Sitar

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The sitar is a musical instrument developed in India. India is isolated in location, bordered by the Himalayas, world's tallest mountains to the north, and to the south by the Indian Ocean. The music in India dates back to very ancient primitive times up to the present. In fact, Prajnanananda, a historian-musicologist of India, believes that there were very civilized people in India that were artistic and played instruments as much as 5000 years ago (). This considerable amount of time created a great deal of advancement and development in the evolution of India's musical concepts. Another Indian music historian, Bandyopadhya, believes that music evolved with the evolution of humanity (1). In fact, the oldest documents of music in India are a collection of Vedic religious hymns, called saman, which were meant to be performed during sacrifices around 4500 B.C. (Nijenhuis 1). Because of this isolation and the thousands of years of its evolution, Indian music developed a very different sound and feel from music of the rest of the world. The sitar, an instrument that when played by someone who has studied Indian music for many years, can beautifully demonstrate this eastern musical art.

There are many legends and myths that claim to portray the origins of Indian Music (Rosenthal ). It is taught that the Hindu holy trinity created music (Shankar 15). A legend that tells how music was learned on Earth is said to have taken place long ago, when the world was in chaos and everyone were, in the western sense, sinners. Seeing the chaos, some gods asked the supreme god, Brahma, to give the people a toy, which could be seen and heard. They also requested Brama to make the toy a distraction for the people, away from their bad ways.(Rosenthal 4) It was decided to give the celestial art of sangeet to mankind. A suitable human had to be found, one who was capable of receiving this gift.

Sangeet is a broader term, including the arts of vocal singing, or gayaki, instrumental music, or vadhya, and dancing, also known as nritya (Prajnanananda 4). The reason the word Sangeet includes these three art forms is because it was customary to perform mythological dramas (Rosenthal 4). These dramas used dancers to mime the story, instrumentalist to play the music, and a singer to tell and sing the story. According to the legend, Sangeet had previously only existed in the realm of the demigods (Rosenthal 4). A human of superior spiritual ability was required to convey this heavenly art to the human world. Narada, a sage, was chosen to be the first mortal recipient of this celestial art (Rosenthal 5). Narada is said to be responsible for the existence of Indian classical music.

Classical Indian music is believed to be more than just entertainment. For the people of India, it is a moral and spiritual redeemer (Bandyopadhya ). Therefore, there are heavenly qualities inborn in the education of the musician. They are guru, vinaya and sadhana (Shankar 11). This means teacher, humility, and discipline. The guru, is the teacher, a necessity in traditional Indian musical education. Music is said to be guru mukha-vidhya, which means wisdom and enlightenment must come from a teacher (Shankar 1). This enlightenment is thought to be the highest form of knowledge. Conventional teaching of this music is based upon the transfer of knowledge from the guru, to the disciple, also known as a shishya. This unbroken tradition is known as parampara (Shankar 14). This guru-shishya-parampara tradition extends back thousands of years.

The second aspect of education of Indian music is vinaya, humility (Shankar 1). This reflects the heavenly origins of the art, because vinaya is a divine quality. Classical music is said to be a worship that involves both the listener and the artist alike (Shankar 15). Humility is important because if you think you already know everything, then there is nothing to learn.

The last requirement for learning the classical music of India is sadhana, discipline and practice (Shankar 1). Sadhana is important for two reasons. In one way, the divine origins of sangeet require that the student must be prepared to receive this knowledge. From an educational standpoint, the music is so complex and elaborate that the student needs to spend many years practicing. Without this control and devotion for practice, the student certainly will not be able to master the music. These Qualities of Indian classical music have been passed on From Teacher to student for many years and has remained, for the most part, unchanged.

The art of the music itself has developed many different aesthetic qualities. Indian music is based on melodies and rhythm, but has no system of harmony or counterpoint (Shankar 17). The form for the melody has developed greatly. The way the melody works is through the concept of raga. The concept of raga was developed from parent scales called jati (Kuppudwami 4-5). The word raga comes from Sanskrit and means to color or passion (Shankar 17). The concept of Ragga, also called rag, may be thought of as a method of coloring the mind of the listener with an emotion (Shankar 0). Raga is the basis for Indian classical music, and can be played very beautifully on the sitar. Raga took the form used today in the seventeenth century (Nijenhuis 5). Raga is quite different from anything musically western. It is not a tune, melody, scale, or mode. It is a combination of different characteristics that form the rag.

The notes of the Indian music scale that make the rag are called saptaka, which means the series of seven (Nijenhuis 1). Therefore there are seven notes in the scale. The different notes have different levels of significance. A note that is strongly emphasized is called vadi (Nijenhuis 5). This note is the most important and shows the rasa, or the emotion of the raga (Shankar 17). Notes that are de-emphasized are referred to as durbal, while notes, which are excluded are called vivadi (Nijenhuis 5). There are also notes in-between the saptaka notes. They are microtones and are called shurits (Prajnanananda 16). The octave, or the distance between one note and the same note at one higher pitch, according to sitarist Ravi Shankar, can be divided into sixty six units (18).

