A brief history of time in music

Ideas and innovations in Indian classical music
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shankarank
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Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

A brief history of time in music

Post by shankarank »

A brief history of time in Music

The question of role of time in music has been bothering me ever since I heard the POD cast at Sanjay Subramhanyan’s blog with Dr. N Ramanathan. http://sanjaysub.blogspot.com/2009/07/s ... de-11.html
Prof. Ramanathan states at one point that Mridangam is “not music”. It is entertainment.

There is also the question finally – what is music? Ramanathan says one has to study music practiced across the world to understand it. Does it mean that if one were to listen to only Carnatic music all life, a person could never develop a perspective or understanding of what music is? As frogs in the well do some of us lack the epistemology to express our understanding of Carnatic music?

This article http://musicresearch.in/download.php?id ... cle_45.zip cautions people injecting Science and Scientific analysis into explaining Music. Also isn’t science culture neutral? The authors seem to suggest that a scientific approach is some import of a Western paradigm.

The authors are also elated about nobody trying a scientific approach to explain the concept of time in music. Two quotes from the above article:

“Fortunately the subject (tAla and laya) does not seem to have attracted the attention of modern advocates of the 'scientific' approach”
“Time, as envisaged in music, is a complex concept and luckily this part of music has been free of explanations made on the basis of physics”


It is possible however create a model or a consistent theory without resorting to any direct concept of physics or any other science – but rather looking for a consistent pattern in the spirit of how patterns are observed and generalizations are drawn in Science, using the existing concepts of music as explained by Dr. Ramanathan himself.

At his site musicresearch.in the article on tALa dasa prANa, there is the discussion of ten vital aspects of the tALa. A concept that interested me is the following:

The viSrAnti (or laya) between two successive kriyAs is abstract.

He makes some qualifications surrounding this. He says, he makes this observation as a musician and as a non-physicist. We grant him his domain and consider this as a meta-physical or a philosophical statement or if you like in less grandiose terms – a statement based on human experience or reflection.

In musicological treatises overarching statements of this kind are very rare. There is more philately than philosophy.

Einstein said of phenomenologists: They worry about this or that phenomenon.

Musicians (especially today) have a parallel to this: they worry about this or that song, Musicologists: this or that form.

In the podcast we get a sense from overall from various statements made in the discussion that the presence of melody is a pre-requisite for music to happen. But there is also the sense that rest everything that is sounded (like the percussion) is not some substantive music – rather some entertainment that is there to humor the audience.

We turn the above statement around to define music:

Music (Carnatic) is a process that makes this viSrAnti (period of rest) concrete or un-abstract.

We now proceed to see how this un-abstraction or concretization takes place by looking at the layers.

tALa: The concept of “rest” itself is used here to refer to absence of any action – the silence between two kriyAs. However if we consider the contrast between saSabda kriYAs (sound making beat positions) and niSabda kriyAs (silent beat positions) – it naturally suggests the extension of the concept of “rest”. Borrowing a leaf from Einstein’s book (relative motion) – we refer to this contrast as relative rest. niSabda kriyAs ( the finger counts and hand waves) are relatively restful. A pattern of viSrAnti emerges if we were to ignore niSabda kriYas as full fledged action. Yet they are there to somewhat concretize the abstract rest between two saSabda kriyAs.

We should squirm in our seats when we hear next time, our musicians announce Adi tAla as a cycle of 8 beats – which is how western epistemology creeps into our musicological discourse. catuSra tripuTa captures the tAla angas and in turn the pattern of viSrAnti. Right at the outset the definition of tAla itself spells relative rest.

Composition: The syllables with short and long gaps filled with vowels provide us a natural contrast where a pattern of viSrAnti emerges. We could add in the contrast of soft and hard consonants as a more fine grained restfulness.

Melody: In the melodic layer the presence of hrasva and dIrga svaras (with kArvais) are naturally candidates for relatively restful patterns.

Gamakas: We deem the pure note positions as kriyas, with every other frequency sound around that position as viSrAnti. Gamakas are to be seen as restful representations in the frequency domain as frequency is varied and laid out on the time canvas. AsampUrna rAgAs can be viewed as the ones that create extra viSrAnti in frequency domain by omitting kriyAs ( notes) that are hurdles and then un-abstract the same with rich gamakas. The creators of asampUrna paddhati will stand vindicated if this line of argument holds!

kriyAs made Subtle: Each layer in the sequence above as it overlays on top of the previous, attempts to make the kriyAs on the layer below subtle. As kriYas get subtle the viSrAnti exudes itself as a listener experience.
This process of making kriyAs subtle happens several ways.

