Article 2 - western music for the carnatic aficionado

Abstract
In this article, I will look at the way notes are represented in Western and how it maps into carnatic. At the end of this article, you should know how to take the sankarabharanam raaga and map it to any major scale. Along the way I will introduce the concept of intervals.

Warning
I am intentionally not spoonfeeding in this series of articles, since I assume you understand a branch of music fairly well, and can adapt using your way of thinking about and understanding music.

And we begin...
There are 12 notes in western music corresponding to the following
Sa - Ri1 - Ri 2 - Ga2 - Ga3 - Ma - Ma2 - Pa - Dha 1 - Dha 2 - Ni 2 - Ni3
Assuming for the moment, that the Sa corresponds to C, the corresponding equivalents would be
C - C# - D - D# - E - F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B

The # is read as a sharp. So C# is C sharp.

Lets now pick and map the notes of Sankarabharanam
Sa - Ri2 - Ga 3 - Ma - Pa - Dha 2 - Ni 2 - Sa
From the above grid, these map to
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

To progress any further, it is important to introduce intervals. The interval is the difference between 2 notes. There are two intervals we must understand to be able to comprehend how scales work. These intervals are
- Minor second
- Major second

Examples of minor second intervals are

• Sa to Ri1
• Ga3 to Ma
• Pa to Dha1

Basically the distance between any two notes that are right next to each other is a minor second.

In the western equivalent, the same interval examples (assuming Sa as C) would become

• C to C#
• E to F
• G to G#

A major second is 2 minor seconds. Examples of major second intervals would be

• Sa to Ri2
• Ri2 to Ga3
• Dha 2 to Ni 3
  

The same examples translated to western music (assuming Sa as C) would be

• C to D
• D to E
• A to B

Note now that the concept of intervals is absolute. The interval between a C and a C# is ALWAYS a minor second interval. This is regardless of whether the Sa maps to a C or to a D or to anything else. Because C and C# are fixed frequencies (or multiples thereof in the case of octaves), the interval (which is essentially a ratio of pitches) remains constant.

The notations IIm and IIM are used to denote the minor 2nd and major 2nd intervals. Let us now take Sankarabharanam and understand how it maps to the interval pattern above.

Sa - Ri2 - Ga2 - Ma - Pa - Dha 2 - Ni 3 - Sa
IIM IIM IIm IIM IIM IIM IIm

This interval scheme gives us a clue on how we can start Sa on any note and successfully create the rest of the major scale successfully (remember that the major scale in western equates to sankarabharanam in carnatic).

Before we plunge into that, a short exercise is needed to ensure you get the western intervals down in your head. Figure out the intervals between the following sets of notes. Answers right at the end of this article
SELF CHECK 1
1) C - D
2) E - F
3) G - A
4) D - D#
5) E - F#
6) B - C
7) G - G#

If you couldnt get all of these right, go back to the beginning of this article, and get the mapping of carnatic to western clearly in your head.

The interval of IIm is also called a semi-tone(S), and the interval of a IIM is also referred to as a tone (T).

The intervals for a sankarabharanam therefore can also be represented as

Sa - Ri2 - Ga2 - Ma - Pa - Dha 2 - Ni 3 - Sa
T T S T T T S

The sankarabharanam scale is therefore built on the following interval sequence
TTSTTTS (Tone - Tone - SemiTone - Tone - Tone - Tone - Semitone)

Now this forms the basis of creating a major scale starting on any note.
Lets start with a C. Built on this interval pattern, we have the following notes emerging
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
This, then is the C major scale.

Start with a G and the following emerges
G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G
This constitutes the G major scale.

Start with an F, and we get the following
F - G - A- Bb - C - D - E - F

I know I sneaked in a notation there that you probably were a little lost on - Bb. The b is read asa a flat. So a Bb would be a B flat. It is exactly the same as an A#. Just like you have an overlap between Dha3 and Ni2, so too there are overlaps in western music. However, while you cannot refer to the Bb in the F major scale as an A# even though the note is the same, and the sound it makes is the same. This is because in a scale, each of the 7 notes must have a representation (and certain other reasons which we wont get into now). Since A already has a representation, calling Bb as an A# would lead to two representations for A, and none for B, which is not ok.

If you have got this far, you should be able to figure out this next set of exercises to test your own understanding.

SELF CHECK 2
Work out the notes of the following major scales
1) D major
2) A major
3) Bb major
4) Eb major

Answers are at the bottom.

In the next lesson, we will explore how the Keeravani maps on to the western scale, and proceed for there to how we can get just about any raag mapped out.

ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK 1
1) C - D :: IIM
2) E - F :: IIm
3) G - A :: IIM
4) D - D# :: IIm
5) E - F# :: IIM
6) B - C :: IIm
7) G - G# :: IIm

ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK 2
1) D major :: D - E - F# - G - A - B - C# - D
2) A major :: A - B - C# - D - E - F# - G# - A
3) Bb major :: Bb - C - D - Eb - F - G - A - Bb
4) Eb major :: Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C - D - Eb