Sessions Details
Harmonizing Traditions Indian Classical Music and the Science of Sound
Pratikkumar Parimal Shah
Indian Institute of Information Technology Vadodara
Sanjeel Parekh
MetaA brief outline of the workshop:
Indian Classical Music has evolved to a state which is difficult to comprehend formally without understanding the fundamental developments centered around the tuning systems. Taanpura is not just an anchor with drone strings but if tuned properly it is designed to construct any musical scale and set the stage for the performer. Many aspects of the Indian tuning systems go unattended by the listeners and sometimes by the practitioners. The workshop aims at providing participants with a small opening to the world of tuning systems and its role in development of music systems. In this workshop, we will try to understand the Indian Tuning system based on Shrutis. At the same time, harmony and melody, the concepts which are critically studied in music theory, will be explored in the context of Indian Classical music. The emphasis will be on perceiving the musical intervals and their relative consonances. In last two sessions we will try to understand the role of Taanpura in creation of Thaat system and the Raaga system via construction of samvaad graph on 22 Shrutis.
Theory sessions will be augmented with demonstrations using open source tools and musical instruments. Since the tuning systems that we will be discussing are based on harmonic instruments, i.e. primarily string instruments, young musicians are invited to demonstrate Sarangi and Sarod. This session will provide participants with an opportunity to understand the construction of musical instruments and its impact and role in development of Indian Classical Music.
Keywords: Music perception, Art and Science, Introduction to Indian Classical Music, Music appreciation, Mathematical Ideas and their embodiment in Arts.
Duration (number of hours): 6 hours
No of desired/expected participants (in case of any restrictions):
No restrictions.
As such there is no hard prerequisite except for an open mindset and some curiosity towards exploring patterns in music. Some exposure to Hindustani classical music is desirable. Sessions will involve some fundamentals ideas in mathematics that are mostly covered in a first course on discrete mathematics. The construction of Taanpura involves use of Fourier series (transform) and some concepts from harmonic analysis. Throughout the workshop open source tools will be used for which no special training is required.
Planned activity in the workshop (talks, demos, activities etc.):
| S.No. | Activity | Duration | Resource Person(s) | Representative Keywords for topics to be covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lecture and Demonstration of Tuning Systems in North Indian Classical Music | 60 Minutes | Pratik Shah | Mono string and small fractions, Equi-Tempered-Tuning, Just Intonation, Concept of Shruti and location of 22 shrutis on string, equivalence in terms of cents, Experiencing the tuning systems on source tools |
| 2. | Lecture and Demonstration on Construction of Taanpura, Computer Generation of Plucked String Instrument Sound | 30 + 30 Minutes | Pratik Shah, Sanjeel Parekh | Taanpura bridge and generation of harmonics, Fourier and Spectrogram, Karplus-Strong, PureData demonstration |
| 3. | Lecture and Demonstration: Experiencing the Consonance and Dissonance of musical intervals | 45 Minutes | Sanjeel Parekh | Notion of dissonance and Helmholtz work on dissonance curve, Experiencing Musical in 12TET |
| 4. | Lecture and Demonstration: Ordering Musical Intervals based on Relative Judgements | 45 Minutes | Pratik Shah | Survey of perceived relative judgment of consonance between various musical intervals, Hierarchical Analytical Process for ordering musical intervals based on relative judgements |
| 5. | Talk: A Perspective on Thaat and Thaat Circle (Musical Scales) | 45 Minutes | Pratik Shah | Evolution of thaat circle (North Indian Classical Music), Melakarta (South Indian Classical Music), Systematic categorization and open issues |
| 6. | Talk: Deconstructing Selection of Shrutis in a Raaga | 45 Minutes | Pratik Shah | Samwaad graph on 22 shrutis, connected components on graph and minimum average dissonance |
| 7. | Demonstration: Saarangi and Sarod | 60 Minutes | Sarangi Player and Sarod Player | History and construction of instruments, Practices past and present |
Any other information and special requirements:
Requirements:
The content of this workshop is a derivative of the continuing education program on Music
Mathematics and Machines offered by Indian Institute of Information Technology Vadodara
during Summer 2022 and Summer 2023. The details are available here as reference:
https://sites.google.com/iiitvadodara.ac.in/mmm/home
Contact:
pratik@iiitvadodara.ac.insanjeelparekh@gmail.com