Bare Bones Raga Guide:
The heuristic value of classification by Wim van der Meer
Relevance of classification
With the relatively small number of ragas that are performed on a more or less regular basis one may ask whether a classification is worthwhile. I suppose there could be two justifications other than whiling away rainy Sunday afternoons:
The determination table makes an efficient use of four classes of characteristics:
Of the above, the first is by far the most important for our "quick key". A large majority (45 out of 64) of the ragas mentioned in the table can readily be distinguished on the basis of tone material alone. It is almost funny to see that the first question, about the presence of natural and flat D (shuddha and komal Re), can lead to the immediate determination of raga Bhairavi. Now there IS a rare variety of Bhairavi with only flat D (komal Re) and there also exists a rare raga called Gandhari that is supposed to have both flat and natural D (Although I have never heard the flat D in Gandhari). But for all practical purposes, if you hear both D's you're very likely listening to Bhairavi. This raises a first question: why is there no systematic study of tone material? Indeed it is highly curious that all discussions of tone material start out from far reaching assumptions. One of the most common assumptions is that a pentatonic or hexatonic tone material is a heptatonic tone material from which one or two notes have been dropped. Similarly, when there are more than seven tones, some are considered "accidentals", added to a heptatonic scale. Bhatkhande has strongly reinforced if not ititiated this kind of thinking with his arbitrary system of ten that-s (scales). Interestingly, the ragas Bilaval and Khammaj have the same tone material (SRGMPDNN, CDEFGABbB), but Bhatkhande has named two separate that-s after these ragas. Thus, the raga Bilaval is based on Bilaval that (SRGMPDN, CDEFGAB) with flat Ni (Bb) as an accidental, whilst the raga Khammaj is based on Khammaj that (SRGMPDN, CDEFGABb) with natural Ni (B) as the accidental. This heptatonic thinking undoubtedly has its origin in the fact that there are only seven note names in Indian music (like in western music). A more recent example of an arbitrary way of looking at tone materials can be found in Jairazbhoy's The Rags of North Indian Music. Basing himself on the South Indian method of permutation of tetrachords he comes to a system of 32 scales. Each tetrachord, SRGM and PDNS' (CDEF and GABC') has four permutations with the second and third notes. Combining these tetrachords gives 4x4 = 16 permutations. Moreover the fourth note Ma (F) can be natural or sharp, giving a total of 32 possibilities. In tabular form:
C D E |
G A B |
|
C Db E |
|
G Ab B |
C D Eb |
|
G A Bb |
C Db Eb |
G Ab Bb |
That such a model is quite arbitrary is understood immediately when we look at the original South Indian scheme in which the tetrachords SRRM and SGGM (CDbDF and CEbEF) are also allowed, resulting in 6x6x2 = 72 scales. But the South Indian scheme again does not explain a tone material that has both Ma's (F and F#) while omitting Pa (G), as is the case of the North Indian raga Lalit. This is not the place to develop a new theory of tone material in North Indian music, suffice it to state that in over 300 ragas of which I have recordings in my private collection there are more than 100 distinct tone materials patiently waiting for a general theory.
Musicologists specializing in Indian music have devoted much attention to the question of microtonal intonation or the shruti-s. Recent research indicates that the matter of intonation is rather subjective. A great deal of confusion results from the identification of the contemporary term shruti with the ancient theory. In contemporary practice shruti refers to the way in which a note is used much more than to a pitch as a frequency ratio. Shruti is the "sound" of Ga (Eb) in Darbari or Todi, of Re (Db) in Bhairav, of Ni (Bb) in Bhimpalasi. The example of Todi illustrates this very well indeed. To speak of a pitch is totally misplaced, since there simply is no fixed pitch, there is a movement in tonal space, a tonal shape. A study of the use of tonal space, possibly the most characteristic aspect of Indian music, is totally lacking. I suggest that the use of tonal space could be considered a part of ornamentation. At least in Indian musicology, the main varieties of tonal shapes, mind (glide) and andol (undulation) are referred to as gamakas (ornaments).
Phrasing is of paramount importance in Indian music, as it may be in most musics. Yet, the only attempt to develop a theory of phrasing in Indian music is found in Bose's Melodic Types of Hindusthan. Some elements of a theory of phrasing are the concepts of ascent-descent (aroha-avaroha), omitted notes (varja) and starting/ending notes (graha/nyasa). Bhatkhande tried to give a core phrase (pakad) for every raga, but many musicians will contest his suggestions. A chalan (way of going) should comprise a set of standard phrases in a raga. Hovever, there is no general agreement on chalans and the chalan a musician will give of a raga may differ from one day to another.
Importance of individual notes
The concept of vadi-samvadi (sonant-consonant) was popularized by Bhatkhande. I have never been able to find a clear definition of these terms, nor a way of putting their functionality in practice. Words like most important note, dominant, or sonant are all very vague. It would seem to me there are several options for making these concepts operational: