Essential Ingredients of Music

Indian music, as mentioned earlier, is built on a subtle combination of raga and tala. Raga is an aesthetic and emotional rendering of scale of notes. It is a melodic mode having rigid conditions that govern its elaboration; yet it is capable of infinite improvisation. Ragas have specific moods and flavours and a given raga may be sung only during a particular season of the year, or at a specific time of the day.

Ragas have an inbuilt harmony and are, in fact, not rendering of mere notes, but a rendering of swaras, which are notes, that have the frequency of the human voice. This is why pride of place was often given to vocalists rather than to instrumentalists.

However this attitude is no longer as common as it used to be, thanks to the amazing skill of great contemporary instrumentalists. An instrumentalists' constant endeavors is never the less to match the inflexions of the human voice with his instrument and in this achievement lies his greatness. The instrument he uses thus becomes an extension of himself. A raga leaves one unmoved if the spirit of the artist does not come through in the mood being attempted.

Taal, on the other hand, binds music together. It is a time cycle that remains fixed throughout a particular rendering. Romantically, it is believed to be the divine fusion of the masculine and feminine forms of dance. The taal repeats itself in cyclic regularity, offering amazing dimensions for improvisation between beats. Virtuoso percussionists render extremely complex variations within these cycles. Taal is the pulse of Indian music. To listen to the interplay of taal with musical phrases is a fascinating experience. The division of time into minute pulses, the criss-cross patterns, the regular and off-beat emphasis of time, the running together of two contrary cycles meeting creatively at a point, offer a regularity that calms the mind and an excitement that heightens mood.