1. A graha or an off samam eduppu is straight winner – if it is something like dESAdi, you get two kriyAs a saSabda and niSabda made subtle. Does not however mean that a start on samam is any less subtle – for every syllable of the composition that hugs the kriyA of the tAla there are plenty further down that don’t.

2. When a kArvai in the composition layer and consequently the melodic layer goes over a kriyA of the tAla layer. This is a key factor in achieving the method hiding as well – as methods are specified and first expressed in kriyAs.

3. The prAsa (rhyming) , (pratama, dvitIya and antyAkshara) themselves makes the kriya ( the rhyming akshara in question ) subtle. Hear something repeatedly, we no longer hear the kriYA.

4. Gamakas make the pure note position (which we deemed as kriYA) itself subtle by moving the focus away from that point of pleasure. By doing this we subsumed the melodic layer into the concept of viSranti and in the process imputed additional semantics to the word viSranti itself. The kampita gamaka - core of Carnatic music - does not even touch the note position (TMK IIT lecture). It achieves the maximum subtlety – the entire kriyA vanished!

5. The musicians add a layer to this based on how much viSranti aware they are.

6. Laya vidvAns are a special case of (5).


Measuring the music: The amount of substantive music (carnatic) in a composition is the amount of kriyAs made subtle by all means made available. This one opens the possibility that from a theoretical perspective we begin to see how any knowledge of methods of music is not needed for enjoyment of music. As cerebral this analysis is it could explain why musical enjoyment is not cerebral in the first place.

tyAgarAja used two words “yati viSrama” in his sogasugA mridanga tALamu kriti. Dr. Raghavan’s article translates this as Rhythmic pause. If we have just succeeded extending this beyond a mere pause or silence, viSrAnti is more general and also abstracted away from Rhythm – where the latter refers to regularity of kriyAs on the time scale. We ascribed viSranti to the melodic layer by defining the svara position – on the frequency scale - as kriYA and gamaka as viSrAnti on a relative basis.

Aesthetic Experience: The Aesthetic experience of a connoisseur in Carnatic music is summarized thus: It is a yearning to feel the texture of time canvas that is otherwise abstract. Since the art of painting (and not food :) ) is being drawn into this discussion these days, a two dimensional spatial analogy will help.

Let’s imagine a connoisseur of painting is viewing one. A spatial equivalent of the above would be: the connoisseur is trying to feel the texture of the canvas on which the painting is done without having to touch it. So it is not the colors, or the shapes that is the painting. Those are tools employed by the artiste to un-abstract the texture of the canvas for a viewer who cannot feel it directly. Incredible as it sounds for a spatial scenario, we are saying that an equivalent of this is in play in the temporal scenario. The time canvas is not something to be taken as given for us to stomp and pout on, something on which something else called music is painted - rather the methods of music are tools to help us feel the texture of the canvas.

This yearning to feel the time canvas is probably innate that needs stimulation to flower.

rAga : rAga is now re-defined as a pattern of viSrAnti in the melodic layer. There was a discussion about Scalar and vector ragas – the word vector mentioned in jest. However quite by accident it became accurate. rAgAs that explore only the frequency as a dimension with very little viSrAnti are scalar. rAgAs that are full of gamakas are increasingly vector as they un-abstract the time dimension using time varying frequency representation as a tool to explore the abstract rest.

Musicians and Musicologists always trumpet the rAga as the core of carnatic music. Now we have a replacement – it is viSrAnti in the relative sense as it was defined above that is indeed the core of our music. suswara and Sruti Suddham are now taken as means to make the melodic layer transparent so that the connoisseur can transcend the methods of music and feel deeper down to experience the viSranti.

12 notes to 22 Srutis to 53 commas is just increasing the color pallet. Does not guarantee a good painting.

The Trinity and Syllable ordering: The syllable ordering in compositions or lyrical forms with advent of the trinity underwent a phase transition of sorts to settle in a state where subtlety of the kriyAs reached a maximum.

rAga and the role of compositions:
Compositions provide the mold ( mould) from which patterns of melodic viSrAnti are cast. The mold is is provided by the syllable ordering above. This rings with the conventional wisdom that to gain depth in a rAga musicians do sAdakam with as many compositions composed in that rAga.

