How To Read A Scale w/o Rocking It

There are three ways to express a scale:

METHOD ONE: SOLFEGE

That is to say: use Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni along w/ forms.

In Western: they use Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, and Ti.

*** This is important that C, D, E, F#, etc. etc. notation is NOT comparable with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa..." ***

METHOD TWO: FREQUENCY

In Western: we say C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, along with sharpened versions (#) or flattened versions (b).

In Indian music: after the British introduced Western music, the notes are Safed Ek, Kali Ek, Safed Do, Kali Do, Safed Tin, Safed Char, Kali Tin, Safed Panch, Kali Char, Safed Cheh, Kali Panch, Safed Saat.

These notes are nothing more than frequency. They do NOT imply origin or position of notes in a scale. They imply the frequency in Hertz. (Letters meant to represent pitch or sound wave frequency).

METHOD THREE: STEPS

The steps method is based on see how far two consecutives notes are apart.

In Western music, we express these as steps. One half-step is one semi-tone apart, while a whole-step is two semi-tones apart. In Indian music, Sa and komal re are HALF STEP, while Sa and shuddha Re are WHOLE-STEP. Be careful, because Ga and Tivra Ma are WHOLE STEPS, and komal ga and shudhda ma are WHOLE STEPS.

Looking at Bilawal; let's see the ways we can represent it:

Step 1: S R G m P D N S'

Step 2: in the key of C: C D E F G A B C'

Step 3: (Sa)Whole-(Re)Whole-(Ga)Whole-(Ma)Half-(Pa)Whole-(Dha)Whole- (Ni)Whole- (Sa)Half

Using the Bilawal scale, it is believed that by moving the Sa around in the other six notes, seven shuddha ragas formed.

THe first shuddha raga is Bilawal, as it is.

The second shuddha raga is by placing the S on the place of R.

S R G m P D N S'

X S R g m P D n S'

Based on the steps method, we see that the FIRST instance of komal ga and komal ni are found. This shuddha raga is Kafi.

THe third shuddha raga is by placing S on the place of G.

S R G m P D N S'

X X S r g m P d n S'

This is Bhairavi. FIRST instance of komal re and komal dha.

Fourth is by placing Sa on Ma.

S R G m P D N S'

X X X S R G M P D N S'

This is Kalyana That (Raga Yaman). First instace of tivra Ma.

Fifth is by placing Sa on Pa

S R G m P D N S'

X X X X S R G m P D n S'

This is Raga Jhinjhoti of the Khamaja That

Sixth is by placing Sa on Dha

S R G m P D N S'

X X X X X S R g m P d n S'

Asavari That!

Last is seventh: Placing Sa on Ni.

S R G m P D N S'

X X X X X X S r g m M d n S'

This raga is nonexistant in North Indian music, but it is known as Ragam Rohinipriya in Carnatic music.

Since these seven ragas were derived by the shuddha swars, they are called shuddha ragas. These ragas were believed to be the source of "vikrta swars" (i.e. komal re, komal ga, tivra ma, komal dha, and komal ni.)

Wonderful.............Very good......Fantastic post. I really loved it.

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

Thanks bhaktaji! another fantastic post.

I have some doubts now. What does the X represent?

X = space

For instance, shuddha raga 2 is by taking S and placing it on Re.

Original scale is:

S R G m P D N S'

But since we are changing the Sa to the position where Re is, we "X" the original Sa's place so that our new sa can begin were Re was.

Scale 1:

S R G m P D N S'

Scale 2:

X S R g m P D n S'

The X was right where the Scale 1's Sa was.

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

So there will be silence? And the new raga will have a tonal/frequenct increase?

Not really a silence, but just a blank spot.

The new shuddha raga, technically speaking, will having a newer "frequency" for Sa, because the Sa is taking place on all of the other six notes.

If you have a harmonium and you play all white keys: C D E F G A B C, it sounds like the shuddha scale.

If you play D E F G A B C D', its all white keys, but the Sa is different. The CONCEPT (not the pitch) of komal ga and komal ni are introduced. It is Kafi raga.

If you were to play on harmonium F G A B C' D' E' F', it's all white keys, but the Sa is on ma of the Bilawal thaat.

Using the step method (W=whole;H=half)

Bilawal = WWWHWWWH

If you shift the Sa (1st W), to Re (2nd W);

Then you get WWHWWWHW

If you translate this to the solfege method of reading a scale, this translates to S R g m P D n S.'

Like this, you can derive the other shuddha ragas. Also from this, the other vikrta swars form.

