SANGEET Swara, Tala, and Laya- these are the three basic elements of Sangeet, it means that Sangeet is used for its three fold meaning, namely vocal music, insturmental and dancing, for example. “FR re en ed a irae" aria in Sound, one of the five eternal elements of nature, termed as Nada, gave birth to Sangeet. Vocal music is prior to instrumental music and dance, Sangeet, as a combination of above three parts pleases and soothes the minds of living beings. Sarangadeva had devoted more than two hundred Sloka in his book about the origin of Sangeet. According to him, Nada is the root cause of the origin of Sangeet. Sangeet has its root in the Vedic culture. It has evolved to the present age with its basic elements inspite of some additions and alternations in the ancient and mediavel period. But the tradition of Sangeet remained unchanged. Thus Sangeet has been looked upon as a ‘Sadhna” a medium for mental uplift. Swara and Laya is the main base of Geet, Vaddya and Nritya. We can also define Sangeet in the above light as: gree WeRTTOT we Hae ATTA | The word Sangeet has been translated as “Music” in western countries. In western countries music means a Chorus or a song sung by many voices and also applies to singing accompanied by playing of instruments and dancing. Therefore music in a broader sense includes vocal, instrumental, Choral together with the art of dancing. Music is considered to be a fine art, as painting, sculpture, architect, and poetry,is of Indian Music Fundamental: 6 1 oe Ni Dha Pa ; Dha Pa ee Mandra Saptak a Kates Ga Ma Pa Madhya Saptak ape ereaca ch Re Ga Sa Re Taar Saptak Sa $a Ga a Grace notes (Kan) ae eand Sa Re Ga ST Krintan (GE) (Pa) Dha Pa (Pa)Dha,Pa,Ma,Pa Ma Pa Time Measure (ae) one beat Sa, Re Bae One & a half beat Re, Ga Re_ Ga Half beat Sa Re Sa, Re Two beats Re, Ga, Re- Ga- 1/A beat Re Ga Ma Ra Re, Ga, Ma, Pa 1/3 beat Re Ga Ma Re, Ga, Ma 1/3 1/3 1/3 1/6 beat Re, Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa,Re,Ma,Pa,Da,Ni ae 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 Ardha Viram Sa Re Ga_ Gao Re Ga ° a Sam 1 Khali 2 x Barline (fa4T™) I 1 Tali Number of thi ie beat y as 1,5,9, 13 —— In my opinion, i their ak ee Ee heads of the tw. notation, acceptable fe Fi help to one ty ae both, then it canFundamentals of Indian Music 10 , ’ the Yogi tries of “Wake discipline in Yoga Through “TAP2°Y" awaken the chakras ini’. The Yogis also ih hinven SO an ‘vith the mind. When a Yogi has achieved and co! his, he has comple! tr i ly: then do f his body. He can i i ‘as complete control ©) Ap acts like he can disappear and do any magic. i Viz. Three Qualities Of Musical Sound, (i.e., Nada) Viz Pitch, Timbre And Loudness q 1 Musical sounds (Nada) are distinguished from each other by their pitch, loudness and timbre. Pitch ; Pitch is what makes the sounds known as acute, shrill, high, sharp, grave, deep low, flat etc. It depends on the rapidity of vibrations of the particles of the air in contact with ear, A low number of vibrations in a given time (say a second) gives grave or low tones, a high number gives acute or shrill tones. The higher the number of vibrations, the Shriller the tone. Pitch is thus directly proportional to the number of vibrations, i.e. frequency. It is found that the human ear can pick up sounds of frequency roughly between 20 to 38000 per second. The lower limit is mostly the same for all, but the upper limit may widely differ from individual to individual and comes down with old age. All the notes between these limits are not, however employed in music. Even for a rough musical effect, it is found that a note must have at least 30 vibrations per second, the upper limit being near about 4000. Musical instruments can produce any note between the above limits, but for a vocal musician, the range is limited. A well developed voice note beyond more than three Octaves. Pitch varies according to the leng the length is half, the pitch is doubled, one third, the pitch becomes three times j Intensity Intensity depends on the violence tegulates the loudness or softness of a sourSWARA Scholars selected only seven Sua oe a as “Swaras”. These Swaras are Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Fa, Dha, : “ zs : ‘The definition of Swara can be given thus, “A musical note, which has the quality of pleasing the heart of the listener and giving him delight, is called a Swara. aaa arate” | “Swa'’ means by “itself” and “ of ‘Ranjana’ which means “pleasing”. An individual Swara is by nature Ranjaka or pleasing. Swaras are the vital elements in Indian music and that they design the Ragas that form the very basis, the life-force or Prana. Actually Swara is one of the fundamentals of Indian music. Indian music is based on 