I dropped the last article off with a plan of talking about Keeravani and how other ragas can be mapped onto the western scale. Here goes.
Keeravani's notes translated into intervals are
Sa - Ri2 - Ga2 - Ma1 - Pa - Dha1 - Ni3 - Sa
IIM IIm IIM IIM IIm IIA IIm
There is a new interval here that I have called IIA. This refers to what is called an Augmented second interval. This is equal to 3 semitones. As a quick refresher, IIM is also called a tone, and IIm is also called as a semitone.
So the interval-lic pattern for the Keeravani raag is
IIM - IIm - IIM - IIM - IIm - IIA - IIm.
Starting with any note on the scale, if we build using this interval pattern, the Keeravani raag will result.
Starting with C for example, this would be
C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - B - C
Starting with D, this would look as follows:
D - E - F - G - A - Bb - C# - D
This scale pattern is called the minor scale in western music.
So when a piece of music is written in C Major, it comprises the following notes
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
When a piece of music is written in C minor, it comprises the following notes
C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - B - C
With this background, it becomes obvious that any raag (without the gamakam aspect) can be fitted onto the standard piano. Take the root note (Sa) and build the intervals on top of it.
To illustrate, Kalyani, starting on the C note as Sa, would be as follows:
C - D - E - F# - G - A - B - C
The F# is the equivalent of Ma2. Note that it is 3 tones away from C (Sa). This is referred to as a tritone in western music.
The fundamental way in which western music differs from carnatic is that carnatic music is largely horizontal - melody driven. Western music has two dimensions - horizontal and vertical (melody and harmony).
The basic elements of harmony will be the contents of the next article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Dear Rajesh,
"western music differs from carnatic is that carnatic music is largely horizontal - melody driven. Western music has two dimensions - horizontal and vertical (melody and harmony)"
So I don't think we are making a fair comparison because a melody in Carnatic includes the gamaka aspect while a melody in Western need not (or maybe even 'does not'). Thus, I think while Western indeed has two dimesions, one could argue that Indian classical has a richer (arguably) horizontal dimension or that the gamakas indeed add an extra dimension. Anyway, we can discuss this more later. Eagerly awaiting the lesson on harmony..
-Harish
The word I used, quite carefully I must add, was "differs". I do not intend to claim superiority of western over carnatic music at all, and I definitely do not intend this blog as a debate on this subject :)
Likewise. My intention was not to debate superiority of a genre but just to comment that melody could mean slightly different things in the two contexts. Although, on second reading, my earlier post does seem a bit argumentative - sorry!
Post a Comment