As promised here is a demonstration of the superior quality of Indian cultural forms vs Western form.
As was discussed earlier we can identify how developed a culture is by the depth, complexity, texture and refinement of their cultural forms. Also the greater their capacity for introversion is a mark of a highly developed culture.
[B][U]Indian classical music vs Western classical music[/U][/B]
First what is the dharma of music? Music is the most beautiful of the arts, because it mirrors what this universe really is at the fundamental level: vibrations of matter. Thus, music should invoke certain vibrations within us and create moods naturally. Thus ones musical forms have to have the expressive ability to do this. Ultimately, music should be able to create spiritual vibrations with us. In this sense music is more than art - it is a science of communing with the universe.
In the “What is enlightenment thread” I posted one short comparison between Indian music and Western, but it failed to show why Indian music was superior. I have done some more research and found some articles and comments by more learned people on Indian and Western music.
Subject and theme
[B]Western:[/B]
The majority of Western classical music is loud, fast and dramatic. It is usually polyphonic involving an assortment of instruments playing their own melody skillfully orchestrated to often produce a story. Its main function is to entertain and dazzle. They also have a dramatic storytelling effect with different instruments coming in appointed times. It a highly controlled and fixed form, reflecting the mechanistic worldview of its origins.
Here are some examples:
Mozart, Requiem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8vJ_lMxQI
Beethoven, Symphony no 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKbkpokQ-hE&feature=related
[B]Indian:[/B]
The majority of Indian music is quiet, slow and meditative, often involving few instruments. It is usually monophonic with a solo instrument, and supporting instruments playing the same melody together and complimenting one another. Its main function is to bring one into a meditation or generally into deep contemplative state or deep immersion in a mood. There is no drama or storytelling through music. It is highly improvisational, often composed on the spot to express the mood of the occasion, reflecting the spiritual worldview of it origins.
Here are some good example:
[B]Compare:[/B] There is more purity in the Indian pieces, pure melody and a sacredness about it. If one listens to it induces a meditative state. The Western pieces are full of drama, noise even yelling and torment - the very opposite of meditation. I tried to test the reaction of my mother to the music as she was hearing it for the first time, and she was not very impressed. She said it sounded scary, noisy and tormenting. This is not to undermine Mozart and Beethoven, because their skill in creating drama is commendable - but the Indian pieces achieive a higher purpose of putting one into a deeper state of consciousness.
[B][U]Range, scale and expressiveness[/U][/B]
[B]Western:[/B]
The Western scale is an octive consists of 7 main notes and 12 semitones on an equally tempered scale. This means that the distance between each note is equal. Here is a Western scale:
Key # Key color Frequency (Hz) Name
1 White 240 C
2 Black 254 C # (D b)
3 White 269 D
4 Black 285 D # (E b)
5 White 302 E
6 White 320 F
7 Black 338.5 F (G b)
8 White 358.5 G
9 Black 380 G # (A b)
10 White 402 A
11 Black 426 A # (B b)
12 White 451 B
[B]Indian:[/B]
The India scale is an octive which consists of 7 main notes and 22 microtones on a just tempered scale, meaning the distance between each note is not the same ratio. They are selected simply because they sound good. Here is an Indian scale
Sruti Frequency Frequency ratio (Hertz)
Sa 1 240
Ri 1 32/31 252.8
Ri 2 16/15 256
Ri 3 10/9 266.6
Ri 4 9/8 270
Ga 1 32/27 284.4
Ga 2 6/5 288
Ga 3 5/4 300
Ga 4 81/64 303.7
Ma 1 4/3 320
Ma 2 27/20 324
Ma 3 45/32 337.5
Ma 4 64/45 341.3
Pa 3/2 360
Dha 1 128/81 379
Dha 2 8/5 384
Dha 3 5/3 400
Dha 4 27/16 405
Ni 1 16/9 426.6
Ni 2 9/5 432
Ni 3 15/8 450
Ni 4 31/16 465
As Indian music is improvisional there is no demand that one must stick even to the 22 microtone, theoretically one can glide up and down the scale between infinite frequencies, even nanotones if one was that good!. An Indian musical artist shows their talent by how deeply they can penetrate into the note, to the most subtle of vibrations. This reflects the Indian worldview of how reality is a continuum going from gross to most subtle.
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[B]Compare:[/B] There is without any doubt more expression and range in the Indian scale giving a more smoothe transistion between notes and allowing for amazing dexterity and skill that is exclusive to only Indian music. My ex-girlfriend who was a singer and did musical theatre once listened to an Indian piece and mistook the Indian vocal gymnatics to be “vibrato” she was shocked when she realised it was all controlled and precise and exclaimed that such skill is unheard of in Western music. Indian music, even children can do it.
Here is an excerpt from an article explaining the difference:
Why, some Indian schools of thought even propose that there are infinite frequencies in an octave. The basic reason for such demands for more than twelve ‘srutis’ per octave is that Indian music, (not just Karnatic music) seems to ‘flow’ through the frequencies, whereas a Western song seems ‘jumpy’. Take for example, ‘Baa baa black sheep’ and compare it to an Indian song, say, a movie song like ‘Roop tera mastaana’. The Indian song seems to involve a lot of vocal acrobatics and nuances and not just go through piano-like jumps. This is the main difference between the Indian and Western music and we will return to this point again and again in this primer.