7 notes. Re,Ga,Dha,Ni, have a Komal variant. The first note Ma has Teevra variant the first note Shadaja and Fifth Pancham are fixed or unchan- geable . The following table shows the names of the twelve notes of the Indian Saptaka. Serial No. connotes the idea Swaras Abbreviation Shadaja Sa Komal Rishabh PanchamHATA , defined a8 the group: of notes fr A Thate a Pond it is the parent scale of Indian a ee at t scales are the source of all Indian Ragas F as adopted in the early seventeen at the word Thata is a Indo-Persian c ot only an order of ascending ang aaa and it should be Sampooran (having seven notes ng and ‘Avaroh). That can be formed the descending, order being not necessary for it. pr, V.N. Bhatkhande devised 10 Thatas to classify the ragas of North Indian System. of music, They are, Kalyan, Bilabal, Khamaj, Todi, Puria, Marwa, kafi, Asavari, Bhairab, Bhairavi. The thatas are the upon these bases- are as the following: 1. ee psa must have essentailly seven notes, ie, it should poorna. 2. ag in a Thata should be in perfect order as for 3. A Thata only needs Aroha, and the Swara of that Thata. & A Thata is not Sung, the Samvadi, Pakad, Alap, Té basic ragas and the other ragas The chief characteristics of Thatas this Aroha indicatest Fundamentals of Indian Music 18 Komal Vikrit When a note falls from its fixed position, it is Komal as for example Re,Ga,Dha,Ni are changeable ante they fall from their original position, they are called when gwara, Its sign is a line under the Swara as Koma] Re Ga Dha Ni Tivea Viksit When a note rises high from its fixed position, j it ig called a Tivra Swara as for example Ma, becomes Tivr; ay oe. 3 it rises high. Its symbol is a straight line oe ia 8! above the Swara,gound-the Production Of Sound ; 1 of the generating agent of a no, sound, if the vibrations of that and subdued Sound. Thus we see th f vibration determines the intensity, icles of the by changing the force-on the string or the voi ule stretched string is forcibly plucked, n° Tasca te are loud, We get an intense Note are small, we get a soft — wears away with time. Loudness also depends upon the nature and density of the medium which transmits the sound, Lastly the loudness depends upon the distance of the listener from the sounding body, Timbre (Quality) By timbre is meant that characteristic of sound, by which one is enabled to distinguish the difference between two person’s voices or the difference between the tones of a violin and a trombone. This is the element to which the ear is most sensitive. There are charactaristic differences between voices and instruments. Now the timbre of a musical note is determined by the numbers, intensity of the partials (Heh AT). Musical sound consists of a fundamental tone and many overtones, harmones or partial notes. The presence of these partial notes distinguishes sounds from one another and determines the quality of sound. Every sound has its own quality with a fundamental note and its partials. The partial notes are faint, but their presence contribute to the brilliance and tone color of voice or any instrument. This quality of determining the characteristic of sound is known as timbre. Of the three features of sound, pitch is by far the most important. Several instruments have been designed to Measure the pitch or the number of vibrations producing a | Sound. | EeeShruti Musical Sound (Nada) The musical sound i: pleasure to the listener. It oe Mei oa aa v caus Shrutis, Se and Raga are based on een ie Matanga, fe leading musicologists of India have ie Meee ee ia have made Nada is made of Nad (Dhatu) i ; a o atu) ie, Ni i for vital air and Da is for vital heat. Thus Lape Nada is the result of the united action of the vital ai id vital heat of the body, ‘a ’ Nada is the immediate cause of Sabda and Dhwani. It exists in the space as anahata. The space, i,e., Akasa is the container of the Nada. Nada-Brahma can be realised only through music. Matanga has emphasized upon the importance of Nada, i.e., Fe Fear te ae Par aE | aaa faa ae AES TL Nada is divided into parts, viz. Mandra (The Chest) Madhya (The Throat), Tar (The Head). All that exists is the product of Nada. Our tradition teaches us that sound is God-Nada Brahma. It means that musical sound is the step to the realization of self. A Nada is of two kinds— 1. Ahata Nada. 2. Anahata Nada. Ahata Nada Ahata Nada is caused by physical impact. It is called struck sound. It can be perceived through ears. Music is concerned with Ahata Nada. ey on It is called It is not produced by physical impact. t is: callec RP eieinak is ever present and unchanging, It is experienced by Yogis. Yogis hear this sound from thets inner self. They achieve this after many years of meditation a1