Re: [tuning] Re: Variability of intervals in Indian music (and related topics)

I have studied with Suman Ghosh who is currently a disciple of Pandit Jasraj.

I asked him about the harmonium that he brings to class and he confirmed that
the octaves on that instrument are indeed divided into 12 equal intervals.
Which makes sense as it was imported as an early form of the accordion by the
Portuguese.

On the other hand, he has cautioned students with this statement: "Do not
follow the harmonium when you practice your singing. The harmonium follows
you". Now, English is not his native language, so I guess that statement
could be interpreted various ways. Mine is that its ok to use the harmonium
if you are a beginning vocal student (such as myself) and trying to get a
rough handle on the raags, but don't use it as a crutch. He also advised that
it is preferable to practice with a drone instrument such as a tambura (or an
"electric tambura" box like the one he brings to class) rather than with a
harmonium.

When I saw P. Jasraj in concert with Suman and others, there was a harmonium
player involved. He did not provide the drone (there were four tambura
players onstage already), but instead played raags himself on his harmonium,
thus functioning as just another "voice" on stage. P. Jasraj occasionally
also accompanied his vocals with his own harp-like instrument, but he always
tuned it between raags. He did not appear to use the harmonium to guide his
tuning - I think he was using the drone boxes then tuning the other strings to
the desired raag on that base drone note.

Next time I see Suman-ji, I will ask him if harmonium players "tune" their
harmoniums for concerts. If not, I suspect the way the pitch ornamentations
of the vocalists are reconciled with harmoniums (if a player is present) is
very similar to the way a blues harmonica player would play with a pianist.
I'll try to ask him about this too. But keep him mind that while he is very
intelligent and his English quite good, he is not likely to understand me if I
use the words "7-limit just intonation" and the like; I'm trying to learn
these concepts myself!

Paolo

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick McGowan" <rmcgowan@apple.com>
To: <tuning@egroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 6:00 PM
Subject: [tuning] Re: Variability of intervals in Indian music (and related
topics)

> One thing that continues to boggle my mind in this whole arena is how on
earth these Hindustani vocalists reconcile the subtleties of the vocal
intonation with the (presumably) 12-tone equal-tempered harmonium that enjoys
such widespread use... Any light you can shed on the vocalist's perceptions?
>
> Rick