The ragas of classical indian music
The
ragas of classical India and other, similar traditions, are more like modes than they are like scales. Like modes, different
raga s sound very different from each other, for several reasons. They may have different interval patterns between the "scale" notes, have different expectations for how each note of the
raga is to be used, and may even use slightly different tunings. Like the modal musics discussed above, individual Indian
raga s are associated with specific moods.
In fact, in practice,
raga s are even more different from each other than the medieval European modes were. The
raga dictates how each note should be used, more specifically than a modal or major-minor system does. Some pitches will get more emphasis than others; some will be used one way in an ascending melody and another way in a descending melody; some will be used in certain types of ornaments. And these rules differ from one
raga to the next. The result is that each
raga is a collection of melodic scales, phrases, motifs, and ornaments, that may be used together to construct music in that
raga . The number of possible ragas is practically limitless, and there are hundreds in common use. A good performer will be familiar with dozens of
raga s and can improvise music - traditional classical music in India is improvised - using the accepted format for each
raga .
The
raga even affects the tuning of the notes. Indian classical music is usually accompanied by a
tanpura , which plays a drone background. The
tanpura is usually tuned to a
pure
perfect fifth , so, just as in medieval European music, the tuning system is a
just intonation system. As in
Western just intonation, the octave is divided into twelve possible notes, only some of which are used in a particular
raga (just as Westerners use only some of the twelve notes in each key). But as was true for the
church modes , using the pure perfect fifth means that some "half steps" will be larger than others. (If you would like to understand why this is so, please see
Harmonic Series II and
Tuning Systems .) Even though the variations between these different "half steps" are small, they strongly affect the sound of the music. So, the tuning of some of the notes (not the ones dictated by the
tanpura ) may be adjusted to better suit a particular
raga . (Please see
Listening to Indian Classical Music and
Indian Classical Music: Tuning and Ragas for more information on this subject.)
Other non-western modal musics
To the average Western listener, medieval European chant and classical Indian music are the two most familiar traditions that are not based on major and minor scales. But many other musical traditions around the world are not based on Western scales. Some of these have modes similar to the medieval Church modes; they also tend to be a list of notes (or a pattern of
intervals ) used with a specific
finalis , which may encourage certain types of melodies. While the church mode/jazz mode tradition features
diatonic modes (which can be played using only the white keys of a piano), non-Western modes may use
other types of scales .
In other music traditions, modes are much more like Indian
ragas , featuring important variations in tuning and melodic expectations from one mode to the next, so that each mode may be seen as a collection of related melodic ideas, phrases, and ornamentations that are traditionally played with a certain set of notes tuned in a certain way. (Some non-Indian traditions even use the term
raga .) All of these musics have long traditions that are very different from the familiar major-minor tonal system, and usually also have a different approach to harmony, rhythm, and performance practice.
Bibliography
Donald Jay Grout's
A History of Western Music introduces both Greek and medieval modes. Lee Evans's
Modes and Their Use in Jazz is both comprehensive and accessible for any musician who wants to begin to study that subject. For Western musicians, an introduction to
ragas , that is neither too vague nor too technical, does not seem to be available as of this writing.
