Intonation in North Indian music: A select comparison of theories with contemporary practice

About this book

English 237About the BookThere is probably no aspect of North Indian classical music which illustrates better the divergence of theory and practice than the subject of intonation which is represented by the technical term, sruti. Many musicologists have obviously felt this to be a fundamental element of music theory and have devoted much effort and a great many words to the clarification of this issue. Part of the reason for this is undoubtedly the fact that the subject is open to differing interpretation, but it is equally obvious that there is something about microtonality which attracts the scholar, if not the traditional musician.The difference between theory and practice is exemplified by the two terms, sruti and sur. The former, as usually defined, refers to a theoretical tuning frame- work and pressupposes that Indian music is composed of steady, discrete tones. The latter refers to performance practice, where specific surs may be oscillated, made weaker or stronger, sustained or cut short, merged with other tones, ornamented in particular ways - all in response to the exigencies of the rag, the specific phrase and the context within the performance. Whereas intonation is the main quality of sruti, it is only one of the variables in sur and it is thus not entirely surprising that an examination of sur in performance with just this parameter in view does not reveal a grear deal of consistency.A multiplicity of theoretical views on intonation in North Indian music are seen in numerous works on the subject. Documented empirical studies concerning the pitch aspect of contemporary performance are, on the other hand, sorely lacking; hence the need for the present study and others like it. The theoretical writings are all based (to varying extents) on Bharata's