Indian Classical Music: From Ragas to Talas

When visiting India, tourists are constantly reminded that they are not in America anymore. Everything is different, but most notably, the music. Indian Classical Music is different from Western Classical Music in nearly every way.

Several countries in Asia adopted Buddhism or Hinduism throughout time. Even the languages were not entirely unique to India alone. The music is so recognizably 'Occident,' that it is often used in movies to represent other countries aside from itself. In other words, this music is more authentically eastern than the subject's own music. For example, I heard a piece of Indian music going in the background of a documentary on Central Asia. Because of this, a laymen to music needs only hear the first strums of a Sitar to be able to place it to 'the East,' or more specifically, India. Because of this uniqueness, I chose to investigate the theoretical details further.

The most rudimentary of music texts details the modal system known as Raga. This system of tone sequences has existed and evolved for more than a millennium (Widdess, xi). The only written records of this mostly oral tradition were inscribed stones dating back to the seventh century. In the beginning, there were only seven Ragas from which to choose (xii). These were called the Gramaragas. These appeared in the book titled 'Naradiya Siksa'. Most chanting with religious connotations (Chanting of verses from the Hindu holy Vedic Books) remains in this form solely. (9)

At this point, the six Gramaragas turned into thirty-two. The notation of pitch is relative. In other words, they use a system close to Western Solfege with movable 'do'. Sa represents a C on the staff, Ri is D, Ga is E-flat, Ma is F, Pa is G, Dha is A, and Ni is B-flat (Widdess, xiii). There has always been a debate among purists in music about whether Westerners should make an effort to notate traditional music. One reason against notation is that Indian music works off of the movable Sa system. The performer decides this beforehand, and the intervals of all other notes are changed in accordance to where Sa is placed. This is in direct conflict with Western 'Equal Temperament' (All of the notes are a set distance apart from each other). Western intervals are fixed and cannot be adjusted on most instruments to comply. To remedy this situation, Westerners decided to keep Sa as Middle C, as discussed before (Massey, 96).

Others believed that having a system of notation would devastate bonds formed between instructor and pupil. Traditionally, music was taught aurally and orally. This caused a close connection between guru and apprentice. All information that the student learned came directly from the mouth or instrument of the master (Massey, 99). This was not the only debate as music began to become standardized.

There is debate among scholars as to how many tones are between the standard seven notes. Westerners call these microtones, but Native musicians refer to them as Sruti. In Sanskrit, this means 'to hear'. Popular opinion, and the most accepted answer to the purely academic Sruti is that there are 22. Some still claim that there are as many as 66 (Massey, 93).

As time passed, and music evolved, several more Ragas came into existence. An estimated 5000 Ragas exist today (Wade, 39). It is thought that several Ragas were popularized and notated from regional tunes. These would then be the subjects of improvisations in other songs. Many of these were named by the places in which they were most often performed. Examples of these are Malava, Sindhu, Jaunpuri and Bangala (Wade, 74). A few Ragas bear the names of Hindu Deities; Kedar, Sarasvati and Shri. Many Ragas have names of indiscernible origins, especially since new Ragas are being created every day.

Modern Ragas are mostly just combinations of older Ragas. The musician would take the lower tetra chord of one Raga and combine it with the upper tetra chord of another (Wade, 76). It is not uncommon for a musician to master only a handful of Ragas. It is a faux pas to openly speak about which Ragas are known and unknown. Therefore, it is never truly known how many Ragas a guru has mastered (Ruckert {Music in North India}, 57)

Musicians do not play Ragas by themselves as scalar passages. They do not believe that anything can be accomplished by playing the Ragas out of melodic context. Instead, when they are in training, they will play lengthy pieces designed to repeat several Ragas for the student (Massey, 92). Care must be taken to avoid thinking of Ragas as scalar passages. These are not just notes in ascending order. They have a unique aesthetic to them, much like the Western modes known as the Church or Liturgical Modes. They also possess qualities of melodies. Ragas are said to "dye the mind with sound". They do not always ascend and descend. There are very different contours among them (Massey, 104).

