Pitch
and Scale |
| PITCH |
| svara \svar\ [Sanskrit/Vedic nm, sur "the sun, heaven"; Hindi nm
"voice, sound, note"] musical pitch, note |
| In South Asian music seven scale steps are identified. |
| ṣaḍja [Sanskrit sas \ShaSh\ "of six"; sadj "six-born"] the principal note from which the other six are derived, the tonic |
| niṣāda [Sanskrit v, ni - sad "to sink or go down"] the seventh note of the gamut |
| dhaivata [Sanskrit] the sixth note of the gamut |
| pañcama [Sanskrit nm, pañch "the fifth"]
the fifth note of the gamut |
| madhyama [Sanskrit nm "the middle"] the fourth note
of the gamut |
| gandhāra [Sanskrit nm, "the name of a people"] the
third note of the gamut |
| ṛṣabha [Sanskrit nm, "a bull"] the second note
of the gamut |
| |
| |
|
Solfeggio |
Svara |
Name |
|
| |
1 |
doh |
sā |
ṣaḍja |
|
| |
7 |
ti |
ni |
niṣāda |
|
| |
6 |
la |
dhā |
dhaivata |
|
| |
5 |
sol |
pā |
pañcama |
|
| |
4 |
fa |
mā |
madhyama |
|
| |
3 |
mi |
gā |
gandhāra |
|
| |
2 |
re |
ri |
ṛṣabha |
|
| |
1 |
doh |
sā |
ṣaḍja |
|
|
| |
| SCALE |
| melā [Sanskrit n, "group"] / mēḷa [Telegu n. "group"] "scale" |
| melākarta [Sanskrit] / mēḷakarta [Telegu]: "scale matrix" |
| svarasthāna [Sanskrit] "note placement" |
|
| |
| RĀGA |
| sampūrṇa rāga [Sanskrit adj "complete"] a rāga having a heptatonic
scale |
| ṣaḍava rāga [Sanskrit n "sweetmeats"] a rāga having a hexatonic
scale |
| auḍava rāga [the name of a constellation] a rāga having a pentatonic
scale |
| janya rāga [ janya Sanskrit adj "derivative"] a rāga requiring
accidentals |
|
| |
| MELODIC MOVEMENT |
| ārohaṇa ascending scalar movement |
| avarohaṇa descending scalar movement |
| vakra crooked scalar movement |
| jīva-svara [Sanskrit "life-note"] most important note |
| piṭippu [Telegu "catch"] or characteristic melodic phrase |
| rāga-chāyā-sañcāra [Sanskrit "rāga -image-phrase"] characteristic
melodic development |
|
| SOUTH
INDIAN SVARASTHĀNA |
| ṣaḍja |
sa |
sa |
ṣaḍja |
|
| kākalī
niṣād |
ni## |
|
|
|
| kaiṣiki
niṣād |
ni# |
dha## |
satśruti
dhaivata |
|
| śuddha
niṣād |
ni |
dha# |
catusśruti
dhaivata |
uttarāṅga |
|
|
dha |
śuddha
dhaivata |
|
| pañcama |
pa |
pa |
pañcama |
|
| prati
madhyama |
ma# |
|
|
|
| śuddha
madhyama |
ma |
|
|
|
|
|
ga## |
antara
gandhāra |
|
| satśruti
ṛiṣabh |
ri## |
ga# |
sadhārana
gandhāra |
purvāṅga |
| catusśruti
ṛiṣabh |
ri# |
ga |
śuddha
gandhāra |
|
| śuddha
ṛiṣabh |
ri |
|
|
|
| ṣaḍja |
sa |
sa |
ṣaḍja |
|
|
| Venkatamakhi's
Meḷākarta |
| Building on the work
of his predecessors — Rāmamatya and Somanātha — Venkatamakhi
arrived at his system for deriving 72 different scales (mēḷkarta) through the following presumptions and operations. |
| 1. |
Sa and pa, as the most important notes in the harmonic series,
are fixed in their positions. That is, the overtones produced by
the fundamental sa include first its octave equivalent and the fifth
(pa). In melodic contexts, you can omit these notes, but they are
inherent in the scale. |
| 2. |
Ma,
as the next most important note in the harmonic series, has two
positions: śuddha (pure) ma and prati (raised) ma. |
| 3. |
The second (ri),
third (ga), sixth (dha), and seventh (ni)
of the scale have three variations, each beginning with a śuddha (pure or natural) position and two raised positions above. Ri and dha, as the notes immediately above the immovable notes
of sa and pa, borrow from ancient terminology
with the indication that they are four (catus) and seven
(sat) srutis above their respective notes. Thus, ri has a natural position (śuddha risabh) with two raised
positions above (catus-śruti risabh and sat-śruti
rishabh). The third and the seventh employ a different nomenclature,
but their śuddh positions are also the points above which
their alternates are placed. In practice, these intervals are roughly
equivalent to our modern equal tempered semitones, although Venkatamakhi
would have used something closer to Just Intonation. |
| 4. |
When constructing
a scale, the notes must always appear in the order sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, sa, no matter which version appears. |
| 5. |
Venkatamakhi
divides his scale into a lower (purvāṅga) and upper (uttarāṅga)
tetrachords (groups of four notes), reflecting the importance of
stringed lutes in the definition of these scales. The purvāṅga consists of the notes sa, ri, ga, and ma. The uttarāṅga consists of the notes pa, dha, ni, and sa. |
| 6. |
The first cakra (cycle) has sa and ma fixed in the purvanga. Ri and ga are in their śuddh or lowest positions.
Thus, the first mela (scale) of the first cakra has sa, śuddha ri (one semitone above sa), śuddha ga (one semitone above śuddha
ri and a whole tone above sa) and ma (a perfect
fourth above sa). The second melā of the first cakra has sa, ri, and ma in the
same positions as the first melā, but raises ga one semitone. The third mela follows the same pattern with
ga now two semitones above ri. The fourth melā starts with sa and ma in the same position,
but raises ri to the catusśruti position, two
semitones or one whole tone above sa. This leaves only
two positions for ga (sadhārana and antara).
Finally, with sa and ma still fixed, ri raises to its highest position (satśruti) leaving only
one position for ga (antara) so that the first cakra has six melās. |
| 7. |
The uttarāṅga (upper tetrachord) functions the same way except that now pa and sa are the fixed notes and dha and ni move. More importantly, the six parallel changes in note position
take place once for each cakra. Thus, in the first cakra , dha and ni begin in their śuddh positions
(dha one semitone above pa and ni one
semitone above dha) and remain in those positions while ri and ga go through their mutations in the lower
tetrachord. When the second cakra begins, ni raises
one semitone to its first raised position (kaisiki) and remains
their until the third cakra , when it rises to its highest
position (kākili). Again, the upper tetrachord parallels
the lower tetrachord in note changes matching one change for every cakra (or set of changes in the lower tetrachord). |
| 8. |
Matching the
six positions of the lower tetrachord with the six positions of
the upper tetrachord yeilds 36 different scales. Venkatamakhi then
derives an additional 36 melā s by repeating the process
with ma in the prati position. |
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