3.4 Indian classical music: tuning and ragas

Introduction

The music of India sounds quite exotic to most Western audiences. Two major reasons for this are the differences between the two traditions in tuning and scales . The following is a short introduction to these differences, meant for someone who has a basic understanding of Western music theory but no knowledge of the Indian music tradition. For an introduction that concentrates on music appreciation and avoids music theory, please see Listening to Indian Classical Music . (For more about Western scales and tuning, please see Major Keys and Scales , Minor Keys and Scales , and Tuning Systems .)

The term Indian Classical Music encompasses two distinct but related traditions. The Northern Indian tradition is called the Hindustani tradition. The Southern Indian tradition is called Carnatic . (As with many Indian words, there are a variety of spellings in common usage in English, including Karnatak and Karnatik .) Both traditions feature a similar approach to music and music theory, but the terms used are often different. For example, where the Hindustani tradition has that , the Carnatic has mela . The following discussion focuses on the Hindustani tradition, as it is more familiar to the rest of the world.

Ragas

One reason that Indian music sounds so different to the Westerner is that the major/minor tonal system is not used. Harmony , and specifically tonal harmony, has been the basic organizing principle in Western music - classical, folk, and popular - for centuries. In this system, a piece of music is in a certain key , which means it uses the notes of a particular major or minor scale. The harmonies developed using those notes are an integral, basic part of the development and form of the music. Most of the complexity of Western music lies in its harmonies and counterpoint .

The music of India does not emphasize harmony and does not feature counterpoint. In fact, most Indian classical music features a single voice or instrument on the melody, accompanied by drone and percussion . There is no counterpoint and no chord progression at all. Instead, the interest and complexity of this music lies in its melodies and its rhythms . (Just as Indian music can seem confusing and static to someone accustomed to listening for harmonic progressions, Western melodies - based on only two types of scales - and Western rhythms - based on only a few popular meters - may sound overly similar and repetitive to someone accustomed to Indian music.)

Western music divides an octave into the twelve notes of the chromatic scale . But most pieces of music mainly use only seven of these notes, the seven notes of the major or minor key that the piece is in. Indian music also has an octave divided into twelve notes. These twelve notes are called swaras ; they are not tuned like the notes of the chromatic scale (please see below ). Also similarly to Western music, only seven notes are available for any given piece of music.