized note. For example in Raag Yaman the Vaadi note is Ga (Shudh Gandhaar) and the Samvaadi note is Ni (Shudh Nishaad). When we say that a particular note is 'most emphasized' it means that the performer will make it a point to stress on that note the maximum and it will be the 'most heard' note. It does not mean that you need to take a stopwatch and calculate the timings of the notes during the entire Raag performance!! I have read books, (mainly by non-Indians) who did such a methodical analysis and came out with contrary conclusions on the 'most heard note' part of it. Indian music does not work that way!

Vivaadi notes are prohibited notes of a Raag. Experts say, that when such notes are added to a Raag they spoil the structure, construct and mood of the Raag. On the other hand, great musicians and vocalists have used such notes in their performances and produced real classics. But remember these are great artists of the field I am talking about. Generally, beginners should avoid using the Vivaadi notes.

Effect of Vaadi & Samvaadi notes

Why are the Vaadi and Samvaadi notes important? They are important because they form a crucial part in establishing a Raag. Remember that two Raags can have the same Aaroh and Avroh? But then they will invariably have different Vaadi and Samvaadi notes. This difference will in turn have an effect on the entire movement of the notes in the Raag, and the way the notes are grouped, making them sound totally different. For example Raag Bhoopali has Ga (Gandhar) as the Vaadi swar whereas Raag Deshkar has Dha (Dhaivat) as the Vaadi swar.
I will come up with many examples in audio and annotated audio gradually. But we need to understand some more theory before we appreciate these aspects in real time audio.

Let us keep this much for today. We are far from over with this and I will write on this in subsequent posts.

Mangalyaan vs Maven

On the 24th of September our esteemed space research organisation ISRO made history. It successfully placed "Mangalyan" into the Mars orbit. The entire sequence to slow down the vehicle and get itself "captured" into the martian gravity was autonomous. The commands to fire the rocket were uploaded much earlier as the orbiter was eclipsed by Mars itself and the ground control stations on Earth had no access to the orbiter's communication system during this time.

Our Prime Minister on this occasion spoke. As always he spoke brilliantly. He also made a point about the cost of the project being less than the movie "Gravity". Now, that set the stage for the social media to go abuzz with all sorts of comparisons.  People started comparing the NASA's MAVEN mission and the cost that it incurred. Some of my friends commented that the mission was 11 times more costlier than that by ISRO. Impression was made that ISRO was "one-up" against NASA in this.

We Indians have a habit of exaggerating things we feel proud of (as a nation or community) especially if the thing appears to be comparable to something from the West. We go over the board swelling our chest with pride and brag about our achievement. We often at these times ignore the facts of the case.

Precisely, what we have done in this case. First and foremost, ISRO has/had no plans to go "one-up" against NASA in anyway with this mission. The honourable chairman has himself stated that ISRO is in race with no one but itself. Secondly, "Mangalyaan" weighs around 4.3 times lighter than MAVEN. Anybody with a basic knowledge of rocket science knows that with each gram increase in weight of the payload the cost of the launch (and the carrier) goes up. Thirdly, "Mangalyaan" is just like a "Hello World" programme by ISRO to test out their capability of carrying out an interplanetary mission. The scientific instruments "Mangalyaan" carries are very basic unlike those in MAVEN. It is true that NASA has asked for co-operation with ISRO for the use of the methane gas sensor that "Mangalyaan" carries with itself.

Yes we have made a huge achievement in our own might. We are sure that ISRO will bring us even more reasons to smile (esp. with the upcoming PSLV C26 launch and our own IRNSS navigation system and the much awaited GSLV MKIII launch) in the coming years. But please do not demean other space programmes or nations. The fact of the matter is that as of date we are the "youngest" nation in space exploration.

So I request fellow compatriots to keep calm.

