The most abstract question in music
When people come to know that I am into classical music, first thing they ask is, 'how do I recognize a raag?'. If they know some form of music, I might start explaining them something. If they don't know anything about music theory, I would start seeing the clock. Explaining from scratch takes a while and needs some patience from me and from the listener.
When I practise with people who know music, but not much of the classical style, it is very interesting to see how they start picking my explanation. With a few examples from the movie songs or by playing some notes on the keyboard or the guitar, it becomes a good proof to what I say. On some occasions, it turns out that the listener plays some of his own things coming out of his/her mind or the one which he/she composed. It is fascinating to realise that they really did a nice composition and they did not know the 'raag' or 'melody' of that. Then, I start asking myself, "do we need to know the term 'raag' to appreciate/compose music?". Not really seeing this example. But, knowing it always an advantage. It is like really understanding a mathematical equation before implimenting a concept OR some oxidation equation in organic chemistry to get something obvious.
Next is the toughest part. What if the person doesn't know 'a', 'b', 'c' of music, but is a good listener and is enthusiastic in knowing how to recognize various raags? This question takes me back to MY days of starting to identify different raags. Gone are those days when I used to get confused with 'kalyani' and 'shankarabharana'! Oh man..., how could I ever have such a doubt? They are SO very different. But, NO. I could NOT distinguish them initially. Slowly, as time passed by, a real-time processor was developed in my brain ;) to process voice data and recognise the raag. The processor is too good - it is fast, accurate, and matches the technology of google search ;) - indexing and pattern recognition. ha ha ha. Don't forget... it is fast too :).
At one stage during my Master's program, I almost planned to work on converting this brainy processor into real hardware - keywords of the project - audio DSP, VLSI, sound engineering. Only keyword missing there is "PhD". ha ha ha. If I had done that project, mujhe MS mein PhD miltha, because, that project was THE most complex project ever thought. kaash mein karpavoonga ek din ;).
Coming back to raaga recognition - First thing required is a database. Yes!!! This is anologous to software technology ;). You need a whole gamut of songs in your brain. Then, you need good indexing to search those songs. You know what??? - jo anthaakshari mein puntar hai, they will have good database and indexing. They can learn raaga recognition easier than others. OK, what next??? That database must be relational ;). Primary key for this is raaga. Indexing has to be based on this.
OK, enough of software. Now coming to reality and a few examples.
Most famous raag in Hindi movies is 'yaman', also known as 'kalyani'. 'yaman' is what Hindustani musicians call, and 'kalyani' is the name what Carnatic musicians name it. Some songs in this raag... (sing all of them one by one... do you see similarity in the notes?)
1) Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi woh barsaath ki raath (movie: barsaath ki raath)
2) jab deep jale aana (movie: chitch chor)
3) ghar se nikalthe hee (movie: papa kehtein hain)
Now switch off your. Restart it again because I will be taking you to the next raag ;).
Sing these songs first.
1) Pehla nasha ... (movie: jo jeetha wohi sikandar)
2) piya bole piyu bole (movie: parineetha)
3) Happy birthday to you (birthday song yaar... )
4) kastu maza.. (movie: parineetha again)
5) mein koi aisa geet gaawon (movie: Yes Boss)
Anything similar????? NO???? forget it. YES??? good. This is 'shankarabharana', which is also called the 'major scale' in Western Classical.
Enough of theory. ha ha ha. Music cannot to written. It has to be listened ;).
When I practise with people who know music, but not much of the classical style, it is very interesting to see how they start picking my explanation. With a few examples from the movie songs or by playing some notes on the keyboard or the guitar, it becomes a good proof to what I say. On some occasions, it turns out that the listener plays some of his own things coming out of his/her mind or the one which he/she composed. It is fascinating to realise that they really did a nice composition and they did not know the 'raag' or 'melody' of that. Then, I start asking myself, "do we need to know the term 'raag' to appreciate/compose music?". Not really seeing this example. But, knowing it always an advantage. It is like really understanding a mathematical equation before implimenting a concept OR some oxidation equation in organic chemistry to get something obvious.
Next is the toughest part. What if the person doesn't know 'a', 'b', 'c' of music, but is a good listener and is enthusiastic in knowing how to recognize various raags? This question takes me back to MY days of starting to identify different raags. Gone are those days when I used to get confused with 'kalyani' and 'shankarabharana'! Oh man..., how could I ever have such a doubt? They are SO very different. But, NO. I could NOT distinguish them initially. Slowly, as time passed by, a real-time processor was developed in my brain ;) to process voice data and recognise the raag. The processor is too good - it is fast, accurate, and matches the technology of google search ;) - indexing and pattern recognition. ha ha ha. Don't forget... it is fast too :).
At one stage during my Master's program, I almost planned to work on converting this brainy processor into real hardware - keywords of the project - audio DSP, VLSI, sound engineering. Only keyword missing there is "PhD". ha ha ha. If I had done that project, mujhe MS mein PhD miltha, because, that project was THE most complex project ever thought. kaash mein karpavoonga ek din ;).
Coming back to raaga recognition - First thing required is a database. Yes!!! This is anologous to software technology ;). You need a whole gamut of songs in your brain. Then, you need good indexing to search those songs. You know what??? - jo anthaakshari mein puntar hai, they will have good database and indexing. They can learn raaga recognition easier than others. OK, what next??? That database must be relational ;). Primary key for this is raaga. Indexing has to be based on this.
OK, enough of software. Now coming to reality and a few examples.
Most famous raag in Hindi movies is 'yaman', also known as 'kalyani'. 'yaman' is what Hindustani musicians call, and 'kalyani' is the name what Carnatic musicians name it. Some songs in this raag... (sing all of them one by one... do you see similarity in the notes?)
1) Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi woh barsaath ki raath (movie: barsaath ki raath)
2) jab deep jale aana (movie: chitch chor)
3) ghar se nikalthe hee (movie: papa kehtein hain)
Now switch off your. Restart it again because I will be taking you to the next raag ;).
Sing these songs first.
1) Pehla nasha ... (movie: jo jeetha wohi sikandar)
2) piya bole piyu bole (movie: parineetha)
3) Happy birthday to you (birthday song yaar... )
4) kastu maza.. (movie: parineetha again)
5) mein koi aisa geet gaawon (movie: Yes Boss)
Anything similar????? NO???? forget it. YES??? good. This is 'shankarabharana', which is also called the 'major scale' in Western Classical.
Enough of theory. ha ha ha. Music cannot to written. It has to be listened ;).
Comments
Earlier, I used to watch the strokes they play on the instrument to identify the raaga(provided one knows the instrument) .. Well, the sanchaara when heard continuously many times would help us..
You can even speak about a name-value pair where you can match a set of lines with a given raaga & you can bring in the pointer to the right pair..!
If you are in India, watch a TV program on ETV. its named Raaga Ranjini & aired on every sunday at 10am. Pravin Godkindi explains it good, it makes it easier when somebody tries to relate to film songs more than the keerthane or the vaagyeyakaara!