In northern Indian music, where the sitar is played, the modal structure of the seven notes is called that. Generally there are ten accepted thats, twenty in widespread usage, out of a total of thirty-two possible (Prajnanananda 16). The word jati is also used to describe the number of notes used in a mode (Nijenhuis 5). The number of notes in the rag is significant, for not every one uses all seven notes. Normally, a rag will consist of five, six, or a full seven notes. Rags may be mixed jatis; there may be different jatis for the ascending and the descending structures (Shankar 155).

Tradition names certain rags to specific times of the day, seasons, or holidays; this is called samay (Shankar 4). There are some musicians who argue that a rag must be performed at the time of day that it is assigned; on the contrary, other musicians argue that one may play a rag at any time if one wishes to evoke the mood of that time (Shankar 4).

Another characteristic of raga is how it moves. The arohana is the pattern in which a rag ascends the scale, and avarohana is the way that the rag descends the scale (Shankar ). Both the arohana and avarohana may use certain distinguishing twists and turns. These twisting movements are examples of the pakad or swarup, which are defining phrases or a characteristic pattern for a rag (Shankar ). Sometimes the pakad is unique to the rag it is played in, and not implied by arohana or avarohana (Shankar ). Often the pakad includes a specific elaboration and ornamentation (Shankar 4). Not every rag has a clear pakad.

Ornamentation is essential for the correct performance of the rag, and makes notes seem alive (Shankar ). The ornamentation may be part of the pakad, or a performer may improvise them (Shankar ). Some common ornaments that can be played on the sitar are kampita, ahata, and tiripa. Kampita is a shaking sound, ahata is when more than one note is played with a single stroke, and tiripa is the stressing of a note in a phrase (Shankar ). In addition, notes may also be sharpened or flattened. Some rags use lower forms of some notes as part of their definition (Shankar 4). In many cases these ornaments have no theoretical significance and are just used to add to the composition.

The sitar is a very well known Indian instrument. It has a long neck, which is around thirty-five inches long (Cutchey). It has a varying number of strings, usually from seventeen to twenty. It has three to four playing strings and three to four drone strings, which rest on the separate bridges. The main bridge, which is as wide as the neck and approximately one inch high. This bridge is made of antelope horn, is slightly curved, and is responsible for the buzzing sound of the sitar (Cutchey). These strings are plucked with a wire pick, called a mizrad that one would wear over the right index finger (Cutchey). This wire pick is placed on the right index finger. There are also a series of sympathizing strings lying underneath the frets that rest on a smaller bridge. These strings are almost never played, but they make noise any time the identical note on a fretted or drone string is splayed (Cutchey). The frets are metal rods, which have been bent into crescents, and are perpendicular to the strings(Cutchey). These frets are tied on and can be moved to play different tunings. The main resonator is usually made of a gourd and there is usually an additional resonator that is attached to the neck. The right hand rests on the Gourd and balances the instrument (Cutchey). The right hand is used to control the rhythm of a composition, and the left controls the melody (Cutchey). The tuning of the sitar can vary. There is no fixed frequency for the notes, and the tuning, as well as the placement of the frets can vary from raga to raga (Cutchey).

One theory has the sitar evolving from the ancient veenas or vina (Kuppuswamy 14). Another theory is that the inventor of the sitar was Amir Kusrau, who lived in the fourteenth century (Cutchey). There has also been a study that put the date of the invention of the sitar at only the nineteenth century (Cutchey).

Today's sitar is widely used in the northern, hindustaini tradition. It took the place of then prevalent veenas, which are considered the national instrument of India (Shankar 6). The playing style of the hindustaini tradition is greatly influenced by singing and drumming techniques (Cutchey). It is evident that it evolved from the Persian lutes that had been played for thousands of years (Cutchey). Indian artists such as Ravi Shankar, Balram Pathak, Enayat Kan, and Budhaditya Mukherjee have made this instrument popular around the world (Cutchney).

Bandyopadhyaya, S. Indian Music Through the Ages. Delhi B.R. Publishing Corporation, 185.

Cutchey, Peter. About the Sitar. Buckingham Music. March , 00. httpwww.buckinghammusic.com/sitar/aboutsitar.html.

Kuppuswamy, Growry. Indian Music A Perspective. Delhi Sundeep Prakashan, 180.

Nijenhuis, Emmie Te. Indian Music History and Structure. Belgium Tuta Sub Aegide Pallas, 174.

Prajnanananda, Swami. A Historical study of Indian Music. Calcutta Sri Manoranjan Mazumar, 165.

Rosenthal, Ethel. The Story of Indian Music and Instruments. London William Reeves Bookseller Limited, 18.

Shankar, Ravi. My Music, My Life. New York Simon and Schuster, 168.

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