Ai Giri Nandini

This  stotra known as "Mahisasur Mardini" is said to be very powerful. Each year on Durga-Ashtami, we visit the Ramakrishna Mission in New Delhi and they perform this stotra  during the aarti. I have to admit, it does have a very powerful impact. I remember playing this stotra and the Hanuman Chalisa in a loop on Winamp during the days and nights when I used to work on my MCA project and studies.

It is again that time of the year, when I start to feel better. The weather is being pleasant, at least in the mornings and there is that feeling of "Durga Pujo" round the corner. Life from here on till March-April beginning is cool with one festival after another following in quick succession. The weather as I said earlier too supports the festive fervor to the fullest.

Speaking of goddess, I am privileged to have acquaintance with two of them. One is of course my mother. I have never come across an individual so selfless and sacrificing as her in my life. Even till date, I see that she is so forthcoming to sacrifice pretty little things for someone else's cause. I have seen her as the workhorse of housework for years and I am ashamed to admit that I may not have given the credit she deserved for this work during my younger days. I have taken her for granted so many a times in the past and yet her interface towards me never changed. This lifetime and many more, I will not be able to repay the dues.

The other one is my wife. She has been an awesome companion to me for all these years. I have a friend with whom I can talk and behave carefree. She is always forthcoming with constructive discussions on important matters and decisions we need to make. I am not sure if I have been able to reciprocate the same towards her, but again her interface has never changed. In the past couple of months, she has shown tremendous dedication towards her duty as a mother, which frankly if I were in her place, I would have freaked out by now.

Maybe that is why god did not make me a woman.

May god bless both of them always.

Out of nowhere

Just now heard this short clip from JS. And I have probably heard this 50 times by now! My mind  has started to extrapolate the rest of the ghazal of this rendition as the lyrics and the tune of this ghazal is very well known to any JS fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KjzUKavX_c

This happens with me always. Out of nowhere JS comes  with a rendition that smashes every bit of my emotional barrier walls.

Friday Night

Another weekend to begin and that feeling of goodness. This time of the year it should be raining here in Delhi. But the fury of nature is at its peak. There has been minimal to no rain this monsoon season.

Life too seems to moving at a furious pace. So many changes activities and events; all have come and gone by in the last nine to ten months. One way to deal with these are to remain calm and plan for the events. They will come like waves and take you with their motion, just ensure that your life-jacket is in place.

Our son seems to be doing well in his growth path. In his six odd weeks he has mastered the art of displaying his discomforts by the way of crying.  He makes a lot of eye-contact these days with his mother. His next mission seems to be to turn-over on his stomach. The elders in the family say that he is ahead of his age in this act. I think that he is doing what is coming to him naturally and thus there is no sense of "paternal-pride" to be proud of here.

So long. Let's see how the weekend goes!

Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 5 (Meend)

In the previous article we discussed the types of "Alankaars" or ornamentations in the Hindustani Classical Music. In this article we will discuss in details on one of the most important ornamentation known as "Meend" (मींडْ).

"Meend" is essentially a glide from one note to another note.  The notes are not required to be next to each other. They can span multiple notes. "Meend"s can occur both ways i.e. Upwards or Downwards. That is one can glide from a starting note "Sa" to "Ma (Teevra)" as well as glide down from "Ma (Teevra)" to "Sa".

There are different forms of "Meend"s within this basic definition. One such type is one during which the glide from the starting note to the destination note may require (by the rule of the "Raag") to rest or touch the intervening notes in between. The duration of rest and the intervening note to rest on is dictated by the "Raag" in question. In another type there is a "wave" like movement where in there is both the upward and the downward movement combined while transiting from one note to the other.

"Meend"s are not playable on instruments like the harmonium. However stringed instruments like the Sarod, Sitar can play them nicely. So generally, fretted instruments play "Meend"s. "Meend"s are definately also a very important part of vocal singing.