In modern education of music in India, the sacredness of the music is vanishing. For a very long time, Ragas were divine. There were Ragas the student could sing in the morning and only in the morning. There were Ragas for specific times, places, and occasions. To sing or play a Raga at an inappropriate time was blasphemous (Ruckert{Music in South India}, 38). Ruckert said:

"... it is not good for the music, it is not good for the listeners, and it's not good for your health. Because this sound is created by the Gods, and it was passed down by the Rishis (saints)] to help [Mankind] purify the mind and soul. THEN you can think about love, and not the image, ego, or that kind of thing" (38).

The performance venues of Indian music have always been closely tied with the inner mechanisms of the theory of said music. As was discussed earlier, there are specific Ragas that correspond directly to the Gods, and should only be played for specific occasions. G. H. Ranade postulates that any music is sacred and should not be idly listened to. He clearly defines music from noise on page 27 of his book titled 'Hindustani Music: Its Physics and Aesthetics'. Noises have jarring qualities that are often random and do not follow a sequence. Music is typically referred to as being pleasing to the ear and engaging to the foot. Ranade continues writing about what constitutes noise and sound. He eventually criticizes the music played that is not given the main stage. He says that in this instance, the performers are turning a sacred and beautiful expression into background noise (30).

The other half of the theoretical foundation of Music Theory in India is the Tala. Many think of Tala as the rhythmic qualities of music in India. Rosenthal discussed a set of twelve varieties of Tala to be in common use. However, she also notes the work of Sarngadeva in which he cited 120 in his book 'Music of Hindustan' (23). Some Westerners do not like to think of Tala as a rhythmic compilation. Instead, they tend to think of each individual Tala as a set of time signature changes. Each Tala has a unique 'groove' to it. They all have a different number of notes in them. The 'beats' that these notes fall on are called Matras (Massey, 110).

Unlike with the Raga, musicians do not mix the beginnings and endings of Talas to call them by a different name. Instead, they just use suffixes to describe which section was taken from which Tala. For example, if a performer were to take the first section of the Tala Jhumra, and the second section of the Tala Tritala, they would have Jhumra Truti, Tritala Nimesas (110).

To describe the speed of music, westerners use the word 'tempo'. In India, this word is Laya. There are seven of these Laya available to the modern musician: ati-vilambit, vilambit, Madhya vilambit, Madhya, Madhya drut, drut, and ati-drut. These are very slow, slow, medium slow, medium, medium fast, fast, and very fast respectively (Massey, 111).

One of the most startling aspects of the Tala to the Westerner is the ending of a cycle. In Western music, we expect the 'rhythm and time' to end at the last beat of the cycle. This is not the case in India. The most important part of a cycle is the first beat of the next cycle. This is referred to as them sum. At the very end of a piece, a reiteration of the first note of the last cycle is a very common practice (Massey, 112). Each Tala is taught to the student through a very complex system of Mnemonic Devices. Each stress and rhythm has a particular syllable associated with it. For this reason, a percussionist could be expected to recite a Tala as such: 'Dha dhin dhin dha' 'Dha dhin dhin tha' 'dha dhin terekete' (Massey, 113).

Both of these aspects come together to create the Ras Bhaav, or the feel of the music (Holroyde, 54). The Raga and the Tala are never found to be separate entities. They go hand in hand to form the exceedingly complex system of India's Music Theory. This can often lead a Western ear to be lost during a performance. After all, the songs consist of completely different pitches, the rhythmic direction is different, and they do not have a harmonic progression to pull them forth to the end.

Despite having very little in common with Western Music, the music of India still helps to define the culture of the area. Though some may consider it a lesser art form because it is marginally different in aesthetics, the true connoisseurs of good taste would never devalue it. After all, Western Music could just as easily be considered stuffy and strict.

Holroyde, Peggy. The Music of India. New York: Praeger, 1972.

Massey, Reginald. Music of India. London: Kahn and Averill, 1976.

Rosenthal, Ethel. The Story of Indian Music and Its Instruments. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1970.

Ruckert, George E. Music in North India Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (Global Music Series). New York: Oxford UP, USA, 2003.

Viswanathan, T., and Matthew Harp Allen. Music in South India: The Karnatak Concert Tradition and Beyond Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (Global Music Series). New York: Oxford UP, USA, 2003.

Widdess, Richard. The Ragas of early Indian music modes, melodies, and musical notations from the Gupta period to c. 1250. Oxford: Clarendon P, Oxford UP, 1995.