Indian Classical

Question 1

What are the 2 types of Indian music?

Answer 1

Hindustani music, found mainly in the northern parts of the Indian and Carnatic, music of southern India.

Question 2

1) What is a Sitar?
2) What is a Sarod?
3) What is a Bansuri?

Answer 2

1) This is a stringed instrument that has approximately 20 strings, but only 7 of these strings are ever plucked
2) This is similar to a lute and is capable of creating long glissandos
3) This is made of bamboo and is very similar to a flute

Question 3

1) What is a Shehnai?
2) What is a Saragani?
3) What is a Tabla?
4 ) What is a Tanpura?

Answer 3

1) This is like an oboe and also uses a double reed
2) This instrument is bowed and has a short-neck, a bit like a violin
3) A tabla is a pair of twin hand drums
4) A long-necked plucked string instrument

Question 4

1) What is a Raga?
2) What are the 3 sections in the music?

Answer 4

1) The raga is like a melody that uses a fixed set of notes (like a scale).
2) The 3 sections that can be identified in Indian Classical are Section 1, Alap, Section 2, Gat and section 3, Jhala

Question 5

1) What is a drone?

Answer 5

1) A drone in Indian music is a repeated note, or set of notes, played throughout the piece of music. This forms the structural harmony in the music. It never changes. You will often hear the drone is played on a tanpura or sometimes a sarod.

Question 6

1) What is a Virtuosic soloist?
2) What is Tala?
3) What are Microtonal?

Answer 6

1) Virtuosic soloists (performers who have outstanding technical ability on their instrument).
2) Tala - this is the rhythm in Indian music and is performed in a complex cycle of beats
3) Microtonal - very small intervals between notes as the performer plays one note to the next, often achieved through pitch bending or vocally

Question 7

1) What are Ornamentation?
2) What are Pitch Bends?
3) What are Glissandos?

Answer 7

1) Notes which are added to the main notes of a piece of music in order to make it more interesting, e.g. trills, slides etc.
2) Where a performer will physically bend the strings to alter the sound of each note
3) Glissandos is where a performer will slide between all of the notes quickly