There are two online resources that I found very useful. First is of course the "ITC Sangeet Research Academy". They have categorized different forms of "Meend"s along with examples. The other is the http://raag-hindustani.com website. This site is created by Ms. Sadhana. Browse to the section on Ornamentation. It contains good description of "Alankaars" and also some examples.

To help the readers get a greater understanding I will present some examples along with their frequency analysis.
The first example is from the raag-hindustani website. Ms. Sadhana first demonstrates the ordinary "m P D g" and then as it is sung in Raag Bageshree ("m P D g"), employing "Meend"s. The figure below is the time-frequency plot of both the clips.

Click on the image to enlarge the view.

Notice the first set of "m P D g" is totally "flat". There  is no "glide" seen when changing from one note to the other. In the second, observe the "glides" when moving from one note to the other. The glide to "Pa" from "Shudh Ma" upwards (slightly touching "Shudh Dha") and then a glide to "Shudh Dha" from "Pa" and then a final long smooth glide downwards to "Komal Ga". Now listen to the combined piece, along with the movements on the notes in real time in the video below. Switch to full screen view and select the HD mode. This will enable you to view the notes being sung in real time that are displayed in the extreme lower right corner. The video has the notes annotated "in-place" for easy reference too.

One can go through the rest of the examples on the website. They are really well explained. I am grateful to Ms. Sadhana for allowing me to use her recordings on her website http://raag-hindustani.com/Embellishment.html for the examples above. It allows me to show in greater details as to how "Meend"s look like and can be "detected" by the less trained ears of casual music lovers.

To close, let us also see on example of "Meend" from the great Ustad Amir Khan. In this example, he traverses the whole octave from "mandra saptak Ni" to "natural saptak  Ni" during one of his renditions of Raag Yaman Kalyan. Watch the glide, he does not stop anywhere in between during the glide.

As usual, switch to full screen view and select the HD mode. This will enable you to view the notes being sung in real time that are displayed in the extreme lower right corner. The video has the notes annotated "in-place" for easy reference too.

That is all for today. I will keep posting such analysis from time to time. I find it is easy to grasp these complex concepts when one is able to see the waveform visually along with the musical movements involving the notes.

The next article shall finally introduce the concept of a Raag. You might be One might wonder why Raags were not introduced earlier, but believe me without these basic chapters on classical music, it is very difficult to understand the concept of Raag. Hopefully my explanation would make sense then!

Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 4 (Alankars)

In the previous article we discussed about the concept of Taals. We shall now discuss one of the most important aspect of Hindustani Classical Music, known as Alankar (or ornamentation). To do justice to this topic I shall have to split it into multiple posts. A single post would be too long for readers to read in  one go, and too short to justify the richness of the topic.

Therefore, this article will talk about the general concepts of Alankars. It will also list the some common alankars in use today and provide their meaning. Subsequent posts shall pick up one of the types and explain in detail with examples and frequency analysis of the examples to better understand the concept  and visually view the ornamentation in use!

The word "Alankar" means ornamentation. Of course in our context, we use alankars to decorate the musical notes or swars. How do we do that? Remember from our first article that our music is "analogue" in that that our notes are not staccato notes (in Raag music). So every note being sung is in "some way" connected to the note sung previous to this one and the note to be sung after this. This "some way" is actually decorating the note in question and there are many ways to do this in Hindustani Classical Music. Some earlier works suggest that Hindustani Classical Music had 33 different types of Alankars. Much few are in regular use today.

The importance of Alankars in Raag music cannot be overemphasised. Though we are yet to discuss about Raags as a topic, it is assumed that readers would be aware of the basic concept. There are some Raags that share the same set of swars, but it is the use of Alankars decorating some notes in a particular way that distinguish Raags sharing the same notes. Apart from this use of Alankars, they are often used by vocalists (and instrumentalists) to bring about different colours to their presentations. Thus in some situations use of Alankars are 'mandated' due to the rules of a Raag, and in some other cases it is the mastery of the performer to use them to bring about a flavour or colour to the presentation. It must be emphasised here that overuse or incorrect use of Alankars can be jarring.  It requires great skill (as a vocalist or instrumentalist) to use Alankars and a  sense of music education as to when and where to use it or not use it. This is one of the reasons why learning classical music under the guidance of a 'guru' is very essential.