This is the reason why Indian classical music cannot be played effectively in a twelve key per octave instrument like a piano. Of course, several Western instruments have been ‘adapted’ with a little modification here and there, to play Indian classical music - violin, mandolin and guitar, for example. Some other instruments have been simply ‘used’, without modification, such as the harmonium and its latest cousin, the keyboard. Indian purists abhor such blatant use of Western, ‘equally tempered’ instruments. Expert harmonium player, Rajan Parrikar, points out that ‘Just tempered’ harmoniums, harmoniums with 22 tones per octave, even over 50 tones per octave etc have been built by various people.Now let us come back to this basic difference between the Western and the Indian classical music system. We noted that in Indian music it is not enough to produce just twelve or even twenty two ‘tones’ in an octave. One ought to produce even the intermediate frequencies. These intermediate frequencies, which do not have any keys to produce them, are called ‘microtones’. The Indian word for the ‘microtone’ is ‘gamakam’. (of course, ‘gamak’ in hindi) It is often very difficult to explain this concept clearly and precisely. If the C key produces 240 Hz and the C# key produces 254 Hz what intermediate frequencies are we talking about ? Does Indian music use sounds produced at 247 Hz ? Treatises have been written in India about such microtonal apects of music. Suffice it to say that microtones or gamakams tend to be clustered around the primary key frequency, although this need not always be the case.
Note that if you postulate that an Indian music octave has twenty two or two hundred keys or infinity per octave, then what used to be a ‘microtone’ in a twelve-key system could now very well be a key. Of course, you can make a piano with such large number of tones per octave. It may be a long piano and you will need a superhuman dexterity to play it. But the positive side of it is that you will be able to play Indian music on it. The bottomline is, the piano produces just twelve frequencies in one octave and that is enough to compose a lot of Western songs. Whereas, to make Indian music, twelve keys are not enough in an octave.
Let us talk some more about microtones or gamakams. The vocal gliding and rolling in Indian music, (Remember Kishore Kumar’s yodelling ?) whether it sounds good or not, are again examples of microtone usage. In fact, the microtones add variety to the Indian classical music - an extra dimension. From movie songs to folk music to classical music, the very heart of Indian music is this ‘continuous flow’ or ‘gliding through a continuum of frequencies’ or gamakam or microtonal excursions. Thus it is often said that Indian music is ‘melody-based’. Since microtones are so important in Karnatic and Hindustani music and very few instruments can produce all the frequencies in an octave, the best enunciation of Indian classical music is in vocal singing. Many instruments like the violin, Gottuvadhyam (called Chitra Veena these days) and even the simple bamboo flute can produce a lot of gamakams, of course.
This Western music is highly limited in its range and expression and does not glide as smoothly as Indian music. Some of the acrobatics done in Indian singing would be impossible do in Western music:
Here are some good examples(Please watch each clip for at least 3 min to get a better appreciation)
Carntic, south Indian:
Hindustani, North Indian:
A famous old Hindi film song, by one of my fav singers:
Compare this to what is considered good singing in Western music:
There is no control in the voice, just vibrato and modulation and screaming high notes. It looks quite pitiful in comparison.
[B][U]Harmony[/U][/B]
[B]Western:[/B]
Western music is dominated by the concept of “harmony” that is to have several instruments playing their own melodies and doing their own thing at once i.e., orchestra, but in skillful coordination and construction - or by having chords(pressing more than 1 key at the same time)
[B]Indian[/B]:
In Indian music “harmony” is more or less absent, although other instruments to play, they compliment the main melody and remain in tune with it throughout. It is considered jarring in Indian music for an instrument to play a different tune.
Comparison: "Harmony " in Western music is a misnomer, because there is nothing harmonious about having a cacophony of sounds and several instruments playing different tunes at the same time. In fact the real harmony is in the Indian music, where every instrument compliments the main instrument and melody and work together to create the same mood.
I would not use the words harmony is completely unknown, because the Taanpura does provide some harmony. There are several tanpura tunings each of which produces certain overtones which are used to align notes with. Also the swarmandal is used to provide a backdrop (with the taanpura).
