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Re: Chords (was Adrenalinn)
Steuart wrote:
>my understanding is that these guys were thinking in terms of lines in
>*modes* - - not in functional harmony. isn't this also how indian music
>works (not that i know a damn thing about this), they work in ragas (which
>are vaguely analogous to modes) and dont't really have harmonic
>pregression?
Yes and no. Indian ragas are similar to modes, but are more specialized
in that each raga has its own definitive individual melodic contour. In
some ragas this is a straightforward ascending and descending pattern, in
others more of a zigzag pattern. Due to the variance in the melodic
shape, different ragas can be based on the same "mode" or "scale."
There is absolutely no idea of harmonic progression, or "harmony" at all
in Indian music. The classical music is entirely monophonic, with the
melody occurring over an unchanging tonic drone. Since it is primarily a
soloist's music (singer or instrumentalist, accompanied by drum and drone)
there is no interweaving of melodic material, but a long, unfolding
development of the raga. Even in instances where vocalists perform with
their students for backup, the additional voices are singing in unison
with the main vocalist. In contemporary practice, instrumental duets and
trios (called "jugalbandi" - Hindi for "tied together") are becoming more
common. But the same ethos applies -- the instrumentalists will perform
precomposed material together in unison, and then play solo individually,
coming back together in unison for the "gat" or "bandish" ("composition"
-- akin to the idea of the "head" in jazz).
One of the reasons for the lack of harmony in Indian music is that so
little of the melodic material is precomposed, and so much is improvised
on the spot by the soloist, based on the "rules" of the raga. Another
reason that Indian music developed along non-harmonic lines (no pun
intended) is the microtonal nature of the raga system. Another is the use
of very large (or very small) intervallic leaps within the melodies. For
example, in North Indian music there's a very popular raga called Todi.
Its scale is as follows:
Tonic
flat Second
flat Third (which is "extra flat" microtonally)
raised Fourth
Fifth
flat Sixth
natural Seventh
Octave
As you can see, this sort of melody does not lend itself well to
harmonization.
There have been some attempts to "harmonize" Indian ragas, but it seems to
me a futile task, and a waste of time trying to apply the mechanics of one
musical system inappropriately to another. Something like trying to
"square the circle" so as to improve automobile tires :-)
My two paisa.