2 types of Indian music

1) Hindustani classical music (Hindi: , Urdu:

) is

theHindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northernIndian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian classical music orShstriya Sangt. It is a tradition that originated in Vedic ritual chants and has been evolving since the 12th century CE, primarily in what is now North India, Bangladesh andPakistan, and to some extent in Nepal and Afghanistan. Today, it is one of the two subgenres of Indian classical music, the other being Carnatic music, the classical tradition of South India.
(also know as North Indian Music)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani_classical_music 2) Carnatic music (Sanskrit: Karnaka sagta) is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. It is one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindutraditions; the other sub-genre being Hindustani music, which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian and Islamic influences in North India. In contrast to Hindustani music, the main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gyaki(singing) style. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_music Difference:
Indian classical music has two distinct styles-Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music. Hindustani music is prevalent all over India except in the Southern States, where Carnatic music is practiced.

http://www.itcsra.org/sra_faq_index.html

TALA
The term tla literally means rhythm. The rhythm is a fundamental element of music. A melody consists of two things - a sequence of notes and the definition of time intervals for which these notes are to be played.

In Indian classical music, the tala can be quite complex and intricate. There are two main characteristics of the tala which differentiate it from Western music. In Western music each segment or measure has the same number of beats like, say 3+3+3 or 4+4+4+4, whereas in Indian music each sub-division can have different number of beats. For example the Jhap tl has a 2+3+2+3 pattern. This means it has four sub-divisions with the first and the third subdivisions having two beats and the second and the fourth divisions having three beats. Another tala the Dhmar tl has a pattern of the form 5+2+3+4. Each sub division is called a vibhga or khand and the beats inside the vibhga are referred to as mtr-s. Even if two sub-divisions have the same number of beats, the pattern that they signify could be changed by laying different emphases on the first beat marking the beginning of the sub-division. In Indian music there are three different kinds of beats :

The Sam signifies an emphatic beat The Khli signifies an empty beat or rest The Tli signifies other beats

This means that the drummer plays the sam with a hard stroke and the khli is represented by a distinctly soft stroke. The sam is generally the initial beat of the tl. It has a special significance for the soloist as well and more often than not the soloist sings of plays an important note like the vdi or samvdi on this beat. So the sam is also emphasised by the music. The main percussion instrument in North India is the tabl. The instruments consists of two drums which differ in shape and character. The sounds that can be produced by the tabla are often depicted as bols or spoken words which are then adapted by the tabla player in his playing. Theoretically there are over hundred tl-s but there are only about twenty or so that are in use today.
http://www.knowyourraga.com/ragagyan/?docname=tala

LAYA
Lay is the tempo, or speed of a piece. The Hindi term for tempo is "lay" and is derived from the Sanskrit term "laya". It is a very simple concept, but its application is sometimes complicated. It goes without saying that there have to be some practical limit to usable tempi. One beat every ten minutes would be so slow as to be musically useless. At the other end of the spectrum we can see that 100 beats per second would be so fast that it would be perceived as a tone and not as a rhythm. A general breakdown of Indian lay is shown in the following table: The table is an idealized breakdown Lay (tempo) of lay; however, the real world is ati-ati-drut 640 beats-per-min considerably more complex. For example ati-drut 320 beats-per-min the designations of ati drut, ati vilambit, etc. are seldom heard among practicing drut 160 beats-per-min musicians. This tends to stretch the madhya 80 beats-per-min previous table so that there is no longer a vilambit 40 beats-per-min 2-1 relationship between the various ati-vilambit 20 beats-per-min designations. To make matters even more complex, it has been observed ati-ati-vilambit 10 beats-per-min that vocalists use a slower definition of time thaninstrumentalists (Gottlieb 1977a:41). Furthermore the rhythmic concepts of the light and film musicians run at a higher tempo but show a peculiar compression of scale. The lay or tempo usually changes throughout the performance. These changes in tempo are inextricably linked to the various musical styles. In general we can say that only very short pieces will maintain a fairly steady pace. Most styles will start at one tempo and then increase in speed.
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/laya.html

RAGA
1. What is a raga? Each Raga has its own scale consisting of minimum five and maximum seven notes (swaras). A raga has specific ascending (Aaroh) and descending (Avaroh) movements, specific dominating notes (vadi) and specific notes complementing the Vadi (Samvadi) notes. The characteristic phrases of a raga (Pakad) establish its identity and mood. 2. How many ragas are there? Originally, there were six Ragas and thirty-six Raginis (melodies with softer emotions). Hundreds of Ragas were created with the help of these Ragas and Raginis, many of which have become obsolete. In recent times, musicians have composed many more ragas. There are today, approximately, 120-150 ragas in use. 3. Are these ragas used in classical music only? Ragas are used in semi-classical and light music as well.

SHRUTI
Shruti:
pronunciation: SHRU-ti ("U" as "u" in "put"). A microtone, that is to say, an interval less than a semitone. Music treatises ascribe 22 Shruti between Sa and the next Sa. This is because 22 is the smallest whole number that can account for the three types of intervals that were in use in ancient times: the "small" interval, corresponding to the semitone, the "large" interval, corresponding to the whole tone or two times the semitone and the "medium" interval, which lay in between the two, so that it was one and a half times the semitone. Traditionally, Indian musicologists count intervals descending from the high Sa (a point not grasped by certain later musicologists like Pandit Bhatkhande, for which reason their exposition of Shruti is incorrect), thus: the distance (descending) from Sa to Ni, from Pa to Ma and from Ma to Ga was each a large interval; the distance from Dha to Pa and from Re to Sa was each a medium interval and the distance from Ni to Dha and from Ga to Re was each a small interval. Therefore, if the small interval was assigned the unit of 1 Shruti, the medium interval would be one and a half Shruti, leading to inconvenient fractional

calculations. So, ancient musicologists assigned 2 Shruti to the small interval, and so the medium interval became 3 Shruti and the large interval became 4 Shruti. Thus the total number of Shruti from one Sa to the next became 22.

The concept of Shruti has great practical application in music in most developed musical cultures of the world. In western keyboard music, unfortunately, its application is restricted to the actual fixed tuning of the keyboard instrument. Discounting this for the time being, stringed and wind instrument players in western music, trained to play along the lines of natural temperament, unconsciously apply a good deal of Shruti considerations while playing. This is particularly apparent when a (say) violinist has to play a violin sonata with a pianist where the composer, by oversight or otherwise, did not take into account that the violinist plays according to natural temperament and the poor pianist is bound to the artificial dictates of equal temperament.
http://www.ragaculture.com/shruti.html

BANSURI
Bansuri and venu are common Indian flutes. They are typically made of bamboo or reed. There are two varieties; transverse and fipple. The transverse variety is nothing more than a length of bamboo with holes cut into it. This is the preferred flute for classical music because the embouchure gives added flexibility and control. The fipple variety is found in the folk and filmi styles, but seldom used for serious music. This is usually considered to be just a toy because the absence of any embouchure limits the flexibility of the instrument. The flute may be called many things in India: bansi, bansuri, murali, venu and many more. There are two main types; bansuri and venu. The bansuri is used in the North Indian system. It typically has six holes, however there has been a tendency in recent years to use seven holes for added flexibility

and correctness of pitch in the higher registers. It was previously associated only with folk music, but today it is found in Hindustani classical, filmi, and numerous other genre. Venu is the south Indian flute and is used in the Carnatic system. It typically has eight holes. The venu is very popular in all south Indian styles. Dandi - The dandi is the body of the bansuri. Bansuris may be fashioned from a variety of materials, but reeds, canes and bamboo are the most common. Ideally they should be constructed so that they taper towards the embouchure (mouth hole ormukharandra). They are therefore larger at the open end. This arrangement gives an extend range.

Mukha Randhra - This is the embouchure, or the blowing hole. professional quality bansuris in India are invariably of the transverse variety. However, there are also a number of fipple flutes which are also available. These are sometimes found among folk musicians and they are frequently given to children as toys. The transverse variety yields much better control by allowing blowing techniques to bend the notes to the desired pitches.

Swar Randhra - These are the finger holes. They are the holes that are used to play the melodies. For a 7-hole flute as shown in the side picture, the musical intervals are: half-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step. (Please note that these are approximations; the use of equal-temperament is not to be construed from this discussion.) The 7th hole (closest to the open end) is optional. When it is absent, the 6-hole flutes are tuned to: whole-step, whole-step, halfstep, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step. This 7th hole deserves special mention. Traditional north Indian folk flutes generally do not have it. The obvious advantage is that the presence of this hole extends the range of the instrument by one note. However, there is a more important and not quite so obvious advantage. Its presence gives the bansuri a more accurate pitch when overblown to produce the higher octaves.

Garbha Randhra - This is the opening of the bansuri. It should remain unoccluded at all times

Rassi - The body of the bansuri tends to crack. This is simply one of the undesirable qualities of bamboo and reed. This cracking may be reduced or eliminated by tightly binding the body with twine. This is known as rassi. One trick used by craftsmen to assure an even and reproducible tension is to tie a fixed weight to the end of the string and slowly turn the body of the bansuri to wrap the twine around it.

http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/bansuri_parts.html

SHEHNAI

The shehnai is a north Indian oboe. Although it is referred to as a doublereeded instrument it is actually a quadruple-reed instrument. This is because it has two upper reeds and two lower reeds. The instrument has a wooden body with a brass bell. The reed is attached to a brass tube which is wrapped in string. Theshehnai has eight holes but it is common to find some of the holes partially or completely occluded with wax. The sound of the shehnai is considered particularly auspicious. For this reason it is found in temples and is an indispensable component of any North Indian wedding. In the past, shehnai was part of the naubat or traditional ensembles of nine instruments found at royal courts. This instrument is a close relative of thenadaswaram found in south Indian music.
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/shehnai.html