CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
North and South India differ largely in a multitude of things. The north is the land of the fighting races and has the large towns and cities of India with their keen intellectual and commercial life. The south is the land of peaceful villages, nestling among green fields and gardens, inhabited by a conservative and peace-loving people who are contented with a little. The south was far away from the battlefields of Empire until the time of the British; and so has passed through a more peaceful evolution and has clung more closely to the old ways. When the Muhammadan invasions overwhelmed the cities of the North, the sages and seers fled to the forests of the South, where they were safe from harm and were welcomed by the cultured Dravidians.
These differences are reflected in the music of the North and of the South, though we must not commit the mistake of thinking of these as distinct types of music. There is one Indian music, though there are many ways of working it out; and these all group themselves under the Northern and Southern schools. Distinguished as the Northern or Hindustani school and the Southern or Carnatic school, both are yet based on the principles stated in the ancient Sanskrit treatises on music.
The student of India will find in the same way one India which speaks again and again as he travels from North to South. The atmosphere of mystical devotion and of submission to what is looked upon as the divine will is found in all religious hearts; the one treasure-store of legend and story supplies both North and South with heroes and sages; and agriculture and trade, the village and the home, and all the arts, are filled with the same spirit and use practically the same methods throughout India.
It will be seen as we study this subject that, in the same way, there is an underlying unity in the music of India, revealing itself in qualities which mark it off from the music of the West and which exhibit its common heart.
The two schools tend to-day to coalesce into one unified system, a tendency which is fostered by the all-India music conferences which now meet annually, and also by the very considerable borrowing which is taking place in each system from the other.
It may be well to give at the outset brief definitions of a few fundamental terms which must be used in our exposition from the very beginning. Fuller explanations of these will be found in the body of the work and a Glossary of all the musical words and phrases which occur in the book will be found among the Appendices.
Svara ... ... One of the seven notes of the gamut.
Sruti ... ... An interval smaller than the semi-tone.
Suddha Svara ... The fundamental variety of each of the seven notes.
Vikrit ... ... A variety of the Suddha note.
Raga ... ... The melody-types which are the bases of Indian musical compositions.
Tala ... ... Time measure.
Grama ... ... An ancient mode or scale.
Jati ... ... The old name for melody-types.
The wide differences between Indian and western music on the one hand, and the variant terminology which distinguishes northern from southern musical teaching in India on the other, create so many minor difficulties even in simple matters, that it has been thought well to use in this book a modified notation, based on the Indian tonic sol-fa, so that all musical items may be exhibited in one way and the reader may not have to carry several schemes in his head. Its relations and detailed use are set forth in the following tables : — I. Table of Note Signatures and Nomenclature
Semi-tones Notation The Svara of the used in The Southern Nomenclature. Western this names. scale. book. Shadja Tara C S Shadja Tara. Suddha Ni B N Kakali Ni. Komali Ni BU D Kaisiki Ni. Shatsruti Dha Suddha Dha A D f ChatuhsrutiDha i Suddha Ni. Komal Dha Ab i Suddha Dha. Panchama G P Panchama. Tivra^ Ma Ftf m Prati Ma. Suddha Ma F M Suddha Ma. Suddha Ga E G Antara Ga. Komal Ga Ri) i j Sadharana Ga. ( Shatsruti Ri. Suddha Ri D R f Chatuhsruti Ri. I Suddha Ga. Komal Ri Db r Suddha Ri. Shadja C S Shadja.
My southern friends will notice that the northern system of nomenclature has been adopted. It is true that the southern names of the notes, as well as the northern, go back to ancient musical facts, but they have very little meaning to the ordinary musician to-day and are not clear enough to justify their coming into general use throughout India. The northern system, however, is based on a clear principle and will present no difficulty to the southern student.
The Suddha notes of the northern system are those of the tonal scale, Bilaval, the European Major scale. With the exception of Ma, all the other notes are flats to the Suddha note. This is quite different from the southern system, where the Suddha note is the lowest and the others are all sharps. Clearly confusion would be the only result of an attempt to retain both systems, while from all points
1 'flat'
2 'sharp'. of view the northern method is preferable. As most of the writer's time has been spent in the south, and his first love for the genial south is always his best love, it is not likely that he has been biassed in coming to this decision.
In our second table the smaller intervals of the Indian octave are exhibited. Here a difficulty appears in the southern system, namely, the merging of the notes as shown in the bracketed pairs of the table. We have decided to ask our southern friends to read Shatsruti Ri in those cases where it should occur, even though the symbol g is used and so on for all merged notes.
Tīvra means 'sharp' and is shown by capital with superscript plus, in the case of Ni and Ga. In the case of Ni and Ga it is a sharp of one śruti only. In Ma it is a semitonal sharp, and is shown by a small letter.
Tīvratara is a double sharp, a microtone higher than Tīvra, and is indicated by small letter with plus sign.
Komal is a semitonal flat and is indicated by a small letter.
Atikomal is a microtonal double flat, one śruti lower than Komal. It is indicated by a superscript minus sign on the small letter.
The three voice registers are indicated as follows : —
- T ... Tāra or higher register, shown thus S.
- O ... Madhya or middle register, shown thus S.
- M ... Mandra or lower register, shown thus S.
The letters T, O, M, are placed at the beginning of the clef to show the register used.
In the staff notation, when it is desired to show a microtonal sharpening or flattening, the sharp or flat sign is placed over the note, as may be seen in the table of srutis below. It should be noted that there are other systems of nomenclature current in India besides the two mentioned. For instance, one current in Poona calls
the Śuddha notes of our system Tīvra and the Tīvra notes Tīvratara. It is not suggested that the notation here adopted is free from difficulties, but after very careful thought it is the best that we have been able to devise for the purpose of this book. Whether it will be found worthy of wider use it is for others to decide. II. Table of Srutis
Sruti Name Western Note Sign Carnatic Name 22. 21. SHADJA TARA Tivra Ni C ... B S N+ Shadja Tara. 20. SUDDHANI B N Kakali Ni. 19. Komal Ni ... EH} ... Bb A n f Kai^iki Ni. 1 Shatsruti Dha. 18. 17. Atikomal Ni SUDDHA DHA D j Chatuhsruti Dha. i ^uddhk Ni. 16. 15. Tri^ruti Dha Komal Dha A ... A^ b ... At> D" d Buddha Dha. 14. Atikomal Dha d 13. PANCHAMA G ... Ftt P Pa. 12. Tivratara Ma m+ 11. Tivra Ma ... Fjf F m Prati Ma. 10. Ekasruti Ma M+ 9. SUDDHA MA F M Saddha Ma. 8. Tivra Ga 3 E G+ 7. SUDDHA GA ... E G Antara Ga. 6. Komal Ga ... Et> b ... Eb D b D ... Db b Db ... c g Sadharana Ga. Shatsruti Ri. 5. 4. Atikomal Ga SUDDHA RI g' R f Chatuhsruti Ri. 1 Suddha Ga. 3. 2. Madhya Ri Komal Ri R~ r Suddha Ri. 1. 0. Atikomal Ri SHADJA S Shadja madhya. For time-measure the following notation is adopted, being similar to the European tonic sol-fa system. The complete bar is indicated by long upright lines, the division within the bar by short upright lines, and the smaller divisions within these by double and single dots. The dash indicates a continuation of the previous note. Thus,
S : R : G : M S : R. G S :—
The time signature will be shown at the beginning or each piece. The beat is called Aṅga or Tãla; the bar Vibhãga and a section of so many vibhãgas an Ãvarta. The Ãvarta will be shown by two long upright lines together.