TOPIC - NOTATION SYSTEM OF HINDUSTANI MUSIC - NAMAN AGRAWAL

 

• TOPIC-NOTATION SYSTEM OF                        HINDUSTANI MUSIC..

 India music is based on imagination. Musicians have created literary or poetic compositions and presented them in the form of Khayal, Dhrupad, Thumri and other forms of music in different Ragas and Talas for expressing sentiments only through their art. In order to preserve such biopresentations in written form so that they do not get lost along with the musicians, notations using different symbols came into being from time to time. It is through the medium of notations only that a collection of compositions by musicians of yore is available today also. Therefore, it is important for us to gain a detailed knowledge of notation. 

 THE MEANING AND CONCEPT OF NOTATION

 In Hindi, notation is called ‘Svaralipi.’ This is formed of two words ‘Svara’, which is note and ‘Lipi’, which means script or the written form of any language. Thus..

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NOTATION 

In India, teaching in music has always been oral in the form of Guru-Shishya tradition. In this system of teaching music, the innumerable fine uses of notes and rhythm can only be taught fully by singing or playing orally. It is not possible to attempt to write them down. However, from Vedic period onwards musicologists have attempted to show the pitch and registers of notes which find mention in ancient literature. In Vedic period, three types of notes, Udatta, Anudatta and Svarita, have been mentioned. Udatta denotes high, Anudatta denotes low and Svarita denotes medium, that is when there is a confluence of high and low. The symbols used to show them in written form were perpendicular line for Udatta (I), horizontal line for Anudatta (-) and no symbol for Svarita. Later, these notes of Vedic period were shown through numerals 1, 2 and 3 in place of lines. In various treatises of Vedic period, such a use is seen in different forms under different systems. With the increase in number of notes to seven, the music treatises showed the use of numerals 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 for these. Thus, it is known that notes were shown in written form during the Vedic period for the purpose of learning and teaching. This can be considered as the originating source for systems of notation that were to be used later. Slowly, instead of lines and numerals, words like Shadja, Rishabh, Gandhar etc. or syllables like Sa, Re, Ga, Ma began to be used. For example, Bharat muni has used the terms Shadja, Rishabh etc. to show the notes or Svaras in his work ‘Natyashastra’, whereas Matang has used syllables Sa, Re,

PRESENTLY PREVALENT PT. VISHNU NARAYAN, BHATKHANDE NOTATION SYSTEM:

In Modern era, the notation system created by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande is the most prevalent. Being simple and easy to use, this notation system is used in most published books and academic institutions pt. V.N. Bhatkhande created a notation system and used it in books published by the name ‘Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, Kramik Pustak Malika (6 parts). It proved to be very convenient for the purpose of publishing. The symbols used in this notation system are as follows:- Shuddha Svara - no symbol only Sa Re Ga ....... Komal Svara - horizontal line underneath the Svara (Ga) Tivra Svara - Perpendicular line above Madhyam (Ma). Mandra Saptak - dot below Svaras Ma Pa Dha Ni.

In Modern era, the notation system created by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande is the most prevalent. Being simple and easy to use, this notation system is used in most published books and academic institutions pt. V.N. Bhatkhande created a notation system and used it in books published by the name ‘Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, Kramik Pustak Malika (6 parts). It proved to be very convenient for the purpose of publishing. The symbols used in this notation system are as follows:- Shuddha Svara - no symbol only Sa Re Ga ....... Komal Svara - horizontal line underneath the Svara (Ga) Tivra Svara - Perpendicular line above Madhyam (Ma). Mandra Saptak - dot below Svaras Ma Pa Dha Ni.

