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SUMMARY:Quantifying musical note usage in major pentatonic ragas - Achinty
 a Prahlad\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20240430T110000Z
DTEND:20240430T120000Z
UID:TALK216208@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Peter Harrison
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*\n\nIndian classical music\, including Hindustani mu
 sic\, is based on the concept of rāga. A rāga\, while based on or derive
 d from a scale\, is not the same thing. It is an aesthetic and grammatical
  entity somewhat similar to Arabian maqām\, Turkish makam and Persian maq
 ām or māye. In Hindustānī music\, two or more rāgas can have an ident
 ical scale\, but can differ in the relative importance given to svara-s (
 “notes”). The popular rāgas Bhūpālī and Deskār both have the scal
 e sa re ga pa dha\, SRGPD (where sa is the tonic note and pa is the fifth)
 \, corresponding to the intervallic structure of a major pentatonic scale 
 in Western music. Yet\, they are separate rāgas with distinct personaliti
 es\, owing partly to differences in alpatva (‘scarcity’) and bahutva (
 ‘abundance’) of svara-s\, i.e. the proportion of time occupied by a pa
 rticular svara in a performance. Bhūpālī is dominated by the lower note
 s\, with ga for its vādī (svara with the greatest bahutva)\, while Desk
 ār is dominated by the higher notes\, and its vādī is dha. However\, th
 e prescriptive grammar of music theory (lakṣaṇa\, or śāstra) only te
 lls us so much about the realities of actual performance (lakṣya). While
  some elements of rāga grammar are explicitly described in the śāstra\,
  other equally important features are learned only from the lakṣya\, by 
 listening and imitation. Through computational analysis of recorded perfor
 mances\, this study describes and quantifies some of the latter features\,
  which\, to the best of my knowledge\, have not been published despite the
 ir consistency across schools and styles. New quantitative measures that I
  have defined for this work are an important technical contribution.\n\n*B
 iography*\n\nDr Achintya Prahlad is a Hindustani (northern Indian classica
 l) vocalist and composer with knowledge of Carnatic (south Indian classica
 l) music as well. He did a PhD in Biophysics at the University of Götting
 en\, Germany\, after which he taught biology\, music and languages to unde
 rgraduates at Ashoka University\, India\, while simultaneously doing resea
 rch on music and publishing papers. Achintya then moved on to do an MA in 
 Music at SOAS\, University of London\, and is currently a PhD student at t
 he Faculty of Music\, University of Cambridge.\n\n*Zoom link*\n\nhttps://z
 oom.us/j/99433440421?pwd=ZWxCQXFZclRtbjNXa0s2K1Q2REVPZz09
LOCATION:CMS computer room\, Faculty of Music (11 West Road\, Cambridge\, 
 CB3 9DP)
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