Area of study 4 The Indian subcontinent has many different styles of music. These can be divided into: Classical Folk Popular music There are two main types of Indian music: Hindustani (North) Carnatic (South) Although they have their similarities there are differences in them in form and instrumentation. North Indian music is most frequently performed in the west and therefore most familiar with western ears. Indian musicians do not study their art in books but by learning to perform it: Singing (example of oral tradition) and playing are learnt by imitation and memorisation This way, masters pass on their own style of playing to their pupils. Students will belong to what is known as gharana
an extended family of musicians learning from a particular master &living in the same roof This is known as the master-student tradition. Indian classical music is usually based on a combination of rag, tal and drone. A drone is a note held (or repeated) throughout a passage of music. Rag Rag is not a melody Rag is not a scale Rag is not a key It is a combination of all three Each rag has a particular ascending or descending pattern – that are not necessarily the same One or two notes of the rag have a special significance which will be emphasized in the melody, others will be embellished Raga are associated with different times of the day, with seasons or with particular moods and others are assigned for special occasions.
Traditionally Indian musicians prefer to play raga at the time of day they are associated with. In Indian music a system called sargam is used for naming the notes. SA and PA are fixed and cannot be altered but MA can be sharpened (tivra =sharp) RI, GA, DHA and NI can be flattened (komal = flat) A dot above the note name means that it is played or sung an octave above A dot below the note name...