Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect of all human societies, a cultural universal.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term “classical music” also applies to non-Western art music.
TYPES OF CLASSICAL MUSIC IN INDIA
1. Bhatkhande
2. Vishnu digambar pulaskar
INSTRUMENTS IN INDIA
1. SITAR
The Sitar is probably the most famous traditional Indian stringed instrument in the West.
This is thanks to famous sitar players like Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar as well as bands like The Doors, the Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, who all used it in some of their music in the 1950s and 1960s.
The body of the instrument is calabash shaped, and indeed calabash gourds are used in its construction.
It can have between eighteen and twenty-one strings, six or seven of which run over the curved frets on the neck.
The remainder of the strings run beneath the frets and resonate sympathetically with the fretted strings.
2. TABLA
The Tabla is the most popular musical instrument in North India and consists of a pair of wooden hand drums with goatskin heads stretched taut.
It can be played alone or together with other instruments, and the one drum, the Bayan, is slightly bigger than the other producing a deeper bass sound.
The smaller one, called the Dahina, is used to create treble notes
The heads are tightened using thongs, hoops, and wooden dowels along the sides of the drums.
3. TANPURA(TAMBURA)
The Tanpura, or Tambura, is a four-stringed instrument with a long neck that is plucked to create a classic droning sound in Hindustani and Carnatic music systems.
It is not used to play distinct melodies but instead to create a sustained sonic background against which the melody is sung by a vocalist or played by another instrument.
The body, called the tumba, is hollow and gourd-shaped like the sitar, and the neck is made from tun wood (Spanish Cedar) or teak.
The tanpura can be male or female depending on the pitch of the male or female vocalist’s voice.
The male tanpura is bigger than the female in body size, width, and neck length.
The name “tanpura” is more recent and is used by Hindustani musicians, however, it is still called the tambura in Carnatic music, a system of music associated with South India.
4. MRIDANGAM
The Mridangam is a double-sided drum that provides the rhythm in Carnatic music and is also played in drum ensembles.
The drumheads are made of goatskin and are tightened with leather thongs on the sides of the instrument.
The one end of the mridangam is narrower than the other, allowing the musician to play both bass and treble sounds.
It is usually played while resting above the right ankle and supported with the bent left leg, but posture is critical.
If the hips are not level with each other and the posture is asymmetrical, playing the mridangam can lead to alterations in balance and gait over long periods.
There are different schools of mridangam players who use different playing styles.
Virtuosos of the instrument are C. S Murugabhupathy, Palani Subramaniam Pillai, and Palghat Mani Iyer.
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