The Raga in actual practice

Hello All, the posts on the raga and on 'leading notes' have been very
useful. Thanks, everybody.

The following synopsis recapitulates and encapsulates the current
concept of a raga as it is performed today:
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The rudiments of Grammar:
[a] A raga is a set of notes (swara-s).
[b] The number of notes (swara-s) required of a raga is at least 5.
(There are exceptions.)
[c] A raga can never exclude Sa, because the remaining notes exist
only in relation to Sa. The Sa is called the tonic, or the key.
[d] A raga cannot omit both Ma (the fourth) and Pa (the fifth) at the
same time.
[e] A raga revolves around two principal notes (swara-s). The more
important of these two is called the Sonant (vadi); the other, the
Consonant (samvadi). The remaining notes (swara-s) in a raga are
called assonants (anuvadi). A prosonant (pranuvadi) is an assonant of
importance. The notes (swara-s) not included in the raga are called
dissonants (vivadi). Though not included as such, a vivadi quite often
becomes a part of a raga, because it beautifies the raga.
[f] A raga cannot include two variations (i.e. sharp and flat) of the
same note simultaneously. (There are exceptions.)
[g] The time theory is an important traditional consideration for a
raga to be performed.

The Aesthetics of improvisation:
A raga exists eternally as a `prototype'. It manifests itself during
its performance. Performance of a raga is the improvisation of its
constituent notes, with or without accompaniment of a taal (roughly,
rhythm). (Improvisation is variously called elaboration, expansion,
extemporization, amplification, development, interpretation,
unfolding, evolution; aalapa, badhat, vistaara, etc.) The
improvisation takes place while a raga is being performed, by the
process of intuitive nascence: there is no prior plan, nor any score
to follow. It is ad-lib, extemporaneous. It is done without any
rehearsal. It takes place at the scene of action -- on the stage. It
is an on-site, real-time, and spontaneous exposition of the aesthetics
of the raga. It is the nascent unfolding of the raga: the
interpretation of the raga comes into existence while it is being
performed.

But there are definite rules of aesthetics-grammar to be observed, like:
taking the included notes in certain order only. This includes many
'jumps' and 'gaps', because the improvisation is not linear or
sequential;
emphasizing, repeating, staying on certain notes;
de-emphasizing certain notes;
omitting the excluded notes;
and yet including any of the excluded note(s) in an aesthetically
pleasing way.

But a really good performance is the result of great talent, a great
guru, consistent, hard work, and a lot of experience. It requires
assiduous work, courage, and thorough learning. It demands great
training; exceptional creative ability and natural talent; thorough,
intuitive grasp of the aesthetics of the raga; and natural flair for
effective presentation.

The technique of improvisation has two main components, namely
expansion (baDhat), and creative growth (upaj). Thus, improvisation is
two-fold. On the one hand, it keeps on increasing its area of
development, one small step at a time. On the other hand, it reaches
the maximum creative depth at every step of development.

Improvisation means weaving patterns around the sonant (vadi),
consonant (samvadi) and prosonant (pranuvadi). taking into account the
following direction:

Octave: Lower, to middle, to higher
Notes: only very few, to a few, to more, to many
Complexity: very simple, to simple, to increasing complexity, to very
complex
Speed: Quite slow, to moderate, to fast, to very fast
Overlapping: almost absent, to some, to much
Taans: very few and very small in very small area, to more profuse and
longer and in wider area, to many and quite long and complex and
sweeping all areas.

Use of various aesthetic tools (alankar-s, gamaka etc).
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I hope the above synopsis is helpful.

Thanks and regards,
Haresh.