gtaylor@lasspvax.UUCP (Greg Taylor) (05/09/85)
The upshot of this recent discussion on Indian music is that I now have a
sitar at home that one of the Theory Center Secretaries brought in and
asked if I wanted to look at. THe instrument in question has 2 strings
mounted on pegs off the left side of the neck (like a banjo), another
2 or three strings, and then two strings set away from the others, along
with about 11 sympathetic strings underneath the bridge on a little bridge
of their own.
So-how does one tune this instrument? I know that the intervals are not
precisely the same a the west's, but how about a ballpark idea. The design
of this thing intrigues me.
Gregory Taylor
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________________________________________________________________________________vallath@ucbcad.UUCP (Vallath Nandakumar) (05/17/85)
> THe instrument in question has 2 strings > mounted on pegs off the left side of the neck (like a banjo), another > 2 or three strings, and then two strings set away from the others, along > with about 11 sympathetic strings underneath the bridge on a little bridge > of their own. > > So-how does one tune this instrument? I know that the intervals are not One book I know which has something on sitar tuning is "My music, my life" by Ravi Shankar. This book is written specially for the non-Indian reader. He describes the tuning procedure with a piano. As you say, the intervals are not the same as in Western music, but the differences are small. For example, Pa (the Indian name for the fifth) is 702 cents versus 700 cents for the Western fifth. The differences in the other notes may be slightly more (5-6 cents), and there are different versions of each semitone interval (corresponding to the srutis), but correct intonation is often achieved by pulling the strings. The five (only five?) strings you mention are the playing strings, the two set away from the others are the drone strings (these are tuned to the "tonic" Sa and maybe its octave) and the others are, as you say, sympathetic strings and tuned to different notes in the raga being played. The frets are movable, as you might have noticed, and are changed for the scales. ucbesvax.vallath@berkeley.arpa, ucbvax!ucbesvax!vallath Vallath Nandakumar Dept. of EECS, UC Berkeley.