The whole North Indian system of 22 notes per scale called shrutis are found by using a cycle of fifths, fourths, and third (ie DO, MI, FA, and SO in solfa). One reason why Indian classical (epecially the north Indian style), does not use what Western musicians call harmony, is because when these cords are heard very critically, they are not ideally harmonious, and therefore don’t actually qualify as harmony from a perfectionist point of view. To understand this, make the following experiment. Take a user scale tunable synthesizer and reduce E by 14 cents and raise G by 2 cents, then play the C Major triad. Remove all vibrato and modulation so that the notes are almost pure sine wave and select a continuous note instrument like the flute or organ (but absolutely no vibrato). Now keep playing this C Major chord continuously for a prolonged period. Notice how peaceful and smooth it sounds. This is the harmony of the Taanpura when perfectly tune to DO and SO (MI emanates as an overtone). Now abrubtly switch back to C Major on the Western Equal tempered scale. If your ears are sensitive enough, you will find the tempered scale distinctly jarring. Perhaps, this excercise should not be recommended to Western Musicians, since being highly pitch sensitive, they will at once here the imperfections and may never again be completely happy with Western Chords once they experience the bliss of the perfect C Major triad. Indian classical music uses prolonged notes during the ALAAP (meditative Phase). This is the time when even a few cycles per second off the correct frequency will produce a beating sound which is considered unmusical from the Indian classical perspective. Western music doesn’t excessively prolong notes (at least not to the extent that Indian classical does) so that the Equal Tempered scales with the imperfections are not as noticeable.
So, we do use harmony in Indian classical, but it’s only the perfect harmony of a few chords that can only be played in a single scale. This is also why we don’t change scales. All our music is in one scale, yet we acheive an almost infinite variety of by using 2000+ raagas. Furthermore, we have glides meend across one of more notes and gammak (fast portmento) to express emotions, which is almost missing in Western music where all the notes sound too plain.
http://nirvana73.blogspot.com/2008/03/indian-classical-music-vs-western.html
[B][U]Melody:[/U][/B]
[B]Western:[/B]
Melody in Western classical music is lesser important than harmony and chords and many Western pieces sound similar to one another. If you have heard 5 different types, you have already heard most of them. This is especially true for modern Western music.
[B]Indian:[/B]
Melody in Indian music is the most important part of the music. In the standard Indian scale of 22 microtones hundreds if not thousands of individual melodies are possible, making each piece sound unique. These possible melodies are known as ragas or a sequence or subset of notes. A very basic raga is ascending and descending the seven notes: sa re ga ma pa da ne sa, sa ne da pa ma ga re sa.
For example, if you heard the song ‘Vande maataram, Shujalaam shuphalaam…’ you can tell that it has its own identity, which is different from the way ‘Jana gana mana…’ or ‘Roop tera mastana …’ sound. This song is in fact, based on a Ragam called ‘Desh’.
How do we forge such special musical identities using a keyboard ? The answer lies in choosing just a SUBSET of keys out of the twelve keys available in an octave (instead of all twelve) and sticking to just this subset of keys while making music. If you used all the keys in the keyboard to compose one song, you may not create anything with an identity. (You will see, as you understand more about music that this statement is strictly not true. There are nice-sounding musical compositions where almost all the keys are used)
Is there a lower limit on how FEW keys we can choose in our subset and still get by ? If we chose a subset of just three keys (say, the first three white keys) in an octave and limit ourselves to those keys, we see that we don’t have much variety to the melodies we can produce. It may sound like a drum beating. But is devoid of any special melodic personality. In general, (note that this is not an absolute law) one chooses five or six or seven keys out of the twelve keys available in an octave. More about these selection rules later. Once these keys are selected, the corresponding keys in the other octaves are also automatically selected and used in melody making.
In the context of Indian music, one has an extra degree of freedom. One can choose one set of keys to go up in frequency in the octave and choose an entirely different set to come down the octave, if we so desire. The key sequence to go up is called ‘Arohanam’ and the key sequence which forms the descending order is called the ‘Avarohanam’. More about it later as well ! Let us now stick to ‘symmetric’ choices while going up or down. At the risk of sounding repetitive, let me say that you can always decide to be a non-conformist and follow none of these so-called rules and conventions. Music is after all, a creative art and the final criterion is whether it sounds pleasing.
Some popular ragas:
All Raagas have a starting phase which lasts for 1-2 min which are slow and meditative, and then it speeds up. This is proper and real music. If you have never heard Indian raaga music before, you are in for a surprise. Remember to make an effort to appreciate it.
Raaga Anandi Kalyan
Raaga Yaman
Raaga(does not specify)
Raag Desh
Raaga Shri
Songs based on Raagas:
Each raaga is classified according to the mood it elicits thus some raagas are considered ideal to be played at different times of the day(morning, night, evening) or different reasons.
[B][U]In conclusion [/U][/B]
Indian classical music and Western classical music are not just different, but Indian classical music is a more refined, developed and definitely more superior musical system. Its scope is more more noble and spiritual, meditative and about composing music in the situation to express the mood, whereas Western music is just the opposite loud and dramatic and all rehearsed and orchestrated.
It has far greater range and expression due its use of microtones, and in practice even the 22 microtones are not enough, and even greater subtle nunances are produced. This allows for smooth and effortless gliding up and down the scale, whereas in the Western scale it is jumpy. Many of the feats done by Indian vocalists are impossible to do in its Western counterpart.
The production of sound is more pure and hence why Indian classical music does not allow for Western type harmony with chords and orchestra which end up diluting the purity of the sound and producing a cacophony of noise. Rather in the Indian system other instruments act as supporting players and play along to the main melody.
The strongest point about Indian system is its huge emphasis on producing beautiful melodies with its unique raaga system, each raaga has its own personality. This is completely absent in Western classical music, where all music sounds samey.