Below is a table of Alankars commonly in use today. Please note that the list is not exhaustive or the meanings to be taken as the final definition of the Alankars.

Some rich information about Alankars are found at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, here.  It has an exhaustive list with examples of each.

I will take up a few types in the subsequent articles and discuss in details about them.

Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 3 (Taal)

The previous article talked about the intonation in the Hindustani classical music. In this article I talk about the concept of "Taal" or rhythm in our music.

The concept of "Taal" is relatively easy to experience. There are a set of beats which get repeated in time. Like the sound of ticking of a clock. We hear a "tick (or beat)" every second. Similarly our heart "beats" at a specific rate. Also, note that when we get excited the same heart starts to beat faster, but still there is a rhythm. Once our excitement or anxiety subsides, the heart gradually stabilizes to a moderate rate. So heart can be considered as a natural bio-percussion instrument.

The main percussion instrument in Hindustani classical is the "tabla".  It consists of two drums, the "dayan (or tabla)" (played with the dominant hand) and the "bayan" (the larger of the two, played with the other hand). It is the "dayan" that is generally tuned to the main melodic player (say vocal, sitar or bansuri). The "bayan" on the other hand is used to produce the bass sounds in the rhythm. There are other percussion instruments in Hindustani classical namely the "dholak" and the "pakhawaj". Dholak is used in light classical music forms such as the "qawwali" or "ghazals" while pakhawaj is used in the "dhrupad" style of hindustani classical.

Apart from the concept of "taal" there is a concept of "lay" or speed of the "taal". I can play the stokes of a "taal" slowly (meaning the time duration between each beat is lengthened) or very fast (meaning the time duration between each beat is shortened). One can measure this using in an unit called "beats per minute" (BPM) but that would be too mathematical for our sort of music. We instead use the terms "vilambit lay" (slow), "madhya lay" (medium) and "drut lay" (fast). We can append the adjective "ati" (very) to the terms above to increase or decrease the intensity of the speed further.

Like vocal, tabla has a set of "notes (strokes)" or "bols" that help in understanding and practice of the tabla players. These notes also help listeners in identifying a "taal" easily. Some of the strokes are "dha", "tin", "na", "ta", "tin" etc. These are generated by striking different areas of the "dayan" or "bayan". A "taal" will be a combination of these notes.
The sequence of the strokes in a "taal" are referred to as the "theka" of the "taal".

Here is a "theka" for a very popular "taal" known as "Ektaal":

Dhin Dhin | DhaGe TiRaKiTa | Tun Na | Kat Ta | DhaGe TiRaKiTa | Dhin Na|

Few points to note above,

• There are 12 "beats" in the "theka" above.
• There is a "|" symbol separating the notes. These are sections or "vibhag" of the "taal" in which the strokes are divided.
• The "Ektaal" is divided into six "vibhag".

Below is a sample of "Ektaal" in which the "lay" of the "taal" is gradually increased from "vilambit" to "drut".

(Play Full Screen by clicking on the icon at bottom right) Also, note from the above video, that some strokes are combination of notes. For example "DhaGe" is a combination of two notes "Dha and Ge", whereas "TiRaKiTa" is a combination of 4 notes.

There is also a concept of denoting the "taals" using the "Clap" and "Wave" combination. You can read about it here.  The article also has links to most commonly used "taals" and it is good to go through them. In the article referred you will come across a term "Sam" and this a very important concept and the last in this article.

