Key musical features: India

Raga

The term raga means a scale of notes or series of motifs. A raga is a long piece of music with the melody improvised on the basis of a given pattern of notes.

• The raga is the scale used in Indian music. The 7 notes of the scale are known as Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.
• Ragas are placed in three categories: odova or pentatonic (5 notes) / shadava or hexatonic (6 notes) / sampoorna or heptatonic (7 notes)
• Every Raga must have at least 5 notes, starting on Sa, one principle note, a second important note and a few helping notes.
• The ascent and descent of the notes in every raga is very important. Some ragas in the same scale differ in ascent and descent.
• Raga can also mean mood. Different types of raga were composed for different occasions and times of day.

Listen to this example of a Vibhas or 'morning raga'. Its mood is the beauty of the early dawn.

Tala

Tal means 'clap', and tala refers to a repeated rhythmical pattern of beats.

The rhythms are made of different parts:

• Tali: This is the pattern of clapping. Each tal is characterized by a particular pattern and number of claps.
• Khali: In addition to claps, there are also a number of waves. These have a characteristic relationship to the claps.
• Vibhag: Each clap or wave specifies a particular section or measure. These measures may be of any number of beats, yet most common 2, 3, 4, or 5 beats are used.
• Matra: This is the beat. It is subdivided if required.
• Bol: This is the mnemonic system where each stroke of the drum has a syllable attached to it. These syllables are known as bol.
• Lay: The tempo. The tempo may be slow (vilambit), medium (Madhya), or fast (drut).
• Sam: This is the beginning of the cycle. The first beat of any cycle is usually stressed.
• Avartan: This is the basic cycle.

Drone

Drones are prominent in Indian music.

• A drone is a sustained note(s) played throughout a section or through the entire piece of music.
• Drone notes are usually the tonic [Tonic: The main note, or key-note of a key from the key gets its name ] and dominant notes, or the two notes in the raga that sound the strongest.

Listen to this extract of classical Indian music, the Raag Bhairvi. While you listen, try to identify:

• the drone notes played on the sitar
• the raga played on the sitar
• the 'bending' on notes on the sitar
• the slow tempo (vilambit)
• the peaceful and serious mood