vallath@ucbcad.UUCP (05/03/85)
This article was posted to net.music.classical, where it generated some interest. I thought there might be Indians also interested in this, but who are not familiar with the classical traditions of music in India. The theory of the effect of music on the emotion is very elaborate in Indian classical music. Indian music is based on ragas, which can loosely be defined as modes (?). Each raga has its own specific notes taken from an octave divided into twelve semitones. In addition, specific kinds of ornamentation, intonational differences, melodic phrases, range of notes etc. characterise a raga. Every composition or improvisational piece is done "in a raga". The mood/emotion of a raga is specified. There are variations on this depending on the musician or musicologist consulted, but by and large there are agreements. Each raga also has a time of day associated with it. Performances of a piece in a raga are done only at that time of day, especially in North India. This might mean that it is possible to perform in a certain raga can only at dawn, for example, but this is not that great a problem since there are all-night concerts in India. In addition, there may be more than one permissible time associated with a raga. For example, a composition in Malkhauns, an early evening raga, might have as its text a young woman waiting at her doorway for her lover to visit her. A composition in Bilawal, a morning raga, might describe the sounds, sights and smells of a new day. The text is supposed to only complement the already existing mood of the raga; purely instrumental performances are also theorised to recreate the moods. The tonic is the most important note, and stays constant throughout a piece, and the other notes are referred to this. The pitch ratios of other notes to the tonic are indeed associated with certain moods too, and ragas employing certain pitches have components of these moods (bhavas) inherent in them. This is just a brief description of the theory of rasa, or emotion, in Indian music. If you have a record of Indian classical music, look at the back, and very often the mood and time of day associated with the raga will be specified. Vallath Nandakumar ucbesvax.vallath@berkeley.arpa, ucbvax!ucbesvax!vallath