"Sam" is the first beat of the cycle (or the next cycle). And this beat is usually the "stressed" beat. By "stressed beat" we mean that the "tabla" player will make a special effort to play this beat. This is so because Hindustani classical music resolves to the "Sam". The main melodic line will always come and meet at this beat, and both the melody and the rhythm will stress at this point. In fact, one of the main aspect of our music is the ability of the performer to "wander hither and thither" but ultimately come back in time for the "Sam". It is difficult to explain in words, so I will provide a very short example below.

In the video below, I use the great Ustad Amir Khan's rendition of the Raag Hansadhwani (Lyric: "Jai Maat Vilaamb, Taj de; Maangun guna De"), that he performed in Ektaal. In this rendition he specifically makes it a point to stress on the first beat (the "Dhin") of "Ektaal". In order to help us understand better, I have an "EkTaal" loop playing for a few cycles all alone on the right channel. Then we have Ustad Amir Khan joining us on the left channel. He joins us exactly at the "Sam" of the "EkTaal". He then repeatedly "meets us" at the "Sam". In fact the "Sam" is at "Vi--" of the word "Vilaamb" and he demonstrates that repeatedly. Notice, it is not necessary to stress the "Sam" at the beginning of every cycle. For example, he does not stress the "Sam" that appears between "Maangun" and "guna De".

I have used the two channels, and deliberately kept the volume of the tabla loop a lot higher than that of the vocal so that we can understand and detect the "Sam" and its stress clearly. Since both channels are unbalanced in the audio, use of headphones is strongly recommended for greater clarity and understanding. (Play Full Screen by clicking on the icon at bottom right)

You will also notice that in the video, I have "fitted" the vocal exactly at the start of the loop cycle. This is for our learning only. Generally in real performances, the main melodic line will start first and then the tabla will join to match it. That is why, you will invariably hear the vocal (or any main instrument) starting first and then the tabla joining in at the "right time", rather than the other way round as in our video above.

That's all for this article. In the next article I will discuss about few "ornamentations" and "specialities" of Hindustani Classical music.

Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 2 (Intonation)

In the previous article I gave a very basic introduction to Hindustani Classical Music. In this article I will talk about the "spacing" between the notes in Hindustani Classical music. "Spacing" means the difference of frequency between each successive notes. This is a bit complex to explain. I will keep it very simple. Let us begin!

"Intonation" is the word used to describe what I remarked above as "spacing". Intonation in music can be classified broadly as "equal tempered" or "just intonation". (This is a vast research topic. Just Google it!)

In equal tempered, the notes are spaced by a constant factor. That means, if say the constant is "1.059463", and the frequency of "Sa" is selected as 440 Hz, then the "Komal Re" will be (440 Hz *  1.059463 = 466.163 Hz). Similarly if I want to get "Shudha Re" then we multiply with a factor of  (1.059463 * 1.059463) to 440 Hz. Now, what is so special about "1.059463"? It is the 12th root of 2. There are 12 notes in an octave and the 13th note should be double the frequency of the 1st note. 440 Hz is what most western instruments tune to (as their note A4). Why the special treatment? You can read more about this here and here.

Please note, the notes in Hindustani Classical are not tuned (equally spaced) like how it is mentioned above. Though, if one uses a keyboard or (even a harmonium) they would "not" be playing the exact "re" if they played the key after the chosen "Sa" key. (There are other limitations of equal tempered instruments that do not adjust well with the Hindustani classical music. "Andolan (gentle oscillations around a note)", "Meend (slide from one note to another note)" cannot be performed in these instruments. More on these in a later post.) So how are the notes in Hindustani Classical spaced? Come, "just intonation".

Just Intonation, uses the concept of "ratios" between each notes. One broader way to define the ratios between each note in Hindustani Classsical is given below:

One possible ratios for Hindustani Classical notes

Please note that, there exists no single ratio system in Hindustani Classical listed in our texts that can be taken as final. In fact, in certain "Ragas" the ratios are definitely altered. But the above table does help us to get a working assumption (and a very closed assumption too). In fact, there is research done that specifies the ratios between all the 22 shrutis. Check here.

