Re: electronic

[Bobdog <psbuddha@texas.net>]

hi javier -

the instruments you saw in your class are called tampuras, not  shrutis.
aren't they wonderful ? they're usually tuned 5th, upper octave root,
upper octave root, lower octave root; the ones w/more strings will often
times have the extra strings tuned to notes which are more important to
the melody of the raag. with 2 used in conjunction, the sky's the limit
to tuning possibilities

what we are calling a shruti (short for shruti box; "shruti" actually
means "note") is an electronic device with 4 to 6 tunable oscillators
which is used to approximate the effect of the tampura drone. it's kinda
lame, but passable. there are also more organic shrutis which use a
harmonium style double bellows to push air through a series of reeds
which can be switched to get different notes to drone. they don't sound
anywhere as ethereal as the tampura, but the undulating breathing
quality can me somewhat meditative; i try to match my breathing to the
pace of the shruti then slow the tempo as much as possible. nice.

see you soon,

bobdog