Emotions with Strings Attached (Part 1)

Hello friends.

Let's examine the instruments of North India. In North India, there are four classes of instruments discussed. The four classes are tantri vadya, susir vadya, avanadha vadya, and ghana vadya.

The tantri vadya consist of stringed instruments. Some will go further and divide this further to another class called vitat vadya which are stringed instruments are played by bowing.

The susir vadya consist of instruments which are blown by some medium. Air is needed to make a sound.

The avanadha vadya and ghana vadya are instruments which give rhythm. Avanadha vadya are instruments that have heads to them and are played by the heads of the instrument. Ghana vadya are percussion instruments that do not have heads. Ghana vadya instruments are for the most part metal.

FEATURES IN THE NORTH INDIAN STRINGED INSTRUMENT

In looking at North Indian stringed instrument, there are some similarities which many share. Let's look at a few of them.

Baj Tar: most instruments will play all of the melody on the string known as the baj tar. The baj tar is very special because it is louder than the other strings and has the range of 2.5 octaves in swars. In most cases, this will accomodate musicians playing ragas or accompanying a singer.

Chikaris: Chikaris are open strings that provide drone and rhythm. They are usually tuned to the note "Sa", high "Sa", and "Pa" (if it has a Pa). They usually help provide rhythm in compositions where an avanadha is not found. The chikaris are also used in fast paced compositions to help the instrumentalist keep his or her tala. It is the unique "ching ching" sound heard in sitar or sarod recitals.

Sympathetic Strings (Tarabs): The tarabs are strings which lie below the main strings that are tuned to the notes of the raga. Whenever one plays a particular note in the raga on the baj tar, the sympathetic string will vibrate along. In physics, whenever two items of the same frequency meet, then it causes a vibration. If you play komal dha, for example, on the baj tar, the sympathetic string corresponding to komal dha, if tuned correctly, will ring out nice and loudly. It creates a unique reverb, echo, and a shimmer.

Knowing these, let's look at a few North Indian plucked instruments:

Sitar: who has not heard of the sitar? The sitar is the most common North Indian instrument. The resonator of the sitar (tumba) is made of gourd. The sitar has at least twenty frets that are moveable to meet requirements of srutis and raga. There are five main strings, two (sometimes three) chikaris, and the eleven to thirteen sympathetic strings. There is sometimes an extra tumba toward the top, but that is only found in Ravi Shankar models. These extra tumba don't create much of a difference in sound properties. Due to this vestigial nature, the extra tumba can be unscrewed and removed and reattached whenever one wishes to do so. The strings are played by a fingerpick known as the "mizrab." Use upward fingerstroke to play the bajtar and downward fingerstroke to strike the chikaris.

The bridge of the sitar is made of camel or deer bone. This bridge is what sitar it's unique sound. The good bridge is what can make a student model give wonders and a bad bridge is what can make a $1000 Manoj Kumar sardar sitar sound pathetic. The sanding, readjusting, and fine tuning the bridge to give a good sound is called adjusting the "jawari." Jawari maintanence is something every sitar player should know, just as one should know how to replace a flat tire! 😆

There are three kinds of jawaris:

Ravi Shankar's: very buzzy. (khula jawari).

Nikhil Banerjee's: not so buzzy, but buzz apparent

Vilayat Khan's: least buzzy (bandh jawari)..

Sarod: The sarod is not as well known as sitar, but occasionally makes a cameo once or twice. The sarod is the Indian version of the rabab. The sarod is made of wood with a goat skin head. When a string vibrates in front of goat skin, it creates this unique echo. This is why sarod has a sweet and haunting sound. There are six main strings and three chikaris. The chikaris have a bone bridge which allow buzzing to some degree. The main strings have a wooden banjo bridge. The fingerboard is made of metal and there are no frets. It takes a great deal of experience and patience to study the sarod and hitting the notes correctly. The method of playing the sarod is seen in two ways

1) Fingertips like Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He also has an extra tumba at the end of the instrument.

2) Fingernail like Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. The finger nail to string against metal causes the note to vibrate louder and gives it a more sweeter tone. There is no extra tumba on this instrument when played by Amjad Ali Khan.

This instrument is played by a coconut shell called a jaba.

Thankz for info Bhatka bhai !