So assuming the above table, if we select 440Hz as our "Sa", then "re" would be 440 Hz * (16/15) =  469.333 Hz. "Re" would then be 440 Hz * (9/8) = 495 Hz. And "Pa" would be 440 Hz * (3/2) = 660 Hz. And "Sa." (of the next Saptak/octave) would be 440 Hz * (2/1) = 880 Hz.  Similarly, .Sa (of the lower octave) will be 440 Hz * (1/2) = 220 Hz. It should be noted that whatever be the ratios, "Pa" is always 1.5 times the frequency of "Sa" in an octave. There is some good reason too for the ratios in this fashion. You can read it here.

Enough of theory! Let us try something practical. So, below, I have an audio clip, where the singer sings all the 12  notes of the sargam in an octave. We will try to verify that the ratios that we have defined are actually true, when the performer performs. For this, I will use a software, called Sonic Visualiser.  The screen can be intimidating at first. So some explanation is required. Consider the figure below:

Right click and open the image in separate window to view the text

This is a screen grab from Sonic Visualiser. The screen above shows the fundamental frequency of the audio clip and its harmonics. We will concentrate only on the fundamental frequency spectrum here (The lowest frequency spectrum in the above graph, in orange). The X-axis is time an the Y-axis is the frequencies. As expected, since the singer is singing from "Sa" to "Ni" the frequency graph is seen in an ascending graph. I have written a software code that works upon this layer in S.V. and calculates the Hindustani Note using the ratios in the table above at any instance of time. This Hindustani note can be viewed in the lower right corner along with the corresponding western note. The "Sa" in this case is at 130 Hz.
Below presenting the video grab of the S.V. output. As you listen to the "AAaa"s of the singer, keep an eye on the lower right corner to check the Hindustani Note that is detected  based on the table of ratios I shared  above. My software code allows for a deviation from 2% in the frequencies. So with the above "Sa" at 130 Hz, I will report a "Sa" for any frequency between 127.4 Hz to 132.6 Hz. We need to allow a small deviation to take the human factor into consideration.

In the next post I will describe the concept of "Taal" in Hindustani Classical music.

Hindustani Classical Music - My little understanding - Part 1

I have been trying to read  about and understand the Hindustani Classical Music for some time. Note that I am not trying to learn to sing Hindustani Classical Music. I am not quarter of the fraction talented for that. I aspire to understand the finer points of the art and identify them when I listen to the great singers of the art. I will try to keep it as simple as possible here at the beginning. Please pardon me for any mistakes. I am just a beginner willing to learn and understand the art. Please feel free to "beat and bash me" for the mistakes I make here.

So, with the disclaimer and clarification over, let us start.

Classical music in our country is divided into two forms, Hindustani and Carnatic. Hindustani Classical is dominant in the North and Carnatic in the South. There are lots of similarities and dis-similarities between the two. I am not dwelling into them in this post. However, whatever I mention here is specific to Hindustani classical.

The basic thing to keep in mind in our music (Hindustani or Carnatic) is that it is very analogue in nature. This is the main reason we sense a sense of continuity in our music when we listen to it, unlike western music.

We all know that our Music is made of the 7 swars (surs, or notes). They are
"Sa", "Re", "Ga", "ma", "Pa", "Dha" & "Ni".
These are the "Shudh" (pure) form of the notes. (All of the above have a long name version too, for example "Sa" is actually the short of "Shadja", "Re" is "Rishabh" and so on.) Note when you sing the 7 swars, you tend to "raise your pitch" a little higher when you sing the next in the sequence. Meaning, you sing "Re" at a higher frequency than "Sa"... which means the sequence of the notes matter. Each of the notes in the above sequence is at a higher frequency that than the one preceding it.

