Transcript World Music

World Music
Music of India
Indian music is a classical art music
tradition with many similarities to
Western classical music:
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it appeals to and is patronized by a small,
educated segment of the population
it has a body of theory and a formal system of
study
it is disseminated through public concerts in
which there is an expected program order.
There are also significant differences
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pieces are mixed pre-composed and improvised
material
there are different levels of improvisation that
occur at specific points in a piece
a performer’s skill is measured by the ability to
improvise in free rhythm.
“It’s all the same music!”
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Western music uses mostly the same two types
of scales, major and minor.
Indian music uses about 250 different ragas.
Times of day
 Seasons
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Two major musical systems exist in
Indian music
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Karnatak (also spelled
Carnatic) in the south
Hindustani in the north
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Karnatak is the older Hindu tradition
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Hindustani has been influenced by the later
arriving Islamic culture. Hindustan is the region
of North India.
Roots of Indian Music
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The Vedas –– a corpus of texts originating in
Ancient India; the oldest scriptural texts of
Hinduism
Vedic chant–– intoned verses of
Vedas performed by Brahmin priests
http://www.youtube.com/v/A0tQt2CS9P4?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0
Indian culture, sometimes translated
as “caste”
Brahmin or Brahman - the highest
varna, or caste, in Indian society
http://www.youtube.com/v/Oh_xvKLhZHg?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0
North Indian “Hindustani” music
Hindustani music
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The Hindustani tradition encompasses Indo-Aryanspeaking areas of North India (including Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and Sinhalese areas of Sri Lanka). The
musician Tansen was brought to the Mughal court of
the Emperor Akbar in Delhi. The Mughals were
Muslims, as were the Hindustani musicians, so musician
families passed their profession through inheritance by
tradition while maintaining a low social status. The
dissolution of the Mughal court in the 18th century led
to a dispersal of musicians to other centers of
patronage.
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From the thirteenth century, the influence of
the Persian and Turkish cultures of Islam
became of singular importance for North India
when the foreigners established political control
over the area from the city of Delhi.
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Gharanas –– a school of professional musicians
in North India who originally traced their
heritage to a family tradition but which now
includes non-biological descendants as well. An
ustad is a master; a shagird is a student. The
gharanas extend from the famous sixteenthcentury musician Tansen, who was brought to
the imperial court near Delhi by the Mughal
Akbar.
Hindustani Instruments
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Sitar
Harmonium
Tambura
Tabla
Pakhavaj
Bansuri
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Sitar (Solo Instrument)
Tambura (Drone Instrument)
Tabla (Percussion, Membranophone)
These are the most important instruments
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Terms
Lay – tempo
Tal - Meter
Raga – A scale associated with musical characteristics
Gat-tora – The section of Hindustani inst.
Performance accompanied by tabla, in which a short
composed melody, the gat, is alternated with
improvisational passages, the tora
Alap – Raga improvisation at the beginning
Jor – After the Alap, introduces a pulse
Jhala – The concluding section of instrumental
improvisation. Following Jor, includes…
Tan – rapid and florid kind of improvisation
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This Example will take you through a typical North Indian form. The link
below is to your Pearson’s music website.
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http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/hss_nettl_worldmusic_6e/active_listening_guides/index.html#nettl6e
_alg03_ch02-lg
Ghazal, Bat Karane Mujhe Mushkil, by Zasar. Textbook CD1, track 3.
Rag: Pahari, a scale similar to the major scale but with occasional
accidentals Tala: Keharwa (8 beat)
Karnatac Music
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Tyagaraja –– a Karnatak musician and composer
of the eighteenth century who refused an
appointment to the southern court of Tanjore.
He instead composed songs for the god Rama,
and they were not kept as the inheritance of his
family tradition.
Guru –– in Karnatak music, teacher
Shishya –– in Karnatak music, a student
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Devadasis –– translates as “servants of the
gods.” In South India, they were female children
dedicated to the service of the temple and
received intensive training in the art of dance.
Being “married” to the temple deity, they were
not allowed to marry any man in the usual sense.
Karnatak
instruments
 Chordophones –– sitar, tambura, vina (stick zither of
Karnatak music), sarod (fretless lute of Hindustani
music), violin, guitar (played slide-guitar style) This
video is of Sarod
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Aerophones –– harmonium (free reed), shehnai
(double reed), bansuri (flute) This video is of
Shehnai.
Membranophones –– tabla, pakhavaj, mridangam
(double-headed, barrel-shaped drum)
Karnatak Terms
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Varnam –– a type of song with which Karnatak
recitals generally begins, sometimes compared to
the Western classical “etude” or “study”
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Kriti –– the major song type of Karnatak music,
divided into three parts: pallavi, anupallavi, and
caranam
Typical Karnatak recital
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Karnatak recitals include several items
starting with simple, pre-composed pieces with
little elaboration, moving to more complex
improvisatory structures, then concluding with
short fixed compositions. A typical performance
might include one or more of the following:
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Varnam: Etude-like pieces used mainly as warm-ups.
Kriti:
Performed with little/no improvisation.
Simple kritis consist of three sections: pallavi,
anupallavi, and caranam (pronounced charanam), all
accompanied by percussion in a regularized meter (tala).
The first portion of the pallavi serves as a refrain,
recurring at the end of all three sections. Texts are
usually devotional.
More complex kritis:
Preceded by ragam and tanam, and elaborated with
niraval and svarakalpana.
Ragam-tanam-pallavi:
 A long, largely improvised piece that may be sung or
played with augmentation/ diminution (trikala) of the
pallavi theme (usually a line from a kriti). It
demonstrates the musician’’s skill and requires
exceptional training, confidence, and spontaneous
creative ability.
Short lyrical pieces:
 Either from the dance repertoire (e.g., padam, javali, or
a fast tempo tillanam) or from Sanskrit devotional
verses.
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/hss_nettl_worldmusic_6e/active_listening_guides/index.html#n
ettl6e_alg02_ch02
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Kriti “Banturiti,” sung by Seetha Rajan,
composed by Tyagaraja. Textbook CD1, track 2 .
Raga: Hamsanadam (c-e-f#-g-b)
Tala: Adi (4 + 2 + 2 beats)
Key Concepts for the Unit
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Layers of Musical Activity:
Indian music performance, Karnatak and
Hindustani, is triple-textured, for there are
always three layers of musical activity: a melodic
soloist (ex. the sitar or singer), an accompanying
drummer (ex. the tabla or mridangam), and a
drone instrument (tambura). If the ensemble is
large, there may be secondary melodic and/or
percussion instruments.
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Raga (ragam in South India) is a way of making
melodic music. A raga has a scale, a typical order
of tones, a character that musicians agree on,
some non-musical ideas with which it is
connected, and a typical time of day and season
for performance. In North India there are some
200 ragas. In South India there are 72 main ragas
and many secondary ones.
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Tala (talam in South India) is a way of
organizing meter. It is a fixed, cyclically
repeating time span in which beats are arranged
in an abstract hierarchy. In South India there are
seven main talas and four secondary ones. In
North India there are many more.
Listening Skills
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Hearing the ayers of Musical Activity:
Melody and drone –– Drone may be understood
in terms of a steady repeated pattern serving as
a foundation under the melody. When a tambura
drones under a sitar, the two may sound like the
same instrument. The drum layer is more easily
recognizable due to its timbral character.
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Differentiating between North and South Indian Forms:
The simplest way to do this is by comparing a
South Indian kriti with a North Indian gat-tora,
demonstrating the greater structured nature of
the kriti and improvisational freedom of the gattora.
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Differentiating between Composed and Improvised
Material:
This can be clearly demonstrated in a South
Indian kriti in which a vocalist is accompanied
by a violinist. In improvised sections, the
violinist doesn’’t know what the vocalist will do,
so he lags slightly behind. In composed sections,
the tune is known to both performers, so they
play together.
Counting Exercise
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Counting Tala:
Each North Indian tala has a theka, a repeated pattern of
syllables (bols), used as a memory aid. Have students speak the
theka of tintal (4 + 4 + 4 + 4) while adding its hand movements
to the gat-tora section the CD1 track 1. + represents a clap, • a
finger count, and O a wave):
+
•
1 2
3
4
5
6
7
8
dha dhin dhin dha
dha
dhin dhin dha
O
9 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
dha tin
tin
ta
ta
dhin dhin dha