Indian Music and Carnatic Traditions

Study Notes

India is the largest country in South Asia.
Indian music reflects different aspects of Asian culture through timbre, rhythm, melody, texture, form, and style.
Music of India includes Carnatic and Hindustani music, as well as folk and popular music.
Vocal music often features melismatic singing with a nasal quality.
Samagana is a singing style popular during the Vedic times, based on specific pitches.
Sama Veda is a sacred text sung as Samagana, not chanted. It's the third of the four Vedas, but is ranked highly in terms of sanctity and importance.
Rig Veda is also sung in the Samagana style, being the first among the four Vedas.
Rig Veda is an ancient collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns.
Carnatic music originates in South India and is often dedicated to Hindu Gods, which is why it's called "temple music".

Carnatic music is unified with the same ragas (musical modes), solo instruments (such as veena, flute, and violin), and rhythm instruments (like mridangam and ghatam).
Carnatic music pieces are mainly for the voice and include lyrics.
Compositions called kritis are devotional songs.

Hindustani music dates back to the Vedic period around 1000 BC.
Hindustani music developed further in the 13th and 14th centuries, influenced by Persian music and existing religious and folk music.
Hindustani music is mostly found in northern and central India.
Hindustani music is influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions, Vedic religion/philosophy, native Indian sounds, enriched by the Persian performances of the Mughal area.
Vocal music often includes nasal singing.
In North India, the most common singing style is called khyal, a word meaning “imagination”.

Ghan: Non-membranous percussive instruments with solid resonators, one of the oldest instrument types in India. Examples include Ghatam, Kartal, Manjira, and Nout.
Avanaddh: Membranous percussive instruments, typically drums. Examples include Daf, Tabla, and Dhol.
Sushir: Blown air instruments, characterized by using air to excite resonators. Examples include Bansuri, Shehnai, Shankh, and Surpeti.
Tat: Plucked or stringed instruments. Examples include Sitar, Gottuvadyam, Ektar, Rabab, and Gopichand.
Vitat: Bowed stringed instruments, though they were not prominent in classical Indian music until recently. Examples include Banam, Esraj, Chikara, and Sarangi.