Chapter – 8

Bridging the Musical Divide:

Indian Classical Music Notation –Vs– Western Music Notation
The western system of musical notation has been described in beginner level detail in these chapters.
That should be enough to get any budding musician started on his or her quest for knowledge, so as
to speak. Now, especially for the benefit of those that have been learning music in the Indian system
and wish to read or transcribe from western notation available on the internet, a brief bridge article is
being provided here.

Similarities between the West and the East are the most striking in the fact
that both these systems divide the octave into 12 semitones of which 7 are basic notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, (C) are the Western basic note while the Indian ones are:
Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, (Sa). This, in now way implies that “C is the same as
Sa” and so on – these are mere names.

It must be stated here, that:

(i) The Carnatic branch of the Indian system has 22 “microtones,” meaning 22
divisions per octave. This is not of much importance to a modern western
instrument player as microtones aren’t playable on these 12 TET instruments.
(ii) The intervals in Indian system are calculated as just intonation (simple ratios)
and not as equal temperament (logarithmic division). So it may not be
possible to reproduce an “Indian sound” from a “Western instrument”,
especially for Carnatic music.
(iii) “Classical” Indian music, before being influenced by western ideas, didn’t
have a fixed frequency per note – just ratios. Any base note will be taken up
and the rest of the song sung or played taking that frequency as a reference
level. Presently, this has changed to western standards.
(iv) One may take any western 12 TET note to be the Sa of the Indian scale, and
transcribe pieces between the systems. Commonly though, Sa is treated as C.”
(v) Here, owing to the complexity and lack of relevance to western instruments,
the Hindustani notation is discussed alone and not the Carnatic one.

The base notes are referred to as “Suddha (meaning: pure),” the flats sharps as “Komal
(meaning: soft),” and the sharps as “Tivra” (meaning: harsh). Komal and Tivra are
together referred top as “Vikrit” (meaning: altered)
Basics of the Indian System:
At the core of the Indian notation system are four concepts:
1. Śruti (or Shruti): Meaning “sound” in Sanskrit. It is the smallest difference
between two sounds of a tuning system - thus it may me considered to be
equivalent to a note. It is often referred to as a ratio of the two frequencies
under study. Various ratios exist and each has its own name. “Unison” of the
western system is termed as “Kshobhini.” In classical times there were 22
shrutis in use dividing the octave into 22 notes.

2. Swara: It is equivalent to the western “Solfege” in the Hindustani Classical

System. A solfege is a method of practicing singing where the intervals are
given more importance to than the actual frequencies (notes or scale). The
solfege is sung as “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do.” These sounds are selected and
altered to suit any musical scale desired singing “do” as the root note (e.g. the C
note in the C major scale) and taking re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti as D, E, F, G, A
and B. The notes sung in a swara are just that and are referred together as the
“Sargam”. The names are Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni and (Sa). These are
abbreviations for the full names as follows: Shadja, Rishabh, Gandhar,
Madhyam, Pancham, Dhaivat, Nishad and (Shadja) respectively.

In notation these become, S, R, G, M, P, D and N respectively. A dot above

the letter indicates that the note is an octave higher that the present octave
and a dot below indicates that it is an octave lower. If a swara is not to be
sung as a "natural" (Suddha – Re as R), a line below the letter indicates that it
is flat (Komal) – e.g. Komal Re is “R”, and an acute accent above the
letter will indicates that it is sharp (Tivra) – e.g. Tivra Ma is “Mˆa” or “M'a.”

Thus,
Short Full Western
Name Name Equiv. (Hindustani)

Sa = Shadja = Do
Re = Rishabh = Re
Ga = Gandhar = Mi
Ma = Madhyam = Fa
Pa = Pancham = So
Dha = Dhaivat = La
Ni = Nishad = Ti
 In another popular notation of the Hindustani System, using Roman alphabets,
the 12 notes (intervals) of the chromatic scale are represented as (vide infra):
Sa, Re1, Re2, Ga1, Ga2, Ma1, Ma2, Pa, Dha1, Dha2, Ni1 and Ni2.

3. Taal (Tal, Tala): Taal is the rhythmic pattern of a piece of music. It is akin to
the time signature in western music. It is a repetitive sequence of beats in a
specific pattern of stresses and rests in between. The commonest Taals, unlike
Western music, are those that are “Additive Time Signatures.” Western
signatures are more simple, compound or complex.

Tempo is noted Laya: Vilambit laya (Slow tempo), Madhya laya (Medium
tempo) and Drut laya (Fast tempo). Each taal can vary in speed according to
this.

Patterns are noted like 3+4+3+4, meaning 3 beats in 1 measure of time

followed by 4 beats in 1 measure of time repeating itself – i.e. one, two, three,
one, two, three, four, one, two, three, one, two, three, four. In western
notation his will be (3+4+3+4/4) – meaning 4 meters with 1/4 notes divided
as alternating groups of 3 and 4. The sum of the above expression is the
number of total beats in that taal played in unit time. So, 4+4 is not that same
as 4+4+4+4. This is because the 1st beat of every taal is played with an added
accent. The spacing of the accents is also different for different taals. These
sections in between two consecutive accents are referred to as Vibhaga (or
Partitions).

Common taals are:

Rupak: 3+2+2
Dhamar: 5+2+3+4
Teentaal: 4+4+4+4 (equivalent to the Western 4/4 with an accent at
Jhoomra: 3+4+3+4 the beginning of every 4th meter)
Ektaal: 2+2+2+2+2+2
Daadra: 3+3

4. Raaga (Raag, Raaga, Raga, Rāgam): It refers to the melodic modes of the
song. It is akin to the Western scales. Just as in scales, it is a general form of the
melody that gives a set of intervals that form notes that are used in the piece.
Raags have a definite emotionality attached to each o them. A variant of a Raag
is a Thaat that has 7 notes, in Sa to Ni sequence (frequency), having no
difference in their ascending and descending forms, having only one version of
a note Suddha or Vikrit and having no emotional connotation. These are more
like individual “modes” that are used to compose Western scales
Before naming the Thaats, let us describe the basic Chromatic Scale pattern as
can be expressed in the alphanumeric notation of the Hindustani System:

Hindustani Interval Note Equivalent for

Notation Name Sa =C Chromatic Scale

Sa = Perfect Unison = C
Re1 = Minor second = C#
Re2 = Major second = D
Ga1 = Minor third = D#
Ga2 = Major third = E
Ma1 = Perfect fourth = F
Ma2 = Aug. fourth/Dim. fifth = F#
Pa = Perfect fifth = G
Dha1 = Minor sixth = G#
Dha2 = Major sixth = A
Ni1 = Minor seventh = A#
Ni2 = Major seventh = B
Sa = Perfect octave = C (octave)

Common Thaats are as follows:

1. Bilawal = Ionian mode, equivalent to C Major Scale
2. Khamaj = Mixolydian mode
3. Kafi = Dorian mode, equivalent to C Major Scale starting on B
4. Asavari = Aeolian mode, equivalent to Melodic Minor Scale
5. Bhairavi = Phrygian mode
6. Kalyan = Lydian mode

Modes are the equivalents of scales in ancient Greek music theory.