What is music? A very fundamental, almost redundant question you might say. Music is a universal language—a language of emotions. It is a sequence of sounds that conveys something. It is above the language or cultural ethos of the composition or the communicator—whether the composer or the performer.
Fundamentally, whether it is language or music, the variables are similar -- a given set of alphabets or a set of notes. But, while it is not possible to understand the text or speech of any language that you are not familiar with, it is not so with music. But, as with language, music has many accents and dialects, a proper understanding of which leads to better appreciation and interaction.
My focus in this paper is on the communication of moods in Indian Classical Music.
I give a brief introduction to Indian Classical Music here-----
There are two well defined schools of classical music in India—the Hindustani style, popular in the North and the Carnatic, practiced in the Southern part of the country. My specialization is Carnatic music.
This is a very ancient and well developed system of music. We have treatises dating back to 200BC and even earlier.
Music has always been close to the heart and mind and is considered the shortest and easiest route to Salvation, MOKSHA. Most compositions in this period were devotional in nature and here we find that language does play a significant role. The compositions were intended for congregations and lay more emphasis on the lyrical rather than the musical content. However, these have laid the foundations for future developments in music and lyrical structure.
Basically, Carnatic music takes cognizance of the 12 notes and further defines them as 16 notes, including quarter tones. The system is based on a melodic pattern. The two intrinsic values are the Raga (the melody) and TALA (the rhythm). For a very basic understanding, Raga may be likened to a scale in Western music. But this is really an oversimplification. The word Raga has different meanings - Colour and Emotion
being prominent among them. Each Raga is a combination of different notes and this combination along with minute ornamentations, known as Gamakas, create different moods.
In any Raga, a note is not totally independent and isolated in its position or frequency. Rather, it is to be seen as a domain within which it operates. Another factor of significance here is its relation to the notes before and after it. The mode of sound travel from one note to another gives a raga its distinctive feature and in this way, it is very different from a scale. There is a scientific classification of 72 parent Ragas,i.e., ragas that take different combinations of the 7 notes within the octave, in the 16 note classification.
Another important feature of Carnatic music is the concept of a fixed basic pitch. The tonic note is fixed and the ragas are various combinations of notes within this fixed
octave. It is the interrelationship between these frequencies that create various moods.
In Indian culture there is a very beautiful concept of NAVARASA. Nava means nine and Rasa means emotion. Basically the emotions or moods are classified into nine—
- Sringara -- romantic
- Adbhuta -- amazing
- Hasya -- humour
- Bhayanaka-- fear
- Bhibhatsa -- disgust
- Karuna -- compassion
- Bhakti- devotion
- Roudra -- anger
- Shanta—peace
Of these, Sringara is considered the Lord of all rasas as it encompasses all the others in its fold. With the 16 note structure, these moods are communicated beautifully. Language may be used as an aid, but it is not even a necessary condition. The musical communication is absolute. If one were to rely on lyrics it would not be possible for instrumentalists to convey the emotions. In this context, the music of one region or a particular style can be communicated and understood by people anywhere in the world.
Another important aspect of musical communication is the Tala or rhythm. Carnatic music has a highly evolved rhythmic structure. There is beautiful crossplay of the tala creating a wonderful harmony in the musical presentation. The rhythmic cycles of 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are basic to carnatic music. There is a very scientific classification of 175 talas or rhythmic patterns that is astounding.
I will demonstrate and communicate through the Carnatic style of Indian Classical music in this seminar.
References
1.History of Indian Music by Prof.P Sambamoorthy, The Indian Music Publishing House, 1982.
2. The Cooking of Music by Sheila Dhar, distributed by Orient Longman, 2001.