Music and Mridangam:

The sub-title should be changed to Music in Mridangam. Hope we don’t end up like Science in Music turning to Science and Music :)

Before we discuss what is music in Mridangam, to start with Mridangists are the first connoisseurs and first to react to the viSrAnti in the melodic forms which conform to tAlam. Mridangam measures the amount of music in a kriti. Just by looking at the richness of expressions from the Mridangist we can gauge the composition's musical weight.

Next several things in Mridangam playing like the cApu and the judicious use of toppi probe the viSrAnti beyond the kriyA that initiated the sound. Then the soft and hard consonantal kriyAs ( mellinam and vallinam in tamizh), provide patterns of relative rest.

The effectiveness increases with perfection of their execution and all artists recognized as stalwarts in the golden era – some of them still amongst us we notice, are extremely viSranti aware. This is not just playing the syllables of the kritI. Rather they play patterns that makes kriyAs of the other layers subtle. They can also play patterns that unwraps what has been made subtle by other layers to make things apparent to listeners. Pharans – a barrage of kriyAs emitted in quick succession if perfectly executed un-abstracts viSrAnti more so if started at a tantalizing anAgata (pre beat) from a kriYA of the tAla. A well placed toppi embellishment as well its majestic use in phrases does the same thing.

If viSrAnti is indeed the core of our music – there is no question Mridangists are musicians too.

If there are elements of entertainment in Mridangam, there are equally the same elements in melody as well that can be characterized as Entertainment.

That is an important question to consider in a separate thread of discussion.
Last edited by shankarank on 09 Dec 2014, 15:53, edited 1 time in total.

bombal
Posts: 110
Joined: 21 Sep 2014, 22:54

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by bombal »

shankarank, thanks...purely on the one statement and without reading what the knowledgeable gentlemen have propounded,I have only to quote what MahavidwAn Palghat Mani Iyer has to say

"Mridangathula en abhiprayath la neraya padikarathukku onnum illai, ellam seyal la dhaan irrukku" - according to him there is not much(is inflated actually he probably means nothing) to read about in mridangam and everything is only practical...so according to him a true vidwAn is - someone who can capture and make the audience forget about everything else for the designated time. Now whether you would want to call it entertainment or anything else, that is immaterial..

For me personally he is the final word in Mridangam in Music or Music and Mridangam, whatever....

:namaste:

shankarank
Posts: 4042
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by shankarank »

bombal: thanks for your comments. Completely agree. reminds me of Dhannammal's comment : "pATTa patthi pEsa porangaLamE" (they are going to talk about music!). Since then "nerayya pEsiTTanga. pEsindutAn irrukkAnga". Above also I talked more about "pATTu" than mridangam specifically. If you grew up listening to Mridangam all of these are self evident truths.

However listeners today have a different plight. I felt a need for a theory for connoisseurs, by connoisseurs , of connoisseurs without regard to the convictions of those that produce music.

We have laid out the musical constitution - we have to now fight the masses.

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by Nick H »

Constitution? Or over-intellectualised abstractions?

Time in music? Time is all in music. There is no shruti without time, no melody without time, no rhythm without time, no non-rhythm without time. What more needs to be said?

shankarank
Posts: 4042
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by shankarank »

Nick, How much intellectualism can you take? How much intellectualism do we need to devise a scheme or method to measure the amount of intellectualism in a discussion? Also we hear people say so and so is an intellectual musician ( it is right there in the POD Cast I linked to). How much intellectualism is allowed in music itself? When does it become over intellectualized?

I thought I was only discussing something about music not performing music. So I don't need to be artful or poetic about it.

As regards abstraction - no theory can be proposed without some abstraction I guess. We talked about un-asbtraction of the time. I will have to un-abstract my post I see :-? . Don't worry this is going to be a long thread even if others don't weigh in.

As regards time in music - is it just the title that bothers you?

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by Nick H »

Nick, How much intellectualism can you take?
Frankly, not very much. Perhaps I should have stated that as a "disclaimer." I do appreciate that tastes and brains vary, and others have a much bigger appetite and ability for the mental stuff. The analysis and theory of music is entirely valid ...and even important. But still, one has to sometimes ask if something is being needlessly overcomplicated.

I have to go and visit a new baby... and then go to a concert... Maybe I'll add some complexity of my own later or tomorrow :))

shankarank
Posts: 4042
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by shankarank »

Here is Dr Yella trying to prove people wrong as regards Mridangam is music or not!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1JWZ6_KPU8

But does he have to? Mridangam in vertical position is the metallic music that I certainly cannot hear CM in it.

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: A brief history of time in music

Post by Nick H »

Sounds like a chinese string instrument!

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