As I  said that our music is analogue, we divide this scale a bit more by adding more notes in between so that our music does not seem to jump from one note to another. (Remember, the sampling theorem?) So let us  introduce  more notes in the sequence above. The new sequence of 12 notes now looks like this:
"Sa", "re", "Re", "ga", "Ga", "ma", "Ma", "Pa", "dha", "Dha", "ni" and "Ni"

The new notes: "re", "ga", "dha" and "ni" are the "Komal" (softer, lower frequency) version of their "Shudh" (pure) forms. Whereas the note "Ma" is the "Tivra" (sharper, higher frequency) version of the "Shudh" "ma". So note that all "shudh" notes are written with capital letters, except "ma". This is to indicate that for "ma" there exists no "komal ma" but a "tivra Ma". This is the convention I follow to denote the notes.

One more important consequence of the above is that the notes "Sa" and "Pa" exist only as "shudh" and are never "komal" or "tivra". They are thus "fixed" notes. (Ever wondered what the disciples play on the "Tanpura" behind the performing artist? They generally play a combination of "Sa"-"Pa"-"Sa" and of course it is not without a reason. More on that in a later post)

It is said that our forefathers (and foremothers) further divided the scale above to define more notes in between to give even smoother transitions from one note to another. So in all they came up with 22 "shrutis" (or 22 notes). Though of much importance, we will not tend to divide our scale further than the one done above with 12 notes.

We now come to the last topic of the post. And that is the "Saptak" definition. So in school when we were taught music, we always sang "Sa Re ....Ni and ended in Sa".... what is this "Sa" after the "Ni"? This is the "Sa" of the next saptak or the "taar saptak". This is twice the frequency of the "Sa" you sang at the beginning. Like wise you can have a "Ni" before your first "Sa", and that would be the "Ni" of the "mandra saptak" which would be half the frequency of the "Ni" in your original "Ni".

So, now we have something like:

(Mandra Saptak): .S .r .R .g .G .m .M .P .d .D .n .N        (Your voice's natural (or middle) saptak): S r R g G m M P d D n N      (Taar Saptak): S. r. R. g. G. m. M. P. d. D. n. N. (Ati taar saptak) S.. r.. and so on

Note that, I define the notes in Mandra Saptak with a dot (.) before the note letter, and after the note for Taar Saptak notes. One can stretch the scale on either side "as much as possible" .

"As much as possible" is the next point. In our music, the frequency of  "Sa" in the natural saptak is not fixed. It is determined and selected by the performing artist (vocal or instrumental) as per his or her convenience. So the frequency of my "Sa" for me may be the frequency of "Ga" for you. So if you and I are to sing together, we have to tune ourselves, so that when we sing together and we do not sound out of tune. Our system is thus very fluid (again analogue). This is in contrast to western music. They have sort of standardized their scales, in that they have a one-to-one mapping between their note and frequency. So, for instance in one of their standards, A#4 is fixed at 440 Hz and everything follows thereafter. Check here. Of course there are general conventions in our system, so singers generally choose the frequency of C4 or C#4 as their "Sa". However, note this only an easy convention. There are lots and lots of performers who simply chose a frequency of their choice and convenience as "Sa". Generally, vocal artists train their voices so that their voices span across one "saptak" above and one "saptak" below their natural "saptak", and this what I meant by "as much as possible".

Since the "Sa" in our music is not fixed (in terms of frequency), whenever a classical piece begins the performer will make every effort to establish the "Sa" first. He or she will do so by singing the notes around "Sa", the "Sa" itself or some characteristic phrases, so that the listener (and the performer too) have the "Sa" fixed in their minds. It is also required to periodically refresh the "Sa" during the performance, and hence the use of Tanpura playing the two fixed notes, "Sa" and "Pa" throughout. (Note there is more to the drone instruments, will post later)

Well, that's all for today. In the next post I will discuss a little about the "gap in frequencies" between each note and  a little mathematics around it!