Human activities follow a pattern of rhythms.
As we talk, there is a rhythm. The thinking process, movements of limbs and body —all involve rhythm.
The basic pattern followed in all forms of music—folk, modern or classical—cater both to our intellectual curiosity and our emotional needs.
Even by unconsciously following any musical pattern, our thinking and emotional processes become regulated, paving the way for our all-around health, growth and happiness.
Synchronization of Body and Mind with Rhythms in Music
Listen to the way the military bands play. First, they have definite beats, emanating from huge drums: DA – DHANG, DA-DHANG, DA-DHANG. These sounds synchronize with the body rhythms of a soldier, facilitating a perfect march.
As the drum calculatedly determines the pace of the soldiers, the melody helps in killing the monotony of travail (left-right-left, being endlessly repeated) until an order is given to halt.
Not only body movement but also thinking and behavior are influenced by music. In other words, our culture is shaped greatly by the type of music we listen to.
Indian Freedom and European Discipline Mirrored in their Music
Take for example, European orchestration. Here, one comes across the system of polyphony which pre-supposes strict teamwork, total cooperation and perfect coordination. In other words, a strong sense of discipline among the artists and a blind team spirit are necessary to achieve the musical goal.
Western notes, unlike Indian swaras, are rigidly fixed, as they simply cannot oscillate beyond the predetermined frequencies. The current standard of the ‘concert pitch’, as agreed on at the international conferences held of 1939 and 1960, makes the frequency of the middle ‘C’ 261.6 Hz. This system insists on a high degree of accuracy; no perceptible deviation is tolerated by discerning musicians and critics. I believe the ideals of orderliness and sense of team discipline classical western system of music promotes – have helped considerably in regimentalizing western people’s life-style, and robotizing their human interactions.
In contrast to this, the oscillations (gamakas) of Carnatic swaras have thrown open the doors of resilience, freedom and flexibility to the Indian society. It is here that ‘sa’ can be made to sound `ri’ and ‘ri’ , ‘ga’, which tremendously enhances the bhava in the raga.
A Carnatic raga-explorer, is thus not only allowed to “jay-walk” into the adjacent territories of sound frequencies allotted for a swara, but he or she can also expect kudos for such ‘smart’ deviation! The reason is that the artist is able to bring in the desired bhava, through his labor of love (call it ‘flexibility’, or ‘indiscipline’!) in a creative manner.
As a consequence, this ‘love-thy-neighbor-swara–policy’, in the rendering of a swara , gives a Carnatic musician a sense of fulfillment as he can be creative in exploring and expanding his (musical) consciousness, within the traditional parameters-for rendering the raga. Such individual freedom, however, may be lacking in some Indian compositions. gitam, varnam, kriti etc., have formal rules as complex as their Western counterparts such as the concerto, sonata, fugue and toccata. (Likewise, some Western musical styles, though not orchestral music, favor improvised melodic embellishment and expressive bending of pitches—ed.)
Team ‘Indiscipline’
Even in a concert—be it Carnatic or Hindustani—one can easily sense how the deviating “accompanist” (usually in sarod, harmonium or violin) at times out-smarts the main musician to garner some claps.
Exploring the “edge” of a musical phrase stated by the main singer, and developing it into a novel interpretation, can never be called ‘indiscipline’ as long as it does not totally overshadow the main singer!
Devotees of the Western classical music system would, however, shudder to think of such disorderly meandering by the second violins, let alone tolerate it!
Tolerance to One’s Manodharma: ‘Indianness’ in Music
Indian society and its musical culture seem to be more tolerant towards personal expression than their classical western counterparts.
The same musical freedom available in sabhas is also available on the streets! Watch the seemingly erratic flow of the vehicular traffic on the road, each one trying to reach its destination outsmarting the other! Even a cycle overtaking a Chevrolet caught in a traffic jam is something quite common!
The apparent circumventing to reach the goals reminds us of the behavior of swaras! At the same time, there is a mystic bond that exists on the roads which prevents fatal accidents!
Alap or alapana, the extempore elaboration of a raga, is a 100% creative experience. The process here facilitates the free expansion of one’s (musical) consciousness within a set of ground rules and constraints that define each raga.
The depth, sweep and flexibility allowed in Indian musical experience could be a reason for the therapeutic role of ragas, glorified in ancient literature.
Ragas, with their inherent flexibility, can prove a most useful basis of music therapy for tackling modern-day illnesses such as stress, as stress is itself the product of inflexibility in our life-styles!
A BRIEF GLOSSARY OF INDIAN MUSICAL TERMS (Abbreviations used: C= Carnatic; H=Hindustani)
| Alap (H) | Also, Alapana (C) (Lit.’to spread’) Extempore, creative unfolding of a raga, often sans beats. |
| Bhava (C & H) | The deep emotional content of a raga, believed to be its ‘soul’. |
| Carnatic Music. | Also, Karnatak Music. The elaborate classical system of music, originated and developed in southern parts of India |
| Gamaka (C &H) | (Lit. ‘to warm up) Oscillations of a note, referred to as ’embellishment’ (There are 8 types of gamakas) (From the word gam,’to acquire pace’.) |
| Gitam (C ) | The simplest of the musical forms, which is not usually divided into many sections. |
| Hindustani (H) | The highly developed system of music prevalent in the northern parts of India. |
| Kriti (C) | A devotional composition in Carnatic music as rigid as Dhrupad. |
| Manodharma sangita (C) | Improvised or extemporized music. |
| Raga (C & H) | A musical scale, unique to Indian music, which utilizes varying ascending (aroha) and descending (avaroha) patterns. |
| Sarod | A large fretless plucked string instrument shaped like a lute, with 18, 19 or 25 metal strings . |
| Sabha (C ) | A concert hall for Indian music |
| Swara (C & H) | Also, Sur (H). (Lit. swa= self; ra= shining forth) . An Indian note, distinguishable from the ‘note’ of the Western system, as it is based on the human vocal utterance. Indian instruments, when playing swaras, are supposed to imitate the human voice and its range |
| Varnam (C ) | A composition in Carnatic music with limited verse, but pregnant with swara possibilities in a raga that brings out bhaava. |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crandall, J., Self-Transformation Through Music. Delhi, 1986
Gaynor, M. L., The Healing Power of Sound. Boston, 2002
Sairam, T. V. , Raga Therapy. Chennai, 2004
This article was published in MUSIC FOR THE LOVE OF IT – September 2007
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, July 14, 2021