‘Classical music evolves through innovation’

As a young student Dr L Subramaniam set about creating a system that would integrate the melodic nature of the Indian raga system with the harmonic structure of Western classical music What those early years of studymdashtried and tested over the decadesmdashled to was the possibility of orchestral compositions for Indian ragas evoking their mood within the rich sound of symphony orchestrasRaga Harmony reveals Dr Subramaniamrsquos revolutionary thirtysixscale concept that will allow compositions by Indian composers based on Indian ragas to be performed by some of the most prestigious orchestras across the globe The use of this system enables the generation of lush harmonies that are not only uncommon and pleasing but also intellectually intriguingExcerpts from an interviewWhat thought sparked the writing of this bookFirst of all I was introduced to musical theory in addition to practical music by my father When I was in high school my father used to teach some of the students who were doing MPA from Stella Maris College and other colleges in Chennai So they used to come to learn the theory and he used to type a lot of material for the students which is fresh and easily understandable and distribute the notes He used to also make sure that I also read it and thatrsquos how I learned and got introduced to theory Subsequently when I went to the US on a scholarship to do my masters in western classical music I was also given a teaching position to teach Indian classical music to the western students who were doing Bachelors and Masters degrees in music I couldnrsquot get a suitable book for the students to follow which was simple enough to introduce Indian music to the uninitiated western students So I decided to write books which will easily be understandable by anybody who doesnrsquot have any exposure to Indian classical musicWho is the book written forThis book is written for music students who are interested in composition and who have a strong Indian base and want to write orchestral compositions This gives an insight into how you can write major orchestral compositions using ragas and creating unusual and powerful harmoniesIndian music leans towards raga and taal while western developed harmony Do you think a complete coordination between them is possibleThere will be similarities and differences between any two musical systems not only western classical and Indian classical Of course Indian classical music focuses more on melodic horizontal movement involving micro tones South Indian classical Carnatic music is very structured and scientifically based It has a 72parent scale system and derived from this we can get an unlimited number of derived scales Western classical music is based on a tempered system and not a micro tonal system but it has both horizontal and vertical movement This vertical movement creates harmony because different notes are played by different instruments at the same time creating harmonic movement In my orchestral compositions I have taken both the raga melodic and taal rhythmic concept of Indian music creating major orchestral compositions with very rich ragabased harmony These orchestral compositions have been performed worldwide with major symphony orchestras and choirWhat do you think is the future is music especially with AI in the pictureThere is always a future in music Music has survived for centuries Even today we hear Thyagaraja Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastrylsquos compositions as well as Beethoven Bach Tchaikovsky etc Classical music connects society to its roots It has also been evolving through different generations AI in many ways is very positive It has to be used to enhance creativity and not for wrong purposesDr L Subramaniam with Lord Yehudi Menuhin performing his ragabased composition lsquoJourneyrsquo at the United Nations New YorkEXTRACT lsquoRagas are based on scales but all scales are not ragasrsquoRagas are based on scales but scales played are not considered ragas because a raga includes ornamentation and emphasis on certain primary notes the vadi being the most significant note and the samvadi being the secondmost important The vadi is in the first tetrachord purva anga and the samvadi can be the fourth or the fifth note The samvadi is said to emphasise the importance of the vadi The remaining notes are known as anuvadi or residual notes The notes which are dissonant and do not belong to the raga are known as vivadi swarasIt is useful to remember that although ragas are based on scales they do not have key signatures This is because key signatures presuppose a fixed key but a raga can be sung in any key and the relative intervals are more important than the key of the tonic In this way ragas are closer to modes than keys raga and mela in Carnatic music because modes also are dependent on intervals and not keysAnother characteristic feature of Carnatic music is its use of microtones which are often less than a quartertone Instead of dividing an octave into twelve semitones like in the West an octave is divided into twentytwo srutis tones Based on this system the tonic and the dominant are always fixed and can be only one tone each The rest five of the seven notes the supertonic or Ri median or Ga subdominant or Ma submediant or Da and the leading note or Ni can each be of four types Thus they are twentytwo srutisThe difference between scales and ragasThe 5184 scales can be made into ragas by following the rules which create a raga like by creating a vadi samvadi and some typical phrases with ornamentationIn a raga the different types of notes are1 Vadi The swara which plays the most important part2 Samvadi Any two swaras which are at an interval of nine or thirteen srutis from each other and are mutually consonant3 Vivadi If the notes are at an interval of two srutis and the swara sounds discordant to another4 Anuvadi The assonant notes remaining after vadi samvadi and vivadiVadi and samvadi are the primary notes which are emphasised during raga development Usually from the vadi the fourth or fifth note becomes the samvadiThese notes can be emphasised in different ways1 By repeating the note more frequently than other notes2 By holding the notes for a longer duration than other notes3 By keeping the note as tonal centre developing around it and coming back to that note as a resting noteIn ragas certain notes are ornamented with slides known as gamakas In certain cases multiple slides are used for the same note It is also common to slide towards a note from a note below or from a note above and it is even possible to slide more than one note interval and in different directions to reach a note in order to bring in the essence of the ragaThese will give a particular colour and mood to the raga There should be a graha swara anuswara and nyasa swara In any raga in order to create a composition it is necessary to have some scope for development It is also important to create a certain mood or essence or feeling for someone who is listening to the raga If we create 5184 ragas by following the above rules they cannot be expanded into 62208 by multiplying into the twelve semitones This is so because whichever semitone is used the relative interval will stay the same For example Shankarabharanam is the same raga whether it is in C C or DExcerpted with permission from Raga Harmony Harmonic structures and tonalities in Indian classical music by Dr L Subramaniam by Westland Books