Beyond the Classroom 2

I have always loved listening to Indian music and watching them dance. My dad has a few friends who were born in India. We went to one of their churches back home and we got to see them dance and sing. It was really interesting to just see their culture. As learning through this part of the world in the course I really wanted to know more research on a few things especially when I had to miss two days of this part of the course.

The first thing I wanted to know more about was Raga. Raga is a melodic framework for improvisation akin to a melodic mode in Indian classical music. It’s a collection of pitches, like a scale. Raga in English means colorful or passion. There are seven ragas: Asaravi, Bhairav, Bhairavi, Bilawal, Kafi, Kalyan, Khamaj, Marva. Asaravi is played in the morning hours and is a Hindustani classical raga. Bhairav is an Indian classical raga that is also played in the morning as well at the beginning of concerts. Bhairavi is a Hindustani classical heptagon is raga. It employs the notes of the Phrygian mode, one of the traditional European church modes. Bilawal is another Hindustani classic. It has been the standard for North Indian music, and its tonal relationships are comparable to the western music C major scale. Kafi corresponds to Kharaharapriya in Carnatic music. Kalyan is one of the ten basic thaats of Hindustani music from India. Marva is a hexatonic Indian raga, it’’s the eponymous raga.

The next thing I researched was the instruments of India. The main musical instruments are mostly used in Hindustani classical music. There is: the sitar, sarod, tanpura, shehnai, sarangi, and tabla. Instruments used in Karnatak classical music include: the veena, mrdangam, kanjira, and violin. The sitar is a stringed instrument that is popular in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It is an instrument part of the lute family. The sarod, another instrument of the lutes and from the same area. Its main uses in Indian music is for solos. The tanpura has a very long neck. It doesn’t play melody but supports and sustains the melody of another instrument. It provides a harmonic bourdon. The shehnai is a conical oboe from North India. The sarangi unlike the tanpura is a short necked instrument. It is played in Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and born. Unlike all the other instruments I’ve mentioned, the tabla is a pair of drums and has been the principal percussion instrument, as well as a solo instrument, accompanied to other instruments and vocals, and part of large ensembles. The veena is very similar to the sitar but it is played in southern India instead of northern. The mridangam is the first rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic ensemble and is a percussion instrument. It is played in Maritime Southeast Asia. The kanjira is a frame drum from South India that is part of the tambourine family as a folk and bhajan instrument.

The last thing I researched was Indian dancing. I love watching it and how their dancing tells a story with the music that is playing. And how they use the music into their dancing. There are multiple Indian dancing: Bharatnatyam, Katharine, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, and Odissi. Dancing to them is much more than dancing and moving your body. They use the music and their dances to devote themselves to God through art. They show the music and the dance as an art. Indian dancing includes two elements, abhinaya which is expression and nritta which is pure dance. Just like there is music for Hinduism there is dance for Hinduism. Dance is the most expression of what moves the soul.