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Chapter 8

Bridging the Musical Divide:

Indian Classical Music Notation Vs Western Music Notation

The western system of musical notation has been described in beginner level detail in these chapters.That should be enough to get any budding musician started on his or her quest for knowledge, so asto speak. Now, especially for the benefit of those that have been learning music in the Indian systemand wish to read or transcribe from western notation available on the internet, a brief bridge article isbeing provided here.

Similarities between the West and the East are the most striking in the factthat both these systems divide the octave into 12 semitones of which 7 are basic notes.C, D, E, F, G, A, B, (C) are the Western basic note while the Indian ones are:

Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, (Sa).This, in now way implies that C is the same asSa and so on these are mere names.

It must be stated here, that:(i) The Carnatic branch of the Indian system has 22 microtones, meaning 22

divisions per octave. This is not of much importance to a modern westerninstrument player as microtones arent playable on these 12 TET instruments.

(ii) The intervals in Indian system are calculated as just intonation (simple ratios)and not as equal temperament (logarithmic division). So it may not be

possible to reproduce an Indian sound from a Western instrument,especially for Carnatic music.(iii) Classical Indian music, before being influenced by western ideas, didnt

have a fixed frequency per note just ratios. Any base note will be taken upand the rest of the song sung or played taking that frequency as a referencelevel. Presently, this has changed to western standards.

(iv) One may take any western 12 TET note to be the Sa of the Indian scale, andtranscribe pieces between the systems. Commonly though, Sa is treated as C.

(v) Here, owing to the complexity and lack of relevance to western instruments,the Hindustani notation is discussed alone and not the Carnatic one.

The base notes are referred to as Suddha (meaning: pure), the flats sharps as Komal(meaning: soft), and the sharps as Tivra (meaning: harsh). Komal and Tivra aretogether referred top as Vikrit (meaning: altered)

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Basics of the Indian System:

At the core of the Indian notation system are four concepts:

1.

ruti (or Shruti): Meaning sound in Sanskrit. It is the smallest differencebetween two sounds of a tuning system - thus it may me considered to beequivalent to a note. It is often referred to as a ratio of the two frequenciesunder study. Various ratios exist and each has its own name. Unison of the

western system is termed as Kshobhini. In classical times there were 22shrutis in use dividing the octave into 22 notes.

2. Swara: It is equivalent to the western Solfege in the Hindustani ClassicalSystem. A solfege is a method of practicing singing where the intervals aregiven more importance to than the actual frequencies (notes or scale). The

solfege is sung as do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. These sounds are selected andaltered to suit any musical scale desired singing do as the root note (e.g. the Cnote in the C major scale) and taking re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti as D, E, F, G, Aand B. The notes sung in a swara are just that and are referred together as theSargam. The names are Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni and (Sa). These areabbreviations for the full names as follows: Shadja, Rishabh, Gandhar,Madhyam, Pancham, Dhaivat, Nishad and (Shadja) respectively.

In notation these become, S, R, G, M, P, D and N respectively. A dot abovethe letter indicates that the note is an octave higher that the present octave

and a dot below indicates that it is an octave lower. If a swara is not to besung as a "natural" (Suddha Re as R), a line below the letter indicates that itis flat (Komal) e.g. Komal Re is R, and an acute accent above the

letter will indicates that it is sharp (Tivra) e.g. Tivra Ma is Ma or M'a.

Thus,Short Full Western

Name Name Equiv. (Hindustani)

Sa = Shadja = DoRe = Rishabh = ReGa = Gandhar = MiMa = Madhyam = FaPa = Pancham = SoDha = Dhaivat = LaNi = Nishad = Ti

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In another popular notation of the Hindustani System, using Roman alphabets,the 12 notes (intervals) of the chromatic scale are represented as (vide infra):Sa, Re1, Re2, Ga1, Ga2, Ma1, Ma2, Pa, Dha1, Dha2, Ni1 and Ni2.

3. Taal (Tal, Tala):Taal is the rhythmic pattern of a piece of music. It is akin tothe time signature in western music. It is a repetitive sequence of beats in aspecific pattern of stresses and rests in between. The commonest Taals, unlike

Western music, are those that are Additive Time Signatures. Westernsignatures are more simple, compound or complex.

Tempo is noted Laya: Vilambit laya (Slow tempo), Madhya laya (Mediumtempo) and Drut laya (Fast tempo). Each taal can vary in speed according tothis.

Patterns are noted like 3+4+3+4, meaning 3 beats in 1 measure of timefollowed by 4 beats in 1 measure of time repeating itself i.e. one, two, three,one, two, three, four, one, two, three, one, two, three, four. In westernnotation his will be (3+4+3+4/4) meaning 4 meters with 1/4 notes dividedas alternating groups of 3 and 4. The sum of the above expression is thenumber of total beats in that taal played in unit time. So, 4+4 is not that sameas 4+4+4+4. This is because the 1st beat of every taal is played with an addedaccent. The spacing of the accents is also different for different taals. Thesesections in between two consecutive accents are referred to asVibhaga (orPartitions).

Common taals are:Rupak: 3+2+2Dhamar: 5+2+3+4Teentaal: 4+4+4+4 (equivalent to the Western 4/4 with an accent at

Jhoomra: 3+4+3+4 the beginning of every 4th meter)Ektaal: 2+2+2+2+2+2Daadra: 3+3

4. Raaga (Raag, Raaga, Raga, Rgam): It refers to the melodic modes of thesong. It is akin to the Western scales. Just as in scales, it is a general form of themelody that gives a set of intervals that form notes that are used in the piece.Raags have a definite emotionality attached to each o them. A variant of a Raagis a Thaat that has 7 notes, in Sa to Ni sequence (frequency), having nodifference in their ascending and descending forms, having only one version ofa note Suddha or Vikrit and having no emotional connotation. These are morelike individual modes that are used to compose Western scales

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Before naming the Thaats, let us describe the basic Chromatic Scale pattern ascan be expressed in the alphanumeric notation of the Hindustani System:

Hindustani Interval Note Equivalent for Notation Name Sa=C Chromatic Scale

Sa = Perfect Unison = CRe1 = Minor second = C#Re2 = Major second = DGa1 = Minor third = D#Ga2 = Major third = EMa1 = Perfect fourth = FMa2 = Aug. fourth/Dim. fifth = F#

Pa = Perfect fifth = GDha1 = Minor sixth = G#Dha2 = Major sixth = ANi1 = Minor seventh = A#Ni2 = Major seventh = BSa = Perfect octave = C (octave)

Common Thaats are as follows:1. Bilawal = Ionian mode, equivalent to C Major Scale2. Khamaj = Mixolydian mode

3. Kafi = Dorian mode, equivalent to C Major Scale starting on B4.Asavari = Aeolian mode, equivalent to Melodic Minor Scale5. Bhairavi = Phrygian mode6. Kalyan = Lydian mode

Modes are the equivalents of scales in ancient Greek music theory.