The Indian Raga
Seven notes over a drone, with rules, a mood and even a time of day. A raga, from Indian classical music, is more than a scale: it sets which notes you play and how they move (the way up, the aroha, and the way down, the avaroha, can differ), it has characteristic phrases and important notes, and each raga carries a mood, its rasa; many belong to a time of day or a season. Meet raga Yaman, a classic evening raga (in C: C D E F♯ G A B, a raised fourth like the Lydian mode), over a tanpura drone on C and G; count teentaal, a 16-beat cycle where the musicians meet on beat one, the sam; and hear how Ravi Shankar brought the sitar to Western audiences and George Harrison played it on Norwegian Wood. No recordings: every phrase is our own. The first lesson of World Music.
In this lesson you'll
- Know what makes a raga more than a scale: a set of notes and how to move through them (aroha up and avaroha down can differ), characteristic phrases and important notes, a mood (rasa) and often a time of day or a season, over a tanpura drone that holds the home note and the fifth.
- Play raga Yaman in C (C D E F♯ G A B, the raised fourth of the Lydian mode, lesson 20) slowly up and down over a C + G drone, and make a short phrase of your own that leans on F♯ and lands on C.
- Count a teentaal cycle (16 beats, 4 + 4 + 4 + 4) and land on sam, beat one; recognise by ear Yaman versus the major scale, a phrase that ends on the drone's home note versus away, and a phrase that lands on sam.
Music in this lesson
- Norwegian WoodThe Beatles · 1965 · George Harrison on sitar (copyrighted, named only)
- Raga YamanIndian classical raga (traditional) · only its scale and our own phrases are played
Remember
A raga sets the notes and how they move: its own way up (aroha) and way down (avaroha), characteristic phrases and important notes, and a mood (rasa); many ragas belong to a time of day or a season. Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic (South Indian) music both use ragas.
Raga Yaman, a classic evening raga, raises the fourth: in C, F becomes F♯ (C D E F♯ G A B, like the Lydian mode), heard over a tanpura drone on C and G, home and fifth.
Rhythm comes from tala, a repeating cycle: teentaal has 16 beats in four groups of four, and the musicians meet on beat one, the sam.