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The
Instruments of Indian Music
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- Three
requirements are made of Indian musical
instruments. First there is the ease of
returning pitches to fit new creative
demands in the course of a performance.
Consequently instruments which cannot
easily change pitch, such as the
harmonium, have limited purposes. The
complex rhythms of Indian music put heavy
demands on a large variety of percussion
instruments. With so much complexity in
other parts a simple single note drone
usually provides a 'reference' harmony to
accompany rhythm and pitch. Harmony as
the concept understood in Western music
does not exist. This dimension is
substituted for by the subtle changes in
pitch, centred around the basic pitches
of each RAGA.
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- Three basic
drum types are used in 'Classical' Indian
music. These are the two headed barrel
drum of the south, called 'mridanga'. A black tuning
patch made of a paste of boiled rice and
powders is centred on each of its two
heads. Similar patches are found on the
heads of the 'baya' and the 'tabla', the paired
drums from the north of India. A third
double headed drum, 'dhalak' is a popular
accompaniment to dance.
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- The Indian
'sahnai' and the larger 'nagasvaran',
related to the Western 'oboe' are refined
woodwind instruments. A traditional side
blown cane flute is able to handle
complex melodic lines. A variety of
'bagpipes' various panpi pes made of
bamboo, conch shell trumpets and buffalo
horn wind instruments are also played.
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| The VINA is an
ancient zither has seven strings and is plucked
either with fingernails or with a plectrum. It
has calabashes which act as reso nators to
amplify its sound, attached to both ends. The SITAR is perhaps one of the
best known of Indian stringed instruments and
belongs to the family of lute-type instruments.
It is said to have been invented in the early 14th
Century by Amir Khusru, a poet and musician of
the time. Equally important is another lute, the SAROD, favoured more by Muslim
musicians. There is also an Indian folk violin
called BAHULIN, which may be the ancestor of the
Western violin. It and another lute, the ESRAJ, (one
of my personal favourites) are both bowed
instruments. |
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