Download Indian Classical Music

Indian Classical Music
Indian Classical Music is Based on Ragas
• A raga is a set of notes (between 5 and 8 notes) which are
combined to create a mood
• Raga performances are improvised. They are never written down
– they are passed down from generation to generation aurally
• Ragas use a similar scale to the Western 12-note scale, but while
the Western scale has the same distance between notes e.g.
TTSTTTS = major scale, the raga’s intervals can change
Traditional Indian Instruments
The traditional Indian instruments are Sitar, Tambura and Tabla
SITAR
• A sitar is a large, long-necked string instrument
• 5 of the 7 strings are plucked for the melody and the other two
create drone notes
• Sitars have sympathetic strings underneath the main strings.
These sympathetic strings vibrate when the main strings are
played
• The frets on a sitar can be moved – they are adjusted to
different positions for different pieces
• Sitar players can pull strings to make notes bend or distort
• Sliding a finger along a string as it’s plucked gives a sliding
glissando sound called mind
Traditional Indian Instruments
The traditional Indian instruments are Sitar, Tambura and Tabla
TAMBURA
• The Tambura is a similar shape to the Sitar
• It usually has 4 metal strings, but can have up to 6
• It is used as more of a backing instrument
Traditional Indian Instruments
The traditional Indian instruments are Sitar, Tambura and Tabla
TABLA
• Tabla is a pair of drums
• The smaller, right-hand drum is called the tabla or dayan
• The larger, lower-sounding drum is called the baya
Other Indian Instruments
• Sarod – a mini-sitar with no frets
• Sarangi – a small bowed stringed instrument with no
frets
• Bansuri – a flute made of bamboo
• Shenhai – an instrument with a double reed like an
oboe
• Singers sometimes perform with instruments as well
sarod
sarangi
bansuri
shenhai
The 4 main elements
Melody & Improvisation
The melody instruments are the sitar, bansuri, sarangi and
sometimes a singer
Rhythm
The tabla is the rhythm section
Drone (harmony)
The tambura is the drone or harmony instrument
Melody & Improvisation
The melody is improvised on the sitar or melody instrument
• The sitar player improvises the melody. He or she chooses a
scale called a raga and makes up a melody using notes from that
scale
• There are hundreds of raga scales. Each one is named after a
different time of day or season. Each raga is supposed to create
an atmosphere like the time or season it’s named after
• Each raga is a set of ascending and descending notes. The notes
going up can be different from the notes going down
Rhythm
The Tabla is the Rhythm section
• The main rhythm is played on the Tabla
• The tabla player plays a rhythm called a tala with a set number
of beats. There are hundreds of talas, just like there are
hundreds of ragas
• The first beat of a tala is called the sam. All the performers in
a group play together on each sam amd the whole piece always
ends on a sam
• Each tala is split into groups called vibhags. It is like a bar
except that you can have different numbers of beats in each
vibhag
• As well as playing the tala, the tabla player improvises more
complicated rhythms over the top of the drum. They can vary
the sound with different finger positions
Drone (harmony)
The Tambura creates the Harmony
• The tambura’s job is to create the harmony. The sitar’s job is a
bit like the right hand in a piano piece (the tune) and the
tambura’s job is like the left hand (the accompaniment/chords
etc)
• The tambura’s part is described as a drone. It is very repetitive.
The tambura plays a simple rhythmic pattern based on just two
notes from the raga all the way through the performance
A Typical Raga has 4 sections
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
A raga will have 4 phrases
Alap – the sitar player introduces the notes of the chosen raga scale,
and improvise freely using these notes. There is no beat or pulse to
the melody at this point – it just flows along. The only accompaniment
is the tambura drone
The jhor – in this second section the music speeds up a bit. It’s still
just the sitar and tambura player, but the music gets more rhythmic,
and the melody improvised by the sitar player takes on a steady beat
The jhala – this section is loads faster than the alap and jhor, and
feels a lot more exciting than the bits that came before. The players
improvise around the melody
The gat or Bandish – here the raga really takes off. The tabla player
comes in at last! The group plays a pre-composed piece. It’s called a
‘gat’ if it’s for instruments only and a ‘bandish’ if there’s a song. The
players also add improvisations to the gat or bandish and pass their
musical ideas around in a sort of musical question and answer.
What you need to know?
• You will need to know which instruments
are playing
• Identify different sections of the raga
• Describe the differences between extracts
e.g. instruments, tempos, improvised and
pre-composed music