Music is an aural art. Any tone, which has a fixed frequency, can be used as a musical note. However, we sing and play music using more than one note. The difference between frequencies of any two notes is known as interval.
Long ago, a question popped in ancient artists’ mind.
What is the biggest or smallest note interval?
A never ending quest started. The Sharutis were their first yardsticks to map the intervals between notes, nothing more and nothing less.
We do not know the origin of music, but we do know that the theory of music is not the mother of music. The grammar of a language is defined after a language has been established. Also, a child learns to speak the language and then learns to read and write.
In the development of music, the things went like this (from a Natyashaster verse):
First songs, then notes, then Grams, Sharutis and then the Jaties (raags)
When we say that the songs must have developed after humans were civilized, we are forgetting something. Look around you. Birds sing, so do the other mammals. There are songs everywhere.
It is certain that as humans got civilized, their songs got complicated. With the development of language, the songs became more meaningful. The primal screams evolved into poems of love, separation, nature, beauty and other things that affected us emotionally. When something said through conversation does not capture the essence of our feelings, a song erupts in us. That is a primal instinct. It is not something that is impossible to do without the knowledge of Sharuties and Grams. A villager in India or a Gypsy in Europe cannot stop singing just because they do not know the difference between Just intonation and Chromatic intonation. These are afterthoughts.
When the enlightened artists of the ancient world sang their songs, the beauty of changing pitch compelled them to find more about it. What is it that changing the pitch up and down in certain ways sounds so…musical!
The first known theory of music in Indian Vedas (Samveda) contains four notes. Nowadays notes are always mentioned in ascending (such as C D E or Sa Re Ga) order. In Vedic tradition, the notes are mentioned in Avrohatmic order (in descending). The first four the Vedic artists knew were:
Madhyam (ma), Gandhar (ga), Rishav and Shadaj.
These were known as the first, second, third and fourth Svaras.
When I say they ‘knew’ about four notes, that doesn’t mean that they were unaware of higher and lower pitches. As described above, this was purely theoretical classification that explained the notes used in popular hymns and songs.
Then another note was found below all other known notes. They called it Mandar. A musicologist Tambru named it Dhaivat (the note that only enlightened one can hear, as it is the first note that has perfect third relation to the first note). This was the fifth note. Then Tambru established another note (Nishad) between Dhaivat and Shadaj. It was called the sixth. Later, below all other notes another note was found. It was named the ‘seventh.’ As it completed the septave, this note was also established above the first (Madhaym).
So in Samveda, M, G, R, S, D, N, P became the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. These notes were not the same as our modern notes with same names.
Here I would like to give you a simple example of Bharat Muni’s Shudh (pure) Suptak on a Swar Mandal or a Harpsichord:
At first look, the time theory of Raags alludes many. It seems random, there are formulas however. It is directly connected to the notes used in a Raag. Every Note, when used with certain other notes, has a different effect. That creates certain moods. Based on that, we can divide Raags into three categories:
Murdung is also called Murdungum or Mridungam. It is a very ancient drum and is mentioned in the oldest scripture available (Rigveda 5.33.6.). In ancient times it was called ‘Pushkur’. Pushkur was the favorite drum of Gods. All Godly dances were performed on the rhythms of Pushkur. There are thousands of ancient statues and carvings that give Murdung a very long history.
As shown in the picture, Pakhavaj is made from the one piece of the wood. The bass side is bigger than the treble side. Pakhavaj’s Bayan (left side) is not inked and dough is used to get the bass sound. Higher or lower notes are achieved by putting more or less dough on the head. Because Pakhavaj is one piece, so hitting one side makes both sides ring. That ring distinguishes Pakhavaj’s all over sound from Tabla. The ring is especially obvious when a Thaap (all four fingers flat like ‘Te’ sound in Tabla) is played. A lot of Thaap sounds are used in Pakhavaj, where in Tabla lots of individual fingers are used to get different sounds.
Tabla is tuned with a special hammer. Although any small hammer can be used, but this thing is specially made for this task. It has a blunt head to tune it, a sharp head to fix it and the other side is designed to get the rawhide belt over the wooden blocks. This special hammer is a very cheap tool and it is mostly sold with a new Tabla. A new one can be bought for a buck or two.
Normally a Bayan (the left part) is not tuned to any note. It is just tighten until sounds pleasant by hitting the crown. But some players do tune it to the bass keynote (lower ‘Sa’ or bass fifth (lower ‘Pa’). Some players don’t use an ‘inked’ Bayan. They use wheat dough to get the bass sound. If you have this kind of Bayan, then don’t tighten it before using the dough. It sounds very high without the dough. The other thing to remember about dough Bayans is that the dough should be fully scratch off after every use. Otherwise it is bad for the head. Store your dough Bayan in a mice free zone because if they found it, they will shred it. The dough Bayans are commonly used in the Quwali style playing and are known as ‘Dhamas’.
Some old paintings have been found of a drum which sort of looks like a Baya (left) side of a Tabla, but the modern Tabla is not that old. Most scholars and researchers now agree that a Sufi poet and musician Amir Khusro made Tabla in the time of Emperor Alaudin Khilji (1296 – 1316 AD). He cut the Murdung (or Pukhavaj, an ancient rhythmic instrument, still popular in the southern music) in the middle and put the two pieces side by side. Later developments were made from that design. Some people say that word Tabla, evolved from Middle Eastern word ‘Tubbel’ drum. This much is sure that today Tabla is the most famous Indian drum in and out side of India.
The right side is the sharper side of Tabla. It is made of wood that gives it a distinguished sound. It is available in many sizes, depending on where you want to tune it. The Tabla heads are made from goatskin. A prepared skin is called ‘Pudi’. That is why sometimes ‘Dayan’ is also known as ‘Puda’. A Pudi’s edge has a crown which has 16 holes. A rawhide belt goes through these holes and 8 wooden blocks are inserted under the belt. Dayan is tuned by these wooden pieces.
Please pay attention to the picture and see where these parts are. All the sounds are made by hitting the different parts of Tabla with different kind of strokes. If a Tabla is recklessly hit or tuned, it may take hours to fix it back. It is a very delicate instrument. Although it is moderately loud instrument, but it is the technique not the force, that makes a Tabla sound good.