[tuning] re world musics

Dear Haresh:
Thanks for the reply because this is something that has always been a
big question mark in my mind. She was principal of a girls school in
Bombay. She studied vocal music there. She described the difficulty of
a woman studying music in India, sitting in front of gurus house waiting
to be accepted etc. She was a fabulous singer. She taught a
rudimentary class on Indian vocal music which I took. We were also both
enrolled in a graduate seminar together and it was in one of these where
she talked about western tonal music in terms of its raga and tala.

As a member of an ethnomusicology seminar the information relayed is
accepted at face value because everyone present is coming from a totally
different culture. We accepted what she was saying as one musical
culture viewing another.

My head, at the time was into McCoy Tyner and George Adams and for some
reason the music of McCoy Tyner and her views on western music went
together. I thought she would have loved this music except for the
decibels.

Since I was a liaison and chauffeur at times I pondered what she might
like in case the opportunity arose where I might take her to a concert
etc. But time was brief and I was getting out of ethnomusicology so a
lot of things got left undone. L.A. at the time (1972) had zero Indian
culture so she was about as far away as you get from Indian culture.
She was staying with a family in Westwood.

I'm glad you're saying what you are saying because had she had the
terminology she might have described western music differently. The
western music in question was a university choral concert she had just
attended. Could raga and tala describe this music?

Yours,
Rick

Haresh BAKSHI wrote:

> <snip>
>
> Hi Rick, Did the instructress of Indian music describe Western music
> in terms of raga? I would like to know more about how she did it. I
> believe that that is neither possible nor desirable. And I do not
> think that it is possible to analyze a Beethoven Symphony in terms
> of a raga.

>
> <snip>

> However, on reading your message, I thought it fit to describe some
> rudiments of Western music in terms of Indian music. -- especially,
> raga-s.

<snip>