A classic post again from you, kishore_bhakta ji (but I dont expect anything else from you)...

MINDBLOWING (I do really mean it though ) 😊

👏

Wonderful - I am *finally* beginning to understand just a teeny weeny
bit...

where's that applause emoticon? 👏

Some q's and a suggestion.

Q. So, these are the shuddha ragas. The scale of the shuddha swaras
generate a pattern, and then that pattern generates a new scale as we
step up the sequence.

Then which other ragas are generated? One can readily see that you can
make new scales by leaving out some of these notes. Is there a rule to
decide which notes to leave out?

Suggestion: KB-ji's posts need to be compiled into a sticky!! This is my
plea to the moderators... They are too priceless to be buried under like
this! *Nobody* in all my life has ever sat down and explained the basics
this patiently, this clearly and this well.

Besides, it's taking too much page-turning to get to these really
worthwhile articles.

Nice to see your musical posts once again kishore_bhakta...

Originally posted by: sangeetaa

Some q's and a suggestion.

Q. So, these are the shuddha ragas. The scale of the shuddha swaras
generate a pattern, and then that pattern generates a new scale as we
step up the sequence.

Then which other ragas are generated? One can readily see that you can
make new scales by leaving out some of these notes. Is there a rule to
decide which notes to leave out?
.

I am glad everyone enjoys these postings. Thank you all very for your support and inspiration that allows me to keep writing about classical music.

Shuddha ragas are forms by moving the amongst the seven notes. THerefore, only seven shuddha ragas form. It is definitely true that except for the Bilawal scale (the original we start from to form the shuddha ragas), none of the ragas will comprise of only shuddha swars. These shuddha ragas are believed to have caused the formation of vikrta swars.

The shuddha raga concept only works for Bilawal thaat (because its all seven shuddha swars). This does not apply elsewhere. This idea is only there to show a theory of how the first ragas came about and how the concept of swars outside of the seven shuddha swars existed. Through the movement of Sa onto Re, we get the concept (not the pitch) of komal ga and komal ni. Through moving Sa to Ga, we get introduced with komal re and komal dha. Through moving Sa to ma, we get introduced with Tivra Ma. Through the shuddha raga concept, the seven raga scales are:

Bilawal (shuddha swar scale), Kafi (S to R), Bhairavi (S to G), Yaman (S to ma), Khamaja (S to P), Asavari (S to D), and Rohinipriya which does not exist in North Indian music (S to N).

In making ragas that doesn't use all seven swars, it is important that

1) Sa exists

2) any form of Re OR Ga exists

3) any form of ma or Pa exists

4) any form of Dha or Ni exists

5) Must sound aesthetically pleasing.

I hope this helps. 😊

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

Thanks for clearing that point, bhaktaji. did you get my email?

yes, I did. I am trying to find a good tune in the ragas you suggested. The first song felt more like a Bhatiyar-Vibhasa complex. It'll create some kind of a haunting feeling.

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

Thanks! That cleared up one point and brought out one doubt (hope you're not getting bugged by my frequent doubts)

Theoratically, mathematically, how many ragas can be formed? And how many known ragas are there in existance (including the new ones invented by the masters in this century)? And most of the ragas are for which rasa?

Mathematically?

Let's do some math. For those who studied probability, you know that in a situation where m number of things can happen n ways, the number of possibilities are m*n.

For seven note ragas:

S*R*G*m*P*D*N

1*2*2*2*1*2*2 =32 possible scales.

Finding the number of five or six note ragas are a bit difficult as you have to eliminate any possibile chromatic forms mathematically and adhere to the rules of the raga at the same time (i.e Re or Ga, ma or Pa, etc.)

Hindustani has many possible ragas if you took the time and listed it out. Some ragas have not been used in Hindustani, yet Carnatic made the claim to them. For instance...

Raga Puriya Dhanasri as we know is: 'N r G M d N S' r' S'; N r' N d P d M G M G r S 'N S. There is a raga that uses komal ni instead of shuddha ni. In Carnatic, this raga is Ragam Namonarayani.

Even if we get so many scales, we must also consider that no two scales sound the same. Raga Darbari Kanada and Raga Kaunsi Kanada are examples of this theory.

Darbari Kanada: S R g m P d n S'; S' d n P m P n g m R S.

Kaunsi Kanada: S R g m - P d n d n S', S' d n d n m P m g R S'

The latter has the strength lying on shuddha ma and sounds like a mellow version of Malkauns. The face of Darbari, although sharing the exact same notes as Kaunsi Kanada, has a differnet look. As they say in Hindi, "raga ka shakal badal gaye."