1. a dot above a Svara shows that the Svara belongs to Tara Saptak. 2. To show Meend, the symbol used is - SaDha 3. a bracketed Svara means that first the Svara following the given Svara, then the Svara itself, then the Svara preceding it and then again the Svara itself is to be sung. That is, four Svaras are to be sung in a single Matra. e.g. (Pa) means the four notes Dha Pa Ma Pa are to be sung or played. GLOSSARY 1. Imagination - ability of the mind to create images. 2. Lipi - script, which is the written form of any language. 3. Khayal - a musical form of slow and fast rhythm in EkTala, TeenTala, JhapTala etc. in which Alap, BolTana and Tana are included. 4. Dhrupad - a musical form in which upaj and rhythmic patterns are sung set to ChaarTala (ChauTala) etc. 5. Thumri - a musical form which employs ‘Bol Banao’ set to Deepchandi Talas, and ‘Kaharwa’ etc. 6. Treatise - a formal written work on a subject. 7. Prabandha - a musical form prevalent before thirteenth century comprising Dhatus and Angas. 8. Jati prastara - note elaboration used in singing Jatis..

Since the time the art of music was found, musicians have been making compositions and songs. But much of the ancient stuff is out of our reach as there was no standard notation system to save it. The inventions of different notation systems have made it possible to put a tune on a piece of paper or now even on the screen of a computer monitor. The music notation systems have been the greatest tool to capture the music in its somewhat originality. Even today, when audio recorders surround us, notation still remains the only way to figure out every note played in its original place.

The western world invented (or agreed on) staff notation a while ago and it has become a widely understood music notation system all over the world. However, Hindustani or Northern Indian music has its own notation system. Indian melody can easily be written in the staff notation system but as you are going to see that Indian rhythm cannot be written properly. This was one of the reasons I have included this post on this site. The other reason is that if you eventually like to get some music composition books on Indian music, they will be written in this system.

Indian notation system is really easy system once you get the hang of it, which can take up to five minutes. But if you still feel comfortable with staff notation that is not a problem, I will suggest some minor additions. You can add those to your Indian compositions or the compositions you make in Indian rhythm structure. 

There are a few notation systems in India but the most famous one in northern music is the one invented by music Pundit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. This is simply called the ‘Bhatkhande notation system’. I will refer to it as the Indian notation system, as this is the only one you will ever have to learn. This is the only system used by Northern Indian classical and pop musician all around India and the world.

Basics of Any Music Notation:
Every music notation system has two things in common, time and pitch. Staff notation shows them horizontally and vertically. In staff notation, the notes are placed on five lines and their time values are shown in different kind of tails. When writing drums all the lines are assigned to different sounds and their time value is still shown by similar tails as notes. I assume that you already know a little bit of staff notation. If you don’t, you don’t have to learn it for this now, just learn the Indian system.

Basics of Indian Music Notation:
Indian music is based on Raag and Taal (Rāga and Tala) system. Raags are melodic phrases and Taals are rhythmic patterns. Raags pose no problem when written in standard staff notation as Northern Indian music notes are the same as western music, but Taals do. Every piece of Indian music is written in a Taal, unless it is a rhythm free piece. So the basics of Taals, are the basics of Indian notation system.

Taal structure will be explained in detail in the rhythm section. Here all we have to know is that Indian Taals (rhythmic Patterns) are divided into sections. Every Taalis a group of 2 or more sections. First beat of every section is defined as hard or soft, so it determines the accents. This gives every Taal a certain flow. Two Taals may have same number of beats, but if their divisions are different then they will sound different from one another. To understand it better let’s first see how to write Indian Rhythm in Indian Music Notation system.

Writing Rhythm:
Indian notation can be written on any piece of paper. The beats are written on the top of the page and they all have equal time value. Then they are divided into columns where the sub-bars (sections) start. Any note or boles (sounds of Tabla) are written under that. If there is one sound under one beat then its value is equal to one beat. If two are written under one beat then their value is half-beat  and so on               

                                                  

REFERENCE.1

  NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OPEN         SCHOOLING  [PERFORMING ARTS  EDUCATION ]. (n.d.). Notation system of  hindustani music (Vols. 33–38). Sector 62,Noida UP. https://www.nios.ac.in/online-course-material/secondary-courses/hindustani-music.aspx 

06-03-2023

 REFERENCE.2

Music Theory | sangtar.com. (n.d.). https://www.sangtar.com/music-theory/