In the study of this set work you will learn about:

1. Indian Raga - Rag Desh • In the study of this set work you will learn about: • the importance of improvising music as part of the oral tradition • the rag as a form of Indian melody • the tala as the basic cyclic rhythm pattern • the musical characteristics of the different sections of a raga • performance • common Indian instruments and playing techniques • an analysis of Rag Desh,

2. Indian music • Indian music has a long history, going back more that 2000 years. • It is closely linked to Hinduism and religious philosophy. • The many Hindu gods are often worshiped through performances of raga, both vocal and instrumental. • In particular, the god Shiva is associated with music and dance in Hindu philosophy and there are many pieces in praise and honour of this particular deity. • The music of India can be divided into two great musical traditions: • The music of Northern India (the Hindustani tradition) & the music of the South (the Carnatic tradition). • The set work is taken from the Indian classical tradition of Northern India.

3. The oral tradition • Unlike Western classical music, Indian music is not written down as conventional musical notation. • Instead, it is taught through listening and playing by ear - called the oral tradition. • Indian families have a system of master-pupil teaching known as a gharana. • A father might teach his son how to play through an intensive course involving listening and memorising. • The son would then pass on his skills to the next generation and so on. • However, playing styles will inevitably change as new techniques are added by subsequent generations and so the process is a duel oneof consolidation and evolution of playing skills.

4. Elements of a raga • The three most common elements or strands in Indian classical raga music are: • the melody - made up (improvised) from notes of a particular rag. Sung by a voice or played by an instrument such as the sitar or sarod • the drone - a supporting 'drone' of usually one or two notes provided by the tambura • the rhythm - a repetitive, cyclic rhythm pattern played by the tabla drums.

5. Melody - the rag • The rag is the set melody on which the music is improvised. • This is a cross between a collection of pitches and a scale. • Like a scale, a rag ascends and descends, but the pitches often differ in each direction. • Unlike the pattern of scales in Western classical music with the same number of notes, the number of notes in a rag will vary considerably. • Some rags have just five notes, rather like the pentatonic scale. • Other rags commonly have seven or eight notes. Here are two examples: one an early morning rag called Vibhasand the other a night-time rag called Kalyan • There are over 200 different rags in existence in Indian classical music, and each has a particular mood (called a rasa) associated with it. • There are celebration rags, seasonal rags and even some associated with certain feelings and emotions. • The music is then made up by the performers. This technique of making up music without notation is called improvisation.

6. Drone accompaniment - the tambura • There is no sense of harmony in Indian raga music - the emphasis is placed purely on the melody and is therefore linear in concept. • However, from the very first notes of a piece, you will hear a supportive drone played by the tambura. • This usually sounds the tonic and dominant notes of the chosen rag. • Its function is to keep a sense of tuning or intonation as a reference point for the melodic part, such as the sitar. • Its ever-present sound adds texture to the music as a whole.

7. Rhythm - the tala • The rhythm provided by the small tabla drums is organised into repeating rhythmic cycles called tala. • The most common tala is the teental (or tintal), which is a 16-beat pattern (with each beat called a matras) organised in four bars as 4+4 + 4+4. • There are many other talas with different numbers of beats per cycle, including 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. • The complex rhythms sound exciting when played against this steady beat by both the tabla player as well as the instrumentalist (or singer). • These rhythm patterns, called bols, are independent of the beat and can be inventive, displacing accents off the beat to create syncopations. • However, these rhythms must start and end together precisely on the first beat of the cycle, called sam. • In a raga performance, this can lead to exciting competitions between instrumentalist and drummer as they attempt to copy and out do each other's clever and novel rhythmic ideas whilst still keeping within the cycle of beats - a sort of musical duel!

8. The structure of a raga performance • A raga performance usually has a structure based on defined sections called • the alap, jhor, jhallaand gat (this is called a bandishif the piece is vocal). • However: some sections can be omitted, for example a raga might just have an alap and a gat. • raga performances can vary vastly in time - up to five or more hours in some cases! Some performances can last all night! • The table on the next slide shows the main characteristics of each section of a raga.

10. Indian Instruments Bansuri (Flute) Sarod Rebab Sitar (plays the melody / raga Tambura (plays the drone) Shehnai Harmonium Tumbi Sarangi Dholak Tabla (plays the tala)

11. The sitar • This is the most well-known plucked string instrument. • It has seven principal metal strings of which two are used as drone notes. • Below these are usually up to a dozen loose-fretted strings called 'sympathetic', as they vibrate when the top strings are plucked. • This gives the traditional 'twangy' sound that makes the instrument instantly recognisable. • The main strings are played by plucking with a wire plectrum. Two common playing techniques are: • sliding between notes (called meendor mind) in intervals of quarter • tones or less playing rapid scale-like flourishes called tan. These virtuoso passages of improvisation feature in later sections of a typical raga performance, i.e. the jhalla and gat.

12. Other instruments • The sarangiThis is smaller than the sitar and differs in that it is fretless and uses a bow rather than plucking the strings. A bit like a violin, the instrument has a gentle tone and is ideally used to accompany singers. • The sarodis also smaller than the sitar but like a sitar it has two sets of strings to create the distorted effect common to the sitar. It is fretless and has a metal fingerboard so that the player can slide up and down the strings to obtain different notes. The instrument has a lower range and heavier tone than the sitar. • The tamburaA simple instrument with only four strings and a resonator. It is used to provide the drone notes to accompany the singer or instrumentalist. • TablaThis is a small set of two drums of different sizes - the smaller one made of wood is called the tablaand the larger one made of metal is the baya. Both drum heads are of skin and the black centre circle is made of a paste of iron filings and flour. The drums play the chosen rhythm cycle, known as the tala, as well as improvisatory rhythms. • The flute (bansuri) and oboe (shehnai) do not have keys like modern Western equivalents but a series of holes. The players skilfully managed to produce a wide range of pitches by half covering the holes and varying the blowing. Sliding effects, as on string instruments, are possible too.

13. RAG DESH • This rag is traditionally played at night. • Rag Desh (which translates as 'country') is also known as a rainy season or • monsoon raga. • The primary moods (rasa) expressed are devotion, romance and longing, • with origins in courtly love songs called thumri. • The notes used in Rag Desh are based on the Indian system known as • sargamin which the notes are named Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa. • The tonic note is C (Sa) and this forms the principal drone note. • The notes in Rag Desh are: • Sa Re Ma Pa Ni Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa • C D F G B C’ Bb A G F E D C • There are three versions of the Rag Desh for you to study and compare and contrast with each other.

22. Glossary • gharanaIndian system of master-pupil teaching • raga improvised music in several contrasting sections, based on a series of notes from a particular rag • pentatonic scale a scale built on five notes (penta=5) of the scale on the first, second, third, fifth and sixth degrees of the scale. In C major, these are C, D, E, G and A • rasa mood created by the sounds of the pitches in a particular rag • bolsin a tala, these are the independent rhythm parts that go against the main beat of the cycle creating exciting syncopations • matrasindividual beats in a rhythmic cycle • sam the first beat of the rhythmic cycle • syncopations notes accented off the beat. The weak part of the beat is often emphasised • teental (or tintal) common 16-beat (4+4+4+4) rhythmic cycle • meend/mind the sliding effects between notes • tan the rapid scalic flourishes on the sitar/sarod or sarangai • timbre particular tone colour of an instrument or voice

23. Text taken from Edexcel GCSE Music – John Arkell, Jonny Martin Pearson